Mk3 Cavalier Owners Club | Vauxhall Cavalier Dot Com

Guys,

I just made the dumbest mistake. I had to change my central locking motor so today I went down and took it off. Just that black box that has the motor in it along with the arm going out of it. So that I can go and buy another one exactly like it.

I put everything back together thinking it would work just fine as if it has no central locking but something is wrong and I can't open the door normally. I am sure I put everything back together.

How can I unlock it manually? I have the door card taken off and I can manage to access the door locking mechanism from the inside but I don't know to unlock it.

Help me please.

Sounds like you've knocked the deadlock switch on the handle to me. Make sure it isn't laid in the bottom of the door somewhere.

With or without deadlock,
It should be possible to unlock the door with the key.

The only thing preventing this would be a jammed link rod - maybe even the plunger rod.
Possibly caught up against a piece of the inside of the door shell.

Just to clarify it is the rear door so there is no key involved.

I didn't knock the deadlock switch. I have only removed the rod connected to the motor and the motor itself.

All the rods connected to the handle and the deadlock switch are there and was not touched.

I have not tried opening the door since then. But the only way I imagine doing so is by manually grabbing it with some piece of metal hooking it and pulling it to unlock.

I am really sad and I feel so dumb.

No need to feel sad or dumb.

These lovely old Vauxhalls / Opels keep us all on an emotional roller coaster,
but perseverance will get it sorted in the end.

What is your approximate location? - You never know, there might be a friendly fellow member somewhere nearby who could lend a helping hand.

I wonder if you have child lock on?
Will it not open from the outside handle?

Only other way is to pull up on a link rod in the lock mechanism... one of the bars should pull the lock open.

I was locked out of my car once. On that occasion it was one of the pins inside the lock that got stuck, though.

I had to call the AA. They managed to wind down the rear window and I was able to get inside and drive home.

He did however have a hooked wire tool which he tried to use to pull up the lock. Mine was deadlocked so it didn't work, but if yours isn't it should work.

If you've got breakdown cover it may be worth giving them a call.

This is the first thing that came to my mind after I heard the sound of it being shut, the child lock. I hurled fast and brought the window crank plugged it and rolled the window down and tried from the outside and nothing happened and I was only more disappointed.

My location? I am from Egypt.

Anyways, I will be checking it out again and hopefully show some pictures after I do it. I will let you guys know if I reach a deadend.

Thanks a lot for your replies, it really gives me hope and makes me feel that I am not alone in this. I love this car. Dad bought it new on 95 2 years after I was born and he gave it to me since 2010 and it's my daily driver since then. It really means a lot I lived in this car.

Ah - okay.
Not quite so easy to find other forum members in Egypt.

All the lock mechanisms should be accessible from inside the door.
But be careful. My hands and arms always get badly scratched when woking inside doors.

You should be able to "unlock" the door by pulling on each link rod in turn, and then operating the exterior door handle.

With the door motor / solenoid removed, there should be nothing to stop you doing this.

I fixed it! YAY

I also knew what was wrong and what was stopping it from being unlocked.
Of course we all know that you can't lock or unlock the door if you are trying to open it, this was exactly what is happening.

When I put everything back together the outer door handle that opens it was stuck as if somebody was trying to open the door preventing the locking/unlocking of the mechanism.

Check this image: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BwtE2m ... sp=sharing
The black plastic thing was pushing against the metal part and was not fitted the correct way when I put everything back together that day.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BwtE2m ... sp=sharing
This black plastic rod should go through the hole at the end of the metal part as the red arrow indicates and go all the way till it rests there the blue part should go all the way till it bottoms out into the hole. Fitting it into the hole was kinda hard but doable for sure.

Hope this helps anyone who gets stuck like I did.