Touring headliner and door lock replacement

[Grepot]

I'm looking at sorting out the sagging headliner and door locks in my touring soon.

I've been doing some research regarding the headlining and the guide here suggests removing the windshield as otherwise the headlining card piece can't be removed and it will have to be re-covered in the car. I was wondering if on a touring the card piece can be removed through the boot without having to take any glass out?

Regarding the door locks, the driver's side unlocks via key but doesn't return to center and won't unlock with the key. However, the passenger side is getting stiff now and seems to be fine locking but providing a lot of resistance unlocking and not returning to center as well. Is it worth removing the locks to determine whether they're broken or is it pretty much a given that the lock itself is at fault. I've seen that Cotswold provide a kit for around £50 per door which is what I'm assuming I should go for.

Also, would a vin decoder say if my car came specced with central locking?

Cheers.

[kdevitt]

Headliner is solid - comes out through the boot, no need to remove any glass.

VIN decoder should have whether it was specced with C/L I guess - but just have a look in the drivers side footwell (behind the speaker) and you'll see if the central locking module is in place. Probably worth trying to lube up all the locking mechanism with the car at this age. You can buy a repair kit for the key barrel - I did for mine, but it was the locking mechanism in the side of the door (which connects with the door striker) that was the cause of mine being all stuck.

[Grepot]

Headliner is solid - comes out through the boot, no need to remove any glass.

VIN decoder should have whether it was specced with C/L I guess - but just have a look in the drivers side footwell (behind the speaker) and you'll see if the central locking module is in place. Probably worth trying to lube up all the locking mechanism with the car at this age. You can buy a repair kit for the key barrel - I did for mine, but it was the locking mechanism in the side of the door (which connects with the door striker) that was the cause of mine being all stuck.

Cheers for the reply, cleared basically everything up.

I guess the plan with the doors would be to take a look at the lock first and try lubing it before spending on the refurbishment kit. Going to have a look at the footwell tonight since I seem to remember there's a bulge in the trim near the speaker. I remember checking in the petrol cap and seeing something in the bottom left which is meant to determine whether central locking is present?

With the headlining I'm assuming the rear bench needs to be folded down to remove the panel?

[kdevitt]

Rear bench doesn't need to move from recollection. You do need to remove the trim around the rear hatch I think - at the top and sides, the front visors and the grab handles. Be careful when removing anything at this stage though - the trim pieces are mainly held in by plastic tabs which are pretty brittle at this stage.

[Cloggy Saint]

You need to remove the left and right rear bench bolsters in order to remove the C pillar coverings but the bench can stay as is.

[twright]

I didn't completely remove any of my A, B pillar trim pieces when I removed my headliner yesterday. I only pealed the top part loose, leaving the bottom attached.

I did completely remove the C pillar trim pieces.

[Cloggy Saint]

If you managed to peel the top part loose then there's a good chance you've broken the top retaining clip.

[twright]

If you managed to peel the top part loose then there's a good chance you've broken the top retaining clip.

I think you're probably right about breaking the top retaining clips.

What's the correct way to remove the pillar trim panels?

[Cloggy Saint]

The B pillar covers are removed by first undoing the bolt that holds the seat belt, then the 2 expanding rivets at the bottom and then pulling the whole cover downwards. The A and D pillar covers are just held on with plastic tabs pushed into spire clips, as is the C pillar but that also has a bolt for the rear seat belts.

[twright]

Thanks. I’ll have to repair the upper fasteners on those parts

[Grepot]

Apologies for leaving it a while, but I finally got around to taking some pictures of what I'm assuming is the central locking module?

IMG_20201220_091444.jpg

[Brianmoooore]

Wrong side of the car! CL ECU lives about 2" below the speaker on the driver's side.
Remove the single small crosshead screw near the speaker, remove trim panel over speaker, remove remaining three speaker screws, remove plastic trim piece immediately below speaker inside the sill, and you'll see the top of the ECU.

