Astra door will not open

[Fred]

Hi,

We have a 56 plate Vauxhall Astra and one of the rear doors will not
open. My other half took it to a Vauxhall dealer yesterday, they said
they would like £70 to look at it but think a wire is broken. Now I'm
wondered whether they said wire or cable. Do they mean wire/cable that
carries electrical current or do they mean cable more like a metal
rod? Do they mean some link behind the handle is broken?

None of the external door handles on the Vauxhall "feel" right. It's
as if you have to tug them to open them. Are they like that on all
models or does it just mean ours are wearing out?

This has all happened in the last couple of days. I think my OH was
able to open the door occasionally, so it may be intermittent but it
seems to be not opening more than it opens.

Is this something I can DIY or does it need a dealer? TIA

[Fred]

Sorry, I forgot to add to my original post:

The door has the child lock enable to stop the children opening the
door from inside, so we cannot open the door from the inside to work
on it.

I was told it failed intermittently on the school run, i.e. it took a
few attempts to open it, so I am hoping if it is intermittent, I may
be able to open it and deactivate the child lock but if I can't, what
do I do next?

Would an independent garage be able to help and be cheaper than the
dealer or is a dealer best for this type of work, I'm thinking it's
more body work than "proper" mechanics?!

TIA

[Mrcheerful]

Post by Fred
Hi,
We have a 56 plate Vauxhall Astra and one of the rear doors will not
open. My other half took it to a Vauxhall dealer yesterday, they said
they would like £70 to look at it but think a wire is broken. Now I'm
wondered whether they said wire or cable. Do they mean wire/cable that
carries electrical current or do they mean cable more like a metal
rod? Do they mean some link behind the handle is broken?
None of the external door handles on the Vauxhall "feel" right. It's
as if you have to tug them to open them. Are they like that on all
models or does it just mean ours are wearing out?
This has all happened in the last couple of days. I think my OH was
able to open the door occasionally, so it may be intermittent but it
seems to be not opening more than it opens.
Is this something I can DIY or does it need a dealer? TIA

Apparently a common fault, read up on it here:
http://www.astraownersnetwork.co.uk/archive/index.php/t-80555.html

[Fred]

On Thu, 4 Jul 2013 08:17:04 +0100, "Mrcheerful"

Post by Mrcheerful
http://www.astraownersnetwork.co.uk/archive/index.php/t-80555.html

Thanks. I have now googled and like you said, I have found many pages
saying it is a common fault. What I haven't found is how to fix it!

It seems the problem is caused by a wire snapping where the loom
enters the door. I guess the constant flexing each time the door
opens/closes takes its toll. But to get to the wire to repair it, the
door has to be open and of course, the door fails locked shut.

The pages I have found talk about opening the door from inside but my
child lock is preventing me from doing that. How can I override the
child lock?

I have managed to remove the door trim but can't really see anything
useful to touch inside the door.

TIA

[Mrcheerful]

Post by Fred
On Thu, 4 Jul 2013 08:17:04 +0100, "Mrcheerful"

Post by Mrcheerful
http://www.astraownersnetwork.co.uk/archive/index.php/t-80555.html

Thanks. I have now googled and like you said, I have found many pages
saying it is a common fault. What I haven't found is how to fix it!
It seems the problem is caused by a wire snapping where the loom
enters the door. I guess the constant flexing each time the door
opens/closes takes its toll. But to get to the wire to repair it, the
door has to be open and of course, the door fails locked shut.
The pages I have found talk about opening the door from inside but my
child lock is preventing me from doing that. How can I override the
child lock?
I have managed to remove the door trim but can't really see anything
useful to touch inside the door.
TIA

one talked about pressing the remote at the same time as pulling the door
handle until you get lucky. I imagine that with the door card off it must
be possible to access the wiring, and powering the right wire should release
it. I canot find a wiring diagram for the locking system, but that might
give a clue as to which wires to play with.

Maybe a dealer is the quickest /easiest as they will have seen and cured it
before.

[Fred]

On Fri, 5 Jul 2013 08:24:03 +0100, "Mrcheerful"

Post by Mrcheerful
one talked about pressing the remote at the same time as pulling the door
handle until you get lucky. I imagine that with the door card off it must
be possible to access the wiring, and powering the right wire should release
it. I canot find a wiring diagram for the locking system, but that might
give a clue as to which wires to play with.
Maybe a dealer is the quickest /easiest as they will have seen and cured it
before.

