No, I tried with a hot air gun first, but I could not get enough heat to the lock without the chance of melting some plastic parts.
I looked at the driver's door lock, it looked "rainproof" and saw no reason to not flush hot water, anyway, it didn't help.
Now I will try vibrations (good vibrations).

 

A cheap endoscope with a 7mm x 980mm snake.

Made out of a "rebar", ground smooth. (smooth enough).

A big hole.

Is it too big?

Still ok, I think.

Larger hole than I needed, still repairable though.

Double lock forced out of position.

This is the left side (driver's door), in double locking position.

At first, it did not look so good.

The black double locking plastic piece.

One tooth might need repair.

The gear is still ok.

Hole filled with epoxy.

Epoxy and a piece of plastic for patching the hole.

The picture is after I got the door open. With the door double locked, I did the following; With my left hand, forcing the door panel as far out as possible without breaking it, I lowered the endoscope down, just inside of the glass, and the heated iron bar through the hole.

Leftovers, no more double locking on this car.

 

The problem was the connectors to the motor.
I took the gear out of the lock and tried with a 12v power supply, nothing happened-
When I removed the motor and put it back again, it worked, the motor was spinning fine
So I just cleaned the connectors, it's working every time now.
(picture shows the left lock, all locks the same)

.

 

Hi All,

I think the microswitch with the "free wheeling part of the travel" might have something to do with the difference between Lock and Dead Lock.

I had a scare - suddenly my rear passenger side door was completely unresponsive in the locked position. Could not open from in or outside - it simply felt jammed. Didn't respond to central locking. Anyway, I had no time to investigate because Thursday I have to drive my son & date to their "end of High School ball" (Matric Farewell Dance in South Africa). Imagine stopping in line with the red carpet and the lady's door being unable to open, while the whole school is watching. Anyway, so I found an auto electrician who specializes in central locking systems. Sent him some pictures from this post. He said it is not identical to the Landrovers he has done, but similar, so he felt confident. My 2 front door locks are sometimes a bit sticky, so he gave me a quote for doing all 4. "Doing" referring to replacing the motors, which according to him is usually the problem, and they age together in this central locking trigger happy car.
Luckily in the following days the door suddenly did open again, so at least he didn't have to work on a stuck closed door when he arrived.
P.S. I washed the car on the morning it suddenly failed - wiping the inside of the windows with Windowlene, a few drops of which surely ran down into the door, but he felt that could not impact the sealed unit.

Anyway, he got to work and seemed to know what he was doing, although I could see it is taking him longer than expected, and maybe my peeking & asking questions also annoyed him. After replacing the motor it was working but not every time.(he opened the old motor and apparently it was worn out). He swopped the diode (there is a diode probably to prevent feedback currents?). Eventually he decided the microswitch is acting up. I asked about cleaning / replacing, but I think he didn't have such parts. Next time I peeked he was soldering a short onto the microswitch, because "the only thing this switch does is make the lock not work correctly". I was not too happy about that, but he was the pro. So it seemed to work well then. He assembled & closed up everything. Then I discovered that the door now goes into Dead Lock every time. That can't be safe with passengers in the car. He clearly didn't want to open it all up again so he didn't charge me and started to dramatically pack up his tools and left. Not a very "pro" move, but I learned I could probably do this myself if I had more time.

If I can source the correct micro switch & motors ahead of time, I will service all mine. I think a "service" should include replacing the motor & switch (or switch cleaner at the very least) cleaning the contacts to the motor & diode (all just pressure fits from what I can see)

a Tip I saw:
Closing the lock to test: I read above how someone could not test because the car thinks a door is open - I saw him "close" the door lock with a screwdriver mimicking the pin in the door frame, in order to do testing.

Take it or leave it Dept:
Grease: He does not put any grease on, in fact he said mine didn't have any grease on to begin with. Apparently they were not manufactured with grease. He said people put grease on, and in the long term it runs down the shaft into the motor and messes up the motor.

Request:
Where can I buy the correct motors & correct microswitches for these X350 Jaguars?

Thanks!

 

Thanks for this tutorial, my door open normaly now

You made my day

DBCane46

 

Can anyone hazard a guess what's wrong with my rear passenger door lock? It can lock or unlock manually from inside the car. However, when using the key fob it doesn't lock or unlock. The actuator makes a loud sound (louder than the others) when I use the key fob to unlock. No sound when I hit the lock button on the key fob. Video below will demonstrate.

 

Hi Greg,

Does that door actuator behave the same way when operated from the driver's door switch? If so, I wonder if the grease in the motor may have hardened. Maybe it would help to disassemble the motor housing, clean away the old grease, apply new plastic-safe grease (white lithium), and also lubricate the moving parts where each end of the cable connects? See svannie's photos of the motor & gears.

