Range Rover Door Lock Problems
By Alan Richer
Q. Why is it that once in a while when I place the car in Park, turnoff the ignition, and remove the key I can't unlock the drivers door? I have to reinsert and turn the key and lower the window to open the door from the outside?
A. This could be one of a few things. One thing that comes to mind is the park interlock switch may be a bit out of adjustment/flaky - it doesn't think you're in Park. The second (and more likely ) one is the locking mechanism in the door. The door lock mechanisms on a RRC are a mix of plastic and metal - and the plastic pivot points do fatigue and crack after a while. This induces looseness in the lock mechanism so that the internal pull won't work properly - it's a PITA but not all that hard (however most annoying) to fix from inside the door. With the door skin off you'll need to look at the pivots and rods that connect the remote locking to the lock pull, and from there to the lock mechanism inside the door and the lock on the outside. If the pivot points aren't cracked then often you can adjust the pull rods so that the lock disengages lower in the pull - this should fix the problem.
If the plastic pivot points are actually broken, however, there's nothing to do with it but replace the lock mechanism. What you end up doing is having to partially disassemble the door (removing the window frame) to allow the lock mechanism to be removed and replaced. They're available from the usual suppliers (about 60 bucks last time I bought one). it's not a fun job, but well doable with hand tools if you're patient.
Q. Today While trying to figure it all out I pushed the drivers door lock down while the door was open and despite all the safe guards, all the doors locked. I was able to unlock the passenger door with the key but not the drivers side. Is it just me and my Rover or is this a common problem? A point of interest; my owners manual describes how to unlock the door from the outside but fails to explain how to perform that feat from the inside. I would have thought you would just pull-up on the lock buttons but that doesn't work for Rover.
A. What you describe here may well be related to your inability to lock/unlock as mentioned above. The fact is - pushing up and down on the lock button inside should actuate the locks with no problems. This looks like the same problem above in a different manifestation. You've got to get inside the door and have a good look at what's going on with the rods and pivots.