Central locking mechanism replacement how to.

[CJJ]

Well, I have had to change the central locking mechanism for the drivers door. This is the second I have changed (first was the passenger door) so I thought I would take some photos as you have come to expect.

The first sign of problems is a whirring noise after the door locks/unlocks. It starts of as a quiet whir but gets louder as the fault gets worse. If you start hearing this order yourself a new lock (or fix the old one if the fault is the same as mine - see central locking repair post). Also DO NOT double lock your car (pressing remote twice) as the lock may fail completely when locked and you will be in for a lot of work and possible damage trying to remove the lock.

First of all you have to remove the door card. There are 6 screws that you need to remove before proceding and are located around the door card as shown.



Two of the screws are in the door handle



one behind the door pull



Two at the end of the door



and one above the speaker



Remove the 2 screws in the door handle and pull upwards to remove



Remove the screw behind the door pull and pull the trim towards you. Swivel the trim through 90 degrees to clear the door pull.



Slide your fingers under the door card, working from the lock end, feeling for the fasteners. When you find one, get a finger each side of it and pull towards you to release it. Move along the bottom and front of the door card untill all fasteners have been released. Be carfull of sharp edges.



While pulling the bottom of the door card out, swivel it upward to release it from the top of the door



and slide backwards to clear the cheater/mirror assembly.



Now remove the door card, pausing to unplug the tweeter



If you can, remove the two blue clips to help in removal of the plastic membrane. But be warned, they break easily (I now have one less). It may be easier to just pull the membrane away from around the clips.



Now peel back the membrane enough to allow access to the door locking mechanism.



Carefully peel back the membrane as you will need to refit it when done. This is a waterproof membrane that stops your door cards from getting wet. It may be worth buying some spray adhesive to stick the membrane back down with.



You can now unplug the 2 connectors (1 connector on the passenger side)



Now remove the 3 torx screws that hold the lock mechanism in place



To give you more room to manoeuvre, you should remove this nut (shown with the nut already removed) and push this bolt into the door. This will allow you to move the rear window runner a little to one side to give you more room.



This is what you are now left with. There are 3 rods and a cable connected to the mechanism and they all need disconnecting before removal. Unfortunately this is easier said than done. Those of you that used to be good at Rubicks cube may find this a doddle.



The left 2 are connected to the outer door handle and lock. The top right is the cable connection to the interior door pull. The bottom right is connected to the interior door lock pull/push.



The first and easiest to remove is the cable. Remove it from the bracket and then remove it from the actuator.



The next easiest is the the top of the left two. The one with the plastic clip on. Unclip it and then twist the lock mechanism until the rod can be removed.

Next easiest is the rod to the internal lock push/pull and lastly the bottom left of the 4. These last 2 are a pain the the rear and are just a case of manhandling the mechanism until you get the right angle to allow you to remove the rods. The rods are angled and hooked at the ends, so it takes a bit of swearing at this point.

And simply remove the mechanism.



Fitting IS the reverse of removing, but it is a lot harder to locate the rods into the mechanism. Tools needed are patience, small hands, 5 elbows, long nose pliers and more patience. I did use pliers to open out one or two of the loops to make them easier to fit. Not too much as this may cause them to foul.

Refit the door liner



And refit the door card by winding the window down all the way. Reconnect the tweeter. Locate the leading edge of the top into the window recess keeping the card at an angle and slide it under the cheater/mirror assembly.



Now angle the rear of the door card down until the top of the card is located fully into the window recess and the door locking pin locates through the hole.



Now the rest is just a case of snapping the lower clips back into place, refiting the door handles and screws.

Now test the lock.

Congratulations, you have changed your central door lock mechanism.

This is just the way that I carried out the operation. Please use this if it helps but I accept no responsibility for errors or omissions.

[Petevick]

jeez man, that is bostin, nice clear pics

[ProjectioN]

Cheers now i knw how 2 do all the door trims and pins a bought. Thanks like the way u went into health and saftey inspector about 4th paragraph down " and be careful of sharp edges" lol

[Bromsgrove man]

Top post that man!