Cheers,

Don

 

Hi all,

Thanks for sharing all this info - really appreciate it. I also have a locked/deadlocked/shut RHD UK x350 XJR front passenger door and I'm running out of options...

Symptoms:

• Door deadlocked shut. No clicks from the actuator using central locking.
• Outside handle doesn't appear to connect to anything. Inside handle is visibly connected to the cable and also feels like its connected the other end.
• All other doors work as normal
• Tried repeatedly locking/unlocking using fob/dash button etc - all whilst trying the inner handle - nothing.

Not tried:

• Fuse or relay? Does it have something dedicated? Its the obvious thing to check first I know, but cant seem to track down what fuse applies to that actuator?

Things to do next:

• Have some access as got most of the outer door card off - apart from the bit between the door frame and dashboard - any ideas how to remove that last bit - just pull pit hard and hope the pegs snap?
• Cutting a hole - where do I cut? inner door card? door frame?
• Once I've a hole and have some access to the actuator - is there anything left to try - or do I just start with a hammer and a cold chisel to smash the actuator out?

Any suggestions would be really, really welcome..

 

Hi SWB1,

That is a very frustrating situation!

You don't mention the model year of your X350 - always a good idea since electricals sometimes vary by year. You can find the wiring schematics at jagrepair.com, which will help you locate the associated fuse(s) and relay(s). For example, you can download the 2004 schematics at this link:

Jaguar X350 Electrical Guide 2004

I have had to repair broken exterior and interior handles on X350s and have also had to replace a front door latch. I have not had to face the situation of a door that could not be opened.

If you find that all the fuses and relays are good, one idea you might try is to push in on the door while simultaneously pulling on the interior door handle to see if the latch may release.

I'm wondering if you could remove the bolts that secure the seat to the floor and scoot the entire seat rearward for better access. If you could gently bend the rear of the door trim panel outward, you might be able to snake an arm down into the door to get your fingers on the cables and rods at the latch to see if you can move something that will unlatch the door. It may be easier to get your arm in there by standing outside the car with the front passenger window rolled down.

Hopefully others will have better ideas.

Cheers,

Don

 

Well.. at least your post proves I'm not entirely off the radar!

Great suggestions thank you! only thing I've yet to try is pushing on the door from the outside.. will give that a shot.

I'll take the drivers side (Which opens) to bits at the weekend at least if I can visualise how the mechanism works I stand half a chance of fixing the other side... cant really get my head around it. If the cables still attached from the inner handle but the outer handle isnt could it be mechanical - the rod out of socket?.... I'm guessing its got to be electrical otherwise I'd hear the solenoid go clunk...

Door trim/outer card is loose enough now to get a hand down... it would be so quick to do the job with the pics on this thread... but the inner card is wedged in firmly.. If I could get the outer/trim card off I could probably do it...or at least get a proper shot at hole sawing through the inner.

Edit: Car is a 2004 model (brembo/early car) - thanks for the tip about wiring diags.. chap has pointed out all doors are on the same relay/fuse.

 

If it is one of the two microswitches incorporated in the actuator, you should be able to measure the current "status" of the switches by disconnecting plug CR11 from the rear electronics module and measure the switches via the two wires that are there.
Pin 21 of CR11 is a Orange/Yellow wire that is to the "lock status switch". If the switch is closed then you should get a very low resistance (an ohm or two) with your multimeter between that wire and a grounding point.
Pin 22 of CR11 is a Red/Blue wire that is to the "unlock status switch". If this switch is closed then you should also get a very low resistance (an ohm or two) with your multimeter between that wire and a grounding point.
There should not be a situation where both are open or both are closed as the mechanism should only have two logical parking positions.

If the door is physically locked I would expect pin 21 will measure a virtual short to ground.
If you have neither 21 or 22 measuring to ground, then it is possible either the mechanism is stalled in no-mans-land or the lock microswitch contacts are high resistance.
Technically you might be able to use a test lead and briefly ground pin 21 to artificially confirm to the rear electronics module that the door mech is in the locked position, to then see if it will fire the unlock command to the actuator when you use your fob....if it fires you need to simultaneously remove the short so the REM is then able to look for the unlock switch status without being confused.

Might work, might not, but if it gets your door open so you can replace the mech without too much sacrifice, then it might be worth investigating.

 

Thanks Mark - really appreciate your reply - I'm guessing this might be your day job as its far from an amateur level response!

