Drivers doorlock not working since freezing temperature!

[suj]

hi there

well on thursday it was a cold night, so in the morning went to the car to go to uni, and the key wouldn't go in the doorlock,
so went and got hot water (not boiling, just hot water out of the tap with some cold added) and poured it over the door handle, and key went in after a little push,
so everything was ok, windows wouldn't go down until i heated the whole car up,
when i parked up, i went to lock the door, and it just turns left and right, with no resistance, and won't lock? won't even do nothing?
luckily the passenger side door locks both locks! what could this be? it opened the locks like about 10mins before it messed up?

btw it was FREEZING! it said -3degrees on the trip computer!

thank you

 

[Fl@pper]

good reminder to spray grease in ya door locks when servicing then especially after jetwashing it

i usually get grease all over the clean car when i forget to

anything rattling in the bottom of the door ?

 

[orangemuffin]

it is a bit on the nippy round the west mids at the mo....

out of the 6 ibiza's ive owned they have all done this....like you say a bit of warm water normally sorts it right out.

 

[truCido]

I had this on my old one, I opened the door, undid the torq screw popped the handle out checked the mech and then popped it back in and it was fine!

 

[suj]

flapper: yep definitely mate lol! and there is nothing rattling?

orangemuffin: its never happened to me (i've owned a corsa and 2 astra's before this, they have different locks/handles)

trucido: oh really? i will have a look at it tomorrow
so do i have to take off the door card to get to the handle? (i haven't really looked lol)

thanks guys! always helpful as per usual!

 

[truCido]

nooo I mean the external handle! if you open the door and look on the edge of the door near the handle you'll see a torq screw (might have a rubber grommit over it can't remember!)

 

[suj]

ohhhh i get you now lol!
thanks will try it tomorrow when waiting for the stupid idiot fixes our broken boiler (no heating )

 

[Fl@pper]

no rattling could at least be a good sign the paddle hasn't broken off

as trucido says pop the grommet level with handle inside and undo the allen bolt to pop handle out and check it all over

just don't unclip anything lock/paddle wise without the key in it

 

[robreidmotors]

When the paddle came off mine it must have escaped down the drain holes!

Its only a couple of quid from the dealers for the paddle (if needed), similar price for rest of parts.

 

[suj]

hi people, i found out what happened, thanks for the info to get off the handle!
basically there is a paddle shaped shaft (in the shape of a paddle from a boat) that is attached to where the keyhole is (on the back of it) it had snapped off!
like you said robreidmotors, i've never seen nothing like it, so i put it on the end of some pliers and put in the hole and turned, and the central locking locked the doors!
so i guess i'll be off to a dealer on monday!
thanks again!

 

[truCido]

no problem!! ahhh yeah I know the bit, I swapped the drivers door handle and passenger door handles over while I was waiting for bits!

 

[suj]

ohhhh excellent idea trucido lol
do the locks just go on the other side, or do i just have to take the paddle off?

 

[robreidmotors]

ohhhh excellent idea trucido lol
do the locks just go on the other side, or do i just have to take the paddle off?

Unless you accidentally break the bit trying it to put it on the other side

 

[suj]

oh ok, thanks also rob!
so i guess the breaking of these paddles are another crap design (like clutch pedal) to add to my list of things to look out for lol

 

[truCido]

you shouldn't really be able to break them when putting them in, its when there under strain i.e. turning the key. You could take the peddle off or just swap the whole thing over