See that? That is the door lock mechanism for a MINI Cooper (click through for the how-to at NAM). For those of you that follow along at twitter, you might remember reading last week that my door stopped opening from the inside. So, since I was successful in the fuel pump replacement on Friday, this should be an easy fix.
My fingers are numb and my right hand is covered with grease, but I at least I know 2 things; how to get at the door lock mechanism and how to replace it.
The piece labeled "Inner door lock cable attach point" on mine has worn out. If I had to guess, the spring inside has sprung it’s last time, causing the door pull to not open the door.
The door is locking and does open from the outside. Slightly inconvenient, but it works. Depending on the cost of this part, I might be doing that for a while. I will not be entering and exiting my car like one of the Duke Boys, so get those thoughts out of your head.
I’ve had what seems to be the same failure. What was your final outcome?
Thanks for stoppiing by David.
Turns out that the entire assembly is bad. I don’t have the tools (or small enough hands) to do the repairs myself, so it’s going to have to do to the dealer.
What year is your MINI?
Followup
2003 Cooper s. I discovered the problem when I hopped out to get cash at the ATM and left the car running. Unfortunately the lock didn’t properly/fully unlock so I was locked out with the car running. Now the door handle will eventually open the door with enough tries, but I don’t think that will last much longer. I’ll probably just take it to the dealer.
That sounds completely different than my problem. I’ve always been able to open my door from the outside, it’s opening from the inside that hasn’t worked.
Dealer would be a good bet. Or a good body shop maybe?
Mine also works fine from the outside. The lock out arose because the inner mechanism popped the door latch without fully disengaging the lock mechanism. I can always open from the outside as long as I’ve used the key to manually or remotely unlock the door (toggle switch works too). From the inside it’s a crap-shoot. The door handle won’t unlock the door, though the door pin partially pops up. If I unlock the door with the toggle switch, I can sometimes get it to open if I pull a ton of times.
I figure it’s probably a $70 fix, so maybe $350 at the mini dealer. ;-) assuming they don’t try to sell me the entire door.
I forgot the cost, but it was more than $70 if I remember correctly. Give Colin at a call over at MINI of Ontario and mention I sent you. Probably give you a better price (shipped) than you would get locally from your dealer.
Maybe.