URGENT HELP REQUIRED! Door won't open, something mechanical br

[Stephtell]

Jesus wept....

Fitted a new windowregulator in the front driver's door today.

All went well, put door back together and tested window, doorhandel and lock and all was well.

Shut the door, reopened and again: all was well.

Shut the door again, this time it won't open and it feels like the doorhandel isn't attached to the mechanism anymore (no springaction) BUT the dooropener inside does spring back but doesn't open the door!!??

The only thing I can think of now is to remove the reardoor to gain acces to the two bolts that hold the lockbarrel in place so I can remove that and hopefully manage to open the door somehow...

Any advice on removing the reardoor and/or how to open the front door without breaking everything??

Any help much appreciated!

[Ahsai]

Sorry to hear your ordeal. Sounds like a very difficult problem. Sounds like the bowden cable unhooks from the inside door handle? If so, maybe you can remove the inside door handle, fish the cable and pull on it to unlock?

[scubatahiti]

yea it sounds like a difficult situation. You may have to take as much off the inside of the door as possible to get a hold of the release. Not sure of any tricks there from what i remember when i took apart my Touareg door. I am sure they are close to the same mechanically.Everything i see from the inside is you have to be able to remove the trim panel first. From the outside you have to have the door open in order to access the outside handle. You may have to go through the AC vent to get to it so you can pull the release.

[Ahsai]

Also, the other thing is need to make sure the lock actuato is in unlocked position to rule out the possibility it is in the locked position and nothing is unhooked. Any power supplied to the door? Fuse to door lock acutator ok?

Edited January 21, 2014 by Ahsai

[Stephtell]

Thing is, I can't remove the doorpanel because that's a no-go...

There is power to the door, I can lock and unlock it but I can't open it....

I think it must be due to the cable getting undone but how to get to it...

How does my idea sound to remove the rear door so I can acces the bolts that hold the lockbarrel in place, pull the lockbarrel and fish for the cable?

What's the best way to remove the reardoor? Just unbolt it from the hinges? That's only three bolts and won't change the alignement I guess.....

Thanks for commenting, atleast I'm not alone in my crusade....

[Ahsai]

Thing is, I can't remove the doorpanel because that's a no-go...

There is power to the door, I can lock and unlock it but I can't open it....

I think it must be due to the cable getting undone but how to get to it...

How does my idea sound to remove the rear door so I can acces the bolts that hold the lockbarrel in place, pull the lockbarrel and fish for the cable?

What's the best way to remove the reardoor? Just unbolt it from the hinges? That's only three bolts and won't change the alignement I guess.....

Thanks for commenting, atleast I'm not alone in my crusade....

Yea, undersand your problems. Even if you removed the rear door, the B pillar is in the way and there's no opening to connect to the front door. Check out the video at 7:48s here, which shows the B pillar is solid (of course hollow inside but no holes). It also shows how to remove the rear door (the 3 bolts like you said).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pdt4XCuMIp8

[Stephtell]

There is a way though: I can see the two small holes in the door that give acces to the two small bolts that hold the barrel in.

I think you have those confused with the two bolts that hold the latching mechanism....?

[Ahsai]

There is a way though: I can see the two small holes in the door that give acces to the two small bolts that hold the barrel in.

I think you have those confused with the two bolts that hold the latching mechanism....?

OK, got it now. Not sure if that will work. Stupid question, does this apply to your model http://blogs.cars.com/kickingtires/2011/07/how-do-you-unlock-a-2011-porsche-cayenne-hybrid.html

[Stephtell]

Nope, unfortunatly not...

[Ahsai]

This link may be helpful http://forums.rennlist.com/rennforums/porsche-cayenne-forum/763010-door-lock-central-locking-not-working-on-one-door-please-help.html

In post #12 there's a pdf describing the door lock and the two holes you mentioned. Not sure if it's applicable to your model though and of course all the decriptions assume the door is already opened. On pg 13 of the pdf, it describes a small cable attached to the outside door handle. Wonder if that cable can be used to open the door.

[wvicary]

Ive opened front doors before when the mechanism has failed by removing the rear doors ( very easy to do ), you can then access the area and using a small cut off disc to cut through the latch plate attached to the "B" pillar. You then need to bend the latch slightly and it will slip through the mechanism in the door catch and the door will open with only damage to the latch plate which can be repaired by welding or the replacement part is inexpensive.

[Stephtell]

Thanks for that, will go at it again today.

I'm hoping that I can open the door by pulling the little cable that attaches to the doorhandle, if not I'll get the grinder out...

This car is doing my head in...hardly got to drive it before someone parked it into a concrete post, then the window failed and now the lock...pfffffff......

