Driver's door won't shut!

[Electric Sheep]

Last night we had a pretty hard frost. My Mini was covered in ice, despite having been covered up with a full-sized car cover thing all night. When I got in this morning, the gauge read -1.5C. Brrr...

I started the car as normal and then noticed that the aerial wasn't on, as I'd taken it off the previous night to allow the cover to be put on. When I tried to open the door, it wouldn't open, so I tried again and again and eventually got it open. Thoughts of "I'm trapped inside my Mini" and the thread in General Discussion entered my head.

I put the aerial back on, got back in and tried to shut the door. It wouldn't shut. It kept bouncing off the lock mechanism. I tried the central locking switch, all to no avail.

I've tried closing the door with the window fully down in case it was the glass catching on the seal or something but that makes no difference.

So, I called Mini Emergency. That was about an hour ago and they've only called me back five minutes ago to let me know that someone's on their way to have a look at the car (and even so, it may take them up to an hour). Hopefully they should be able to repair it. I can't drive it until they do, as the door will be flying open all the time!

Hmm... whilst I love my Mini dearly, it is definitely in my bad books at present. Stupid car. Still, it's only a minor thing... (I hope).

<sigh>

[KenL]

Has your dealer put some grease on the lock mechanism at some point that could have frozen ?

Or...

It could be that a little lever has stuck in the wrong place and needs releasing. When I was trying to fix my boot lock from knocking I got it stuck in the wrong place but managed to release it by pushing on it with the key.

Please watch the emergency service guy at work and let us know how he fixes it.

KenL

[gromit]

How did it work out?

[sjbartnik]

Sounds like the latch mechanism is simply frozen. Did it rain recently or have you washed the car recently? Perhaps some water got where it wasn't supposed to and then froze.

I have heard of this happening occasionally with other cars as well.

It should be fine once it warms up, either park it in the sun (oh wait, you are in the UK ) or if possible try to heat up the door latch with a hair dryer or heat gun.

[Electric Sheep]

Around 10.50am this morning (about two hours after I originally called Mini Emergency Services), a guy pulled up in a flashy BMW 5-series Tourer (= wagon = estate). I told him the door wouldn't shut and he tried shutting it himself, to no avail. He then got his key out and poked it in the bottom part of the latch mechanism on the driver's door and released the latch. After that, it worked fine! He told me it would be a good idea to stick some de-icer in the locks, so I gave him a can and got him to do it. He then left, whilst I sat in the car, waiting for it to warm up. And that's that. I was a bit nervous about getting out of the car at work but there were no problems with my beloved at all.

Fortunately it was only a simple problem and was quite easy to fix. He told me that the cold had prevented the cable from pulling the locking mechanism fully open (or shut, don't remember exactly) or something like that. It can also be fixed by pulling on the silver door release thingy on the door several times (apparently).

Oh, and I got to work two hours late. Before I knew it, it was lunchtime...

[Electric Sheep]

Picture of my beloved Audrey in her poorly state:

[Electric Sheep]

The lock on the driver's door. The bit the guy played with is the black bit on the right, IIRC.