 

Nearly......I'm an Electronics technician with 40 some years of having my mind screwed with by shonky manufacturers!
Love playing with anything mechanical, electrical, pneumatic or hydraulic.
I just have that type of mechanical mind.

 

I now have an open door!! Thanks to all on this thread for sharing their knowledge. Just to add to the thread - my fix was complicated by my passenger front door being deadlocked shut, with a complete actuator module failure. My inner door handle cable and outer rod were all still attached. Here is what I did to fix it. This route isn't for the faint hearted, and it wont please the purists I'm sure. But if you have absolutely no other option:

You will need:

• Car trim removal tools
• Hole saw (I did say it wasn't for the faint hearted)
• Soldering iron
• Door card clips
• Replacement actuator (old one is destroyed in this process)
• Usual Torx bits for the seat removal.
• Usual personal safety gear
• Read Henrys guide on how to do trim removal with the door open.
• Read Svannies posts about actuator removal

Remove front passenger seat just to give some elbow room. Once done, disconnect the battery.

Use the trim removal tool to remove as much of the the outer door card as you can as per Henrys method. You wont be able to reach the bit at the front where it is squeezed between the door frame and the dashboard. A sharp tug towards the rear of the car should do it. It will come out, you will snap a couple of trim clips, but the door card is robust.

Removing the inner door card intact, with the door shut is impossible. At this point, get the holesaw out. I think you can get away with a much smaller one than I used, 20mm, even 10mm should be enough if you line it up correctly, aim for here:



You should now have a hole through both inner door card and frame. There is no loom the other side of this hole, but once through stop cutting.



Now you have access to the actuator. inside the actuator there is a spinny plastic wheel that has locked in position preventing the cable from opening the lock. Fire up the soldering iron, make sure the other doors are open to get rid of the fumes. Us the soldering iron to 'cut' through the actuator, here:



The white spinny wheel inside is tougher to melt than the exterior of the actuator, but once melted through the casing you should be able to poke in and rotate the spinny wheel... pull on your door cable and your door will open!

The door card is a moisture barrier, I'll probably go back in and use filler/mesh/fibreglass as appropriate - but temporarily I used duct tape on both frame and inner door card (This is the point you realise I'm not an engineer..).

Now your door is open follow the instructions of Henry... replace what you feel like replacing.

A closer look:



My actuator is out of synch with the other doors so I will have to resynch it... annoying, but its a doable fix, and the door locks/unlocks and opens on the key.

 

Neatly done but what caused the problem in the first place if the solenoid works?

 

Thanks Meirion, Apols for not being clear, I meant the solenoid in the new actuator. Might take the old one to bits at some point to see what it was that went - just in case its a serviceable thing for the other doors.

 

Hi Henry,

I've technically fixed mine.. but I believe the lock isn't synched...

In essence, I have a red error 'door open' dash message. All doors lock from the drivers door with a key but wont lock via fob. All doors will unlock via fob.

Can I just double check.. I think if I expose the lock actuator I've replaced in question (passenger front) with the door card removed then close all doors, all unlocked. Then unplug the passenger front lock, then manually lock the other 3 doors using the inside door card button, then plug the passenger front lock back in it should then be synched up?

 

Hi,

It looks like this might be a good place to ask a question about a door being deadlocked.

I have a 2003 XJ6 X350 RHD 3.0L and the front passenger door will not open from the outside, or inside. I had a similar issue with one of the rear passenger doors about 10 years ago and a Jaguar mechanic told be that the door was deadlocked and there was a problem with it hence why it wouldn't open with the inside door handle. He managed to open it by pulling on the outside and inside door handles while I simultaneously operated the key fob a few times. I have tried to repeat the process, as I remember it, but without success. Any help would be much appreciated.

 

Hi Dunedin,

my apologies if it is a stupid question, but you do not mention it, and as you have the problem on the front passenger door, have you tried unlocking it with the key? When I had the same problem with the drivers door, fortunately it worked and I could open the door again.

After that, i did not use the deadlocking functionuntil I was able to replace the lock.

Best regards,

Thomas

 

Hi Thomas,

Thanks for your interest.

Are you referring to globally unlocking the car by inserting the key in the driver door lock and turning it clockwise (towards the front of the car). If so, I did try that without success.

Unfortunately, the problem is now compounded. When I tried opening the front passenger door using the internal handle, the little lock lever dislocated itself behind the door release handle. I have had this problem before and it is possible to get the handle out and relocate the lock lever without opening the door. I'll have to fix this first before continuing to try and open the door.

The front passenger door was opening a few days ago, so I'm hoping that the deadlock will release itself at some point soon.

I think this is a really bad design because of the reliability of these locks. I would like to disable the deadlock facility, but I have been told that it can't be done.