[HenryM3]

This is the module, you can see it’s on the left side on my lhd car

F82AE675-F600-49B3-9BAE-31E039E3D825.jpeg

[Brianmoooore]

This is the module, you can see it’s on the left side on my lhd car
F82AE675-F600-49B3-9BAE-31E039E3D825.jpeg

It's always on the same side as the pedals.

[Grepot]

This is the module, you can see it’s on the left side on my lhd car
F82AE675-F600-49B3-9BAE-31E039E3D825.jpeg

It's always on the same side as the pedals.

Jesus didn't even realize till I checked right now that I uploaded the wrong picture lol. Thought it would be wise to take two as a comparison for some reason?

Anyway here's the pic from the footwell. I'm assuming the bulge is the ecu or is it tucked in with the speaker?

IMG_20201220_091414.jpg

[Grepot]

I've managed to get around to getting some work done today with regards to the door locks, but I'm not sure how to actually reach them now that I've removed all the trim.

I'm at the stage of removing the door membrane but can't really find any holes through which I can actually view the door lock, all of the guides I've used seem to show layouts for the door interior which are different to mine.

Also, in terms of what's actually wrong with the locking system, the door latch seems to be functioning fine, so I'm that seems to narrow it down to the barrel itself. I'm assuming this means I'll need a refurb kit?

Any advice on how to proceed is appreciated.

IMG_20201228_115139.jpg

IMG_20201228_115836.jpg

Just went back to peeling the membrane and I think I've found part of the barrel assembly.

IMG_20201228_132256.jpg

[Brianmoooore]

4 door frame has considerably less open access than the 2 door.
Fix the glass in place with a with a wooden wedge between the outside seal and the glass, and some tape over the top of the door frame, and remove the window winder mechanism. You'll have to carefully operate the window switch to get it out.
Then remove the single bolt that holds the bottom of the glass guide. It will unhook from the top part, and can be swung out of the way.
Note that an intact door membrane is essential for keeping the carpets dry.

[Grepot]

4 door frame has considerably less open access than the 2 door.
Fix the glass in place with a with a wooden wedge between the outside seal and the glass, and some tape over the top of the door frame, and remove the window winder mechanism. You'll have to carefully operate the window switch to get it out.
Then remove the single bolt that holds the bottom of the glass guide. It will unhook from the top part, and can be swung out of the way.
Note that an intact door membrane is essential for keeping the carpets dry.

I've now managed to remove the locks and they appear to be completely different? The passenger side assembly looks newer, is shorter and doesn't have a spring on the arm piece. The driver's side is older and looks more like the others I've seen.

With the passenger side, the arm piece doesn't have a notch worn into like the driver's side, so is the stiffness of the locking coming from the latch itself?

IMG_20201228_151228.jpg

Finally, how would I go about repairing the lock on the passenger side? I'm assuming I can't order a cylinder repair kit since the lock is fundamentally different. Would I have to go the route of buying a spare lock and then recoding it with the repair kit?

[Brianmoooore]

Driver's door lock turns in both directions. It activates a mechanical dead lock in one direction, but locks the door without deadlock in the other. Passenger door turns in one direction only, and can't be used to deadlock the car. The passenger lock motor incorporates an electrically operated deadlock mechanism, which can be activated by either the driver's door or the rear hatch locks.
Wear on the passenger lock would be extremely rare. I doubt if the lock would have been used a 100 times in the car's entire life.
I don't know for sure, but it's likely that the lock internals would fit, leaving you with a valuable 'L' shaped piece left over - a part which isn't available seperately.

[Grepot]

I've just tested the passenger side lock with my key and it rotates fully and freely but doesn't snap back to center. I'm assuming this is due to the large spring in the center of the tube being worn?

With the driver's side lock, from what I understand the spring lying in the door pocket was part of the deadlocking system. Which is why it only moves the arm piece in one direction to unlock and cannot lock the door.