[stutzchris]

I had the same issue on my wife's 2006. I had to order in a door opening kit with a Porsche specific slim jim, Wood not open from inside or outside. Go it open took door panels off and got the inside handle to work, but not the exterior handle .... It is like cracking a safe to get in there. You have to drill out the rivets and be patient to remove the inner workings. I wish I could tell you what I exactly did to get the inside handle to work but it is a mystery to me .... I played with the cable and it magically worked for the inside handle ... not so lucky for the outside. I have a friend at a body hop who will help me this spring with the exterior handle ....

[Stephtell]

HA!

Pulled the reardoor off, three screws and max. 5 minutes work, removed the two small bolt that hold the lockbarrel in place, pulled the barrel out and....hey presto!

Both inside and outside openers are fully functional again!

So, all is well now but for one thing:

There are two small bolts that hold the barrel in right? The tiny on on top and the larger one beneath that.

Somehow there seems to be a tiny metal 'strip' partly in the way of the lower bolt...if you just screw it in regardless it pushes said strip out of the way and you can seat the bolt but for some reason I don't the strip (for lack of a better word) was there upon first removal....or is this normal??

CHRIS: don't drill out the rivets! This is what I did the first time round but there's no need!

If you look for a post by about removing the inner doorpanel you'll find a manual describing how to do it the proper way!

Seems a lot of work but after doing it a few times now I can removethe complete doorassembly in ten minutes, once you have the doorframe out of the car all the parts such as lock, windowregulator etc. Are easily accesible!

[Ahsai]

Congrats! So after removing the lock barrel, how did you open the door? Also, did you find out what was wrong?

[Stephtell]

That's the thing...after the barrel was removed I could open the door without further work...I've refitted the barrel again and now it worksas it should...?

[Ahsai]

That's interesting. Based on the thread I sent you above seems these door locks can be finicky. People even talked about tricks to open the door from the outside by pushing the handle firmrly toward the car first. The pdf also talks about when tightening those two bolts for the barrel, you need to push teh barrel toward the car first or something like that....

[pugs2bb]

This is very common if you have the outer door handle cable adjusted to tight. If you push the door in while unlocking and pulling the handle, it will usually open.

[Stephtell]

**** the bed....

Guess what? Tried to open the door this morning but no joy...

So out with the reardoor again, openend the frontdoor, removed the complete inner doorpanel, checked everything, reassembled, tested and worked fine.

Closed door, re-opened and all was well.

Locked door, unlocked and.....no joy.

Only when I pull the cable by hand does it open after it has been locked/unlocked and NOT with the handle.

Loosening the cable doesn't make sense but I tried it anyway and no joy. Tightened it up and the handle functions UNTILL the car has been locked/unlocked...after that the cable only work by hand...

WTF???!!!

The only thing that comes to mind is that the cable has too much free play somehow so you need to pull it out further by hand or else it won't activate the actuator.

How to solve that though, I've no idea...

Also doesn't makes sense that it only starts to act up after locking/unlocking and yes, the lock does disengage so it isn't still locked...

Please...for the love of God....

HELPPPPP!!!!!! :-)

[gbratk]

This should be useful:

http://www.inkilino.es/Porsche_Cayenne_02-06/DOOR%20REAR%20LOCKING%20SYSTEM.pdf

http://www.inkilino.es/Porsche_Cayenne_02-06/DOOR%20FRONT%20LOCKING%20SYSTEM.pdf

[Stephtell]

Thanks a lot mate! Exactly what I needed but I'm unsure about the 'locking the receiver in place warning' ...not sure if I did this right or not...the weird thing is that everything seems to be exactly right so why oh why won't it play nice....

[Stephtell]

SOLVED!!!

And, as it turns out, it was a small oversight when re-assembling the door...

You need to secure a small spring to the actuator before assembling.

If you don't, it'll will all work fine...untill you use the central locking, after which you will not be able to open the door anymore...

Thank you all for helping out, I can remove and refit Cayenne doors and doorcards in a matter of minutes now so I guess atleast my skilllevel has improved!

[Ahsai]

Congrats and good job fixing it once and for all.

[WhisperBlade]

Ran into this problem today. Saw this post. Will be trying to take out the rear door tomorrow.

On another note; How DO I remove the rivets on the door panel? I've gotten as far as removing the door trim but still can't figure out the rivets... if there's an easier way than drilling or hammering, I'm all ears...

[WhisperBlade]

For anyone who might have this problem in the future:

Rather than taking the door out from the back or cut the door open, you can take a very sturdy but slim coat hanger and pick out the handle tension cable.

Simply pull the handle out as much as you can (Not forcefully of course), insert coat hanger between lock cylinder and handle and feel around until you disengage the cable from the outside handle.

You should now be able to open the door from the inside.