Going for it on the door locks!!!

[CandiMan]

Hoot,
an ordinary spring manufacturer like this http://www.acewirespring.com/spring-guide.html can do them for cents.
Regards

Not to take anything away from that spring manufacturer, have you ever ordered this exact spring from this company? I haven't done the research, but this spring appears to be type specific. Meaning I can't imagine it being used in any other application. If they don't have this exact spring in their catalog, you can bet it can't be made for cents.

 

[German Gr?ner]

Mike,
I searched in the "yellow pages" (telephone index) here, a spring manufacturer not far from the way between my worksite and home, and showed him this photograph

from the broken samples from a Disco-mate. The coil diameter is 3/8" and there are right hand ones and left hand ones, depending on the door You want to repair.
They said: "a minimal quantity from them weighing half pound will cost, ... " i don't remember now, but arround ten dollar, this is ...a lot from springs machine made!
Then I ordered them and next day picked them up. At this moment I did keep with a couple from them and gived the rest to another users during an event (here in Argentina).

So You are right it was not a standard stock product.

Regards

 

[bluejayrover]

My drivers door lock will not push down (95 D1 with 205K), nor can you use the key to turn it. Then it worked again. I'm afraid it will happen again. Is this the same broken spring (or nearly broken) issue? Or is it the actuator itself that is going? Any hints?

Also, there is an alarm issue, but that's a longer story!

Thanks!

 

[CandiMan]

My drivers door lock will not push down (95 D1 with 205K), nor can you use the key to turn it. Then it worked again. I'm afraid it will happen again. Is this the same broken spring (or nearly broken) issue? Or is it the actuator itself that is going? Any hints?

Also, there is an alarm issue, but that's a longer story!

Thanks!

Could be related but I'm not sure. Ultimately you'll probably have to remove the door panel and do a little investigating.

 

[wohlfecc]

When fixing the front left (driver's side in US) door lock, is there a trick to getting the door frame raised up to expose the door latch?

Right now I can't seem to pry the back cover off of the electric mirror, as described in the instructions from the eBay UK spring guy. Thanks!

 

[wohlfecc]

Ok, got the door frame up... turns out it was something rubbing on the frame rail but a little extra muscle prevailed in the end.

Now, about reattaching those linkage arms- ugh! Now that the new replacement spring is installed into the latch, does that affect how hard it will be to manipulate the linkage arms into place? It seems like the one to the driver's inside door latch is especially tight. According to the LR service pic above, it's #8 (control rod between the inside door release handle and the door lock).

Thanks much!

 

[piper109]

I posted this some time back.

There is a fellow selling latch springs for early Scout trucks. It just so happens that the springs for the Scout are almost identical to the Disco 1 springs, just a little lighter wire. I fitted one into my rear door and it works great.
He is willing to make them out of a slightly heavier gauge wire which will then be identical to the Disco ones. He is looking for a volunteer to try one out. Cost will be much less than getting them from UK. First one probably gets it for cost of postage though he may ask you to take a picture or two.

Contact Mike Shimniok at shimniok@ix.netcom.com

 

[raytisj]

yeah, your's sounds more actuator. my lock would still make a vein attempt at popping up, but it couldn't keep it up and solid (that's a softball for you Rob). you would actually need to hold the lock up while opening the door. if it is just the actuator, that is really easy to get to. it is as simple as popping the panel off and removing about 4 bolts and disconnecting the actuator and replacing (think so at least). the actuator in that picture is the rectangularish thing above the 5.

Sorry to respond to something so old. Do you know how I can tell if it's the actuator or the spring? Three of the doors in my 2003 Disco II will not unlock using the fob and you have to superlock it to get them locked.

 

[CandiMan]

Sorry to respond to something so old. Do you know how I can tell if it's the actuator or the spring? Three of the doors in my 2003 Disco II will not unlock using the fob and you have to superlock it to get them locked.

If I had to guess, that sounds like a actuator. The symptom I had with a broken latch spring was that I couldn't open the door (from the inside or outside) with the door handle after unlocking the locks.

