Unable to lock driver's side door

[CMF_Martos]

Hello. I've unlocked my driver's side door after a few days of snow. Lock was iced up. Warmed the key in hot water and got the lock to open but won't lock again. Can't even lock from the inside. Have heated the lock and used WD40 but to no avail. Any ideas?

 

[CMF_Gary Fintelman]

I would be taking off the door card to inspect all the linkages are ok, then removing the door lock and cleaning it. Should be done in under 2 hours if its your first time.

 

[CMF_33driver]

yeah pretty easy to get the door card of, linkages are fairly basic to work out, i would suspect the mechanism that stops you from locking your door if it is open is stuck

 

[CMF_Martos]

Thanks for the replies. However... I can't get the door handle off. Checked the Haynes manual and am supposed to get a long thin screwdriver and push down on the metal clip and the handle should slide off but I can't get it to budge. My mate's Micra has a metal clip with 2 ends which make it easy to flick the metal clip off. The metal clip on mine seems to go all the way round. Any ideas, ta.

 

[CMF_Polarbear]

Try the other side of the clip? Maybe it's put on the other way around??

 

[CMF_Martos]

Happy New Year! Still got a few hours to go in Scotland til 2010 so I thought I'd post this before. I don't expect any answers for a while lol.
I've stripped down the door, thanks for the tips. Disconnected the rods and the interior handle. Removed the metal parts the rods run through. Taken the three screws on the side of the door to release the lock. Unclipped the window runner and got it out of the way. But the lock still won't come out of the door. Mainly because of the big rusty piece inside the door which seems to cover the part of the lock connecting to the barrel. Haynes manual has no mention of this. Before I go attempting to remove this thing, any ideas? Here is a pic of the rusty thing, lol. Ta for any help.

 

[CMF_Martos]

Hi. I'm not trying to lock the door while it's open although I have done that a couple of times lol.

 

[CMF_Martos]

Finally got into the lock cylinder and removed it. A few turns of the key and the barrel now seems to be free. Only thing is I'm not sure that the ends of the spring are where they should be. Perhaps this was the problem with the lock all along. Please take a look at the picture and tell me if you think that the end of the spring needs to clip in anywhere, possibly above where it is now... Any replies appreciated.