Sorry for the late reply. The wiring loom where it entered the door
had a number of broken wires. I was surprised how many had snapped and
those that had not snapped were about to. All soldered back together
now and the door is working. I had wondered about using crimps but was
not sure whether they would have been too bulky. Thanks for the help.

[l***@rocketmail.com]

I've had same problem... All of doors will open but not rear door. The way I fixed this is open doors by central locking then pull handle from inside the locked door and lock door by fob. Once opened I took off door panel(did this before I managed to open door) then speaker, uncliped loom from door and pulled back wire from under the cill covers...Found 5 wires that were cut !!! Just connected a lil bit of new wire to them all...insulation taped them put back into clip in door and all sorted 😄 think it will go again as have little ones and always opening door.. Shudda used better quality wire now lol ...

[w***@gmail.com]

Hi just having in the same problem also with the child lock on, is it easy to get the door card off with the door shut ?

[b***@gmail.com]

Post by w***@gmail.com
Hi just having in the same problem also with the child lock on, is it easy to get the door card off with the door shut ?

im having same problem door locked shut if anyone has a away to open it post here plez!!

[o***@hotmail.co.uk]

Hi there, I had the same problem as all you guys but I'm a mechanic so I had longer to muck about with it.

Opening door.
Unlock car and put drivers window down (or rear it doesn't matter). Lock the car then reach inside and pull the interior handle, because this is the emergency MECHANICAL release the door should open. (Mine does)

Open the door and look too the bottom, there is a think piece of wire insulation that covers the wires if you remove the clip and pull back the block rubber bit you'll find that one of the WHITE wires (slightly thicker so more prone to fatigue) is broken, simply find both ends and add in anouther inch of wiring and hey presto!

[m***@hotmail.co.uk]

Thanks it works now ^

[j***@hotmail.co.uk]

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[c***@gmail.com]

Post by o***@hotmail.co.uk
Hi there, I had the same problem as all you guys but I'm a mechanic so I had longer to muck about with it.
Opening door.
Unlock car and put drivers window down (or rear it doesn't matter). Lock the car then reach inside and pull the interior handle, because this is the emergency MECHANICAL release the door should open. (Mine does)
Open the door and look too the bottom, there is a think piece of wire insulation that covers the wires if you remove the clip and pull back the block rubber bit you'll find that one of the WHITE wires (slightly thicker so more prone to fatigue) is broken, simply find both ends and add in anouther inch of wiring and hey presto!

Just used this method to open the stuck door, thank you for this info really useful !

[s***@gmail.com]

Hi there, despite seeing eveyone else say this is a wiring issue, I fixed this a different and free way.

I saw on a different thread that you could open the door by getting into the car and then double tap locking the doors using the central locking on the key. I was then able to open the rear passenger side door from the INSIDE using the handle.

Once open, I sprayed A LOT of anti freeze into and around the door lock mechanism, and it has been absolutely fine ever since. I'm told that WD40 would also work. I have a few friends who work on cars a lot and they insisted this would work, and sure enough it did. This problem began for me during extremely cold weather.

Totally free and lasting fix.

[Brian Reay]

Post by s***@gmail.com
Hi there, despite seeing eveyone else say this is a wiring issue, I fixed this a different and free way.
I saw on a different thread that you could open the door by getting into the car and then double tap locking the doors using the central locking on the key. I was then able to open the rear passenger side door from the INSIDE using the handle.
Once open, I sprayed A LOT of anti freeze into and around the door lock mechanism, and it has been absolutely fine ever since. I'm told that WD40 would also work. I have a few friends who work on cars a lot and they insisted this would work, and sure enough it did. This problem began for me during extremely cold weather.
Totally free and lasting fix.

It sounds like water in the mechanism which froze in the cold weather.
It could also be that someone has used graphite or similar to lubricate
the lock. People vary in their opinions re WD40 vs Graphite. Some swear
by one and damn the other. I favour WD40 and haven't ever had and issue.

I'm not sure about Antifreeze on paint work. I thought it wasn't
recommended?

Back in about 1993, we went to test drive an Espace. It was a S/H- while
we planned to buy new they only had a S/H in stock, at it had been
parked by the car wash in winter and been caught in the 'spray'. The
doors were frozen solid- encrusted with ice. Before we could drive it,
they have to climb in via the rear hatch and turn on the heating to
de-frost it. It must have been the worst but of salesmanship in history.

[Simon Bratt]

Thanks for that double tapping the fob worked, and Vauxhall wanted 72 pounds and all day to 'diagnose it' ffs