Example. I unlock the doors with the remote, locks would unlock, I grab the inside or outside door handle, pull on handle, the locks would then go back down by themselves which prevented me from opening the door. The only way I was able to open the door is by pulling up on the lock while opening the door.

 

[KevLar]

Sorry to respond to something so old. Do you know how I can tell if it's the actuator or the spring? Three of the doors in my 2003 Disco II will not unlock using the fob and you have to superlock it to get them locked.

You can do a simple test to see if the actuator is working by putting your ear up to the inside panel of the door, a few inches below the locking button on the sill and activate the fob. If the actuator is working, you will definitely hear it as it retracts the locking linkage. Test all unserviceable doors the same way. Remember to push in the courtesy light switch (the button on the post that is pushed IN when the door is closed and that tells the computer if the door is open or closed). Otherwise the alarm will go off when you lock the truck with the door open.
If you have an actuator problem, either CandiMan or myself should be able to help. If you are handy you can replace only the motor in the actuator instead of the whole actuator, and you'll end up paying around $10 for motors instead of about $125 per actuator.
CandiMan has a good write up with pictures explaining how to replace the actuator motor.
Kev

 

[seanmcd]

Can you give a quick how to remove the door panel? I plan to take the door apart tomorrow and see what isn't working in the front pass door. The door lock button will go down when you lock the door with fob, but will not go back up. Even if you try to pill it up manually, it will not go up.

If you open the door manually via handle, the door lock button will go up and stays up. Does that sound like the actuator or spring? I have same problem on drivers side rear door.

Thanks for the help, great forum with helpful info.

 

[corrumpu]

I found this thread looking for my problem.. though after reading all the posts it doesn't sound like the same issue.

My driver door and rear passenger (driver side) both work great from the inside (latches) but both doors now refuse to open from the outside. You can occasionally get them to work but not sure what variables allow this to happen (temp, sun, moon, stars ?)

Inside latch works like a charm.

Not a spring issue or is it? Seems everyone is mentioning both don't work (inside and outside latch)

--chris

 

[CandiMan]

I found this thread looking for my problem.. though after reading all the posts it doesn't sound like the same issue.
My driver door and rear passenger (driver side) both work great from the inside (latches) but both doors now refuse to open from the outside. You can occasionally get them to work but not sure what variables allow this to happen (temp, sun, moon, stars ?)
Inside latch works like a charm.
Not a spring issue or is it? Seems everyone is mentioning both don't work (inside and outside latch)
--chris

Most door related issues is either the actuator or spring. If you?re symptoms doesn?t appear to be caused by either, then you?ll have to do some exploratory surgery to try and determine the cause. There's no easy fix without removing the door panel.

 

[mjbrox]

i am pretty sure i need a spring for my rear door.


I have to use the key at the same time that I pull the lever.


is there a place where I can buy the spring?

97 D1 btw

 

[Brian Dickey]

There's a guy on ebay (from England) selling them or you can find them at British Pacific page 12 of their Disco catalog. After four hours I gave up on the back door. I disconnected the power lock latch and use a small spring from Ace Hardware to supply tension to all that linkage to keep the lock up. Now the door can't be locked but I can open it from the outside.

 

[CandiMan]

There's a guy on ebay (from England) selling them or you can find them at British Pacific page 12 of their Disco catalog. After four hours I gave up on the back door. I disconnected the power lock latch and use a small spring from Ace Hardware to supply tension to all that linkage to keep the lock up. Now the door can't be locked but I can open it from the outside.

The rear passenger or cargo door? I've read that the cargo door can be a pain. When it comes to removing the latch, the rear passenger door latch was a lot easier than the front door. The rear passenger door deosn't require removal of the window frame like the front doors. Sometimes shit happens.

 

[mjbrox]

There's a guy on ebay (from England) selling them or you can find them at British Pacific page 12 of their Disco catalog. After four hours I gave up on the back door. I disconnected the power lock latch and use a small spring from Ace Hardware to supply tension to all that linkage to keep the lock up. Now the door can't be locked but I can open it from the outside.

not locking it is not an option for me since I store my MTBiking in the truck. My bike is work more than the Disco

i will check british pacific