Mine went last winter - If I'd had that as a guide I would probbly have braved it myself.

Should this be added to the sticky on the frontpage you think? Seems a pretty common failure?

[Chris T]

Yet another fantastic how to from CJJ!

[CJJ]

Originally Posted by ProjectioN

Cheers now i knw how 2 do all the door trims and pins a bought. Thanks like the way u went into health and saftey inspector about 4th paragraph down " and be careful of sharp edges" lol

It's an MG, it has sharp edges everywhere. Good luck with it.

[MGFmad]

Good post - don't like the bit about the lock making a whirring noise as mine does this when I double lock it.

Have a feeling I may need to refer back to this how to sometime soon - must bookmark it

[CJJ]

I'd suggest that you stop double locking it until you investigate the whirring. It makes it 100x more difficult if the lock fails when double locked.

[Tim.]

Top posr CJJ

Ave some rep.

[Yigit]

Another excellent guide CJJ.

[CJJ]

Cheers guys.

Originally Posted by Tim.

Top posr CJJ .

You callin me a posr?

[nk8]

How much do you think it would cost to get a professional to replace the whole locking mechanism? and is it a standard garage or an auto electrician or something like that?

Thanks

[Petevick]

I'd guess a garage would charge at least an hour for the job.

[Gatvic]

CJJ

Excellent article for those that can open the door! My door is locked shut.

I've seen Sprinter's post about getting the door card off with the door shut, but he doesn't really tell us how to make the lock work or change it.

Do you know of anybody who has managed to remove the lock without being able to access the three torx bolts? Is the only option to knock it off from the inside with something like a hammer and cold chisel?

Any guidance appreciated. Thanks.

[CJJ]

I'm lucky I guess as I haven't had that ordeal, yet. I tend to change the mechanism as soon as it starts making unusual noises.

I seem to remember saying that they had managed to get it to unlock by taking the door card off, disconnecting the electrics and just fiddling with the mechanism.

Apart from that, it might just be brute force.

One thing I would look at as a last resort is, if the striker plate can be seen fron the inside, I would try some way of hacksawing through it. Obviously you would need a new striker plate afterwards, but it would allow you to open the door without much damage. Might take a while though, if possible.

[Dr Dave]

Nice How To! 10/10!

[Gatvic]

Thanks for your quick response.

Unfortunately I didn't get the benefit of any strange noises. We unlocked the car to drive somewhere local, stopped and tried the passenger door to get out and neither the inside nor outside handles would open the door, even though the vertical plastic bit moved up and down when the key fob was pressed.

I've disconnected the electrics and jiggled, in the nicest possible way many times, without success.

Not sure about your striker plate suggestion. Do you mean the circular section bar that the locking mechanism rotates around? It's a thought and I'll have a look in the daylight, but I don't think you can see anything from inside the door skin.

Do you know if there is any benefit in unscewing the three small Philips screws that secure the backing plate to the lock mechanism?

[Sprinter]

Hi folks, I've been otherwise tied up for a few weeks. Sorry Gatvic, I just didn't get around to replying.

My notes were solely about getting the door card off, there have been more than enough threads showing how to remove the lock from inside the door going back at least 5 years.

I seem to remember somebody removing the backing plate with the lock still in situ and then being able to move the levers with a screwdriver.


Does anybody know what's happened to Tony's excellent site? I can't get to it at the moment. Has it been down long? May have to email him soon.

Whoops, it's come back again.

[Andrew Dalton]

Nice one CJJ. Have just finished changing the clip that holds the cable for the interior door handle had a cup of Tea (v important) and found this thread! Now if Id only done things the other way round!! Brilliant post and picks. I have just been to visit a Y reg MGF at a scrap yard. Loads and loads of gear on it. Check out the North East scrap thread.

[Andrew Dalton]

PS CJ What lovely big hands youve got.