Are there any places in the entire locking system where I should be applying lube as well. The key is a lot smoother in the lock when it's removed which surely means there's other hang ups in the system?

Also, is there any type of weather sealing for the door I should be buying? The membrane looks pretty awful.

[Brianmoooore]

Small amount of light grease on every pivot point, and every point that one piece of metal pushes or pulls another piece, except for the lock tumblers inside the barrel, which should be lubricated with dry graphite powder.
Unless the spring is broken on the passenger lock, I expect it'll all work properly once the old lubricant is cleaned off, and replaced with new.
The L shaped piece on the driver's lock should flip from one side too the other as the barrel is rotated in each direction. The spring winds until it goes 'over centre' then flips the arm over. The main point of wear is the alloy L where it fits between the steel forks. The forks can be squeezed slightly together to compensate for moderate wear.

[Grepot]

Thanks for the advice. The only issue I can see with the passenger side lock is that the spring seems to have some coils which are pushed outwards but it overall seems to be in decent condition and much less dirty. With the drivers side the external spring has snapped completely so it'll have to be a rebuild kit for that. Hopefully I'll be able to get that sorted out and the headliner started soon.

[Grepot]

Just ordered the driver's side lock from Cotswold, reinstalled the locks and closed everything up. Turns out that my car should have central locking. I've had another dig around in the speaker compartment but can't see a black component like the photo Brian posted. There is however a white plug which I'm assuming leads into the locking module.

Screenshot_20201229-120557.png

[Brianmoooore]

That plug is where the door loom plugs in, and you can just see the two red/black wires which should be disconnected from the plug and joined together as preventative maintenance both for the central locking and the health of the door plug.
One of the red/blacks does lead to the central locking ECU, and goes down to the area underneath where the speaker was fitted. There should be a black piece of plastic hooked over the speaker aperture, right at the bottom. Unhook and remove this, and you will see the locking ECU.

[Grepot]

Thanks for the help, I'll try and get that out soon. I understand it's not possible to diagnose without testing, but do you have any idea why it has completely stopped working? I've never had any indication of any part of the central locking being active during my ownership.

[BenHar]

Common problems are water ingress due to blocked sill drains and over load due to sticky actuators. The latter causes the fused link in the CL ECU to blow.

There are loads of threads about this on here. Try using the search function.

Ben

[Brianmoooore]

Dead central locking, assuming the fuse (27) hasn't been 'borrowed', is usually problems with the driver's door A pillar plug or the thermal fuse in the ECU has gone open circuit. The former is a fault; the latter is a symptom of a fault. Very occasionally, there's a problem with the red/black wire on it's tortuous journey around the car, as we've had a case of this week.
The blocked sill drains that BenHar mentions above, floods the ECU, and causes it to power the locking actuators permanently instead of just for half a second, which usually results in all the lock motors getting cooked, before the thermal fuse opens.

[Grepot]

I've removed the locking ECU which looks pristine, no melted solder in the location the wiki points out and the circuit seems to be all connected on the underside. I've had a look around the speaker compartment which seems incredibly dry. I've also briefly tried and failed to get the C404 connector out to have a look. I'm assuming the next step would be to try the wire mod?

I've also got started on the headliner this morning. I've made decent progress but I'm now stalled at the sunroof. Apparently it's broken since the summer and now doesn't close fully or move upwards into the ramp position. It still has its full range of motion retracting back into the roof. I've tried spinning the bolt around under the plastic cover which helped get it most of the way closed but it cannot be moved any further. The button doesn't give a click when it reaches the end either.

Any help is greatly appreciated.

IMG_20201231_114807.jpg

[Brianmoooore]

Red/black wire mod should be done as a matter of course, as preventative maintenance for the mirrors, windows and locking, but in the meantime, connect a 12 volt lamp of at least 5W, preferably higher, between the red/black and the brown on the locking ECU plug. It should light at full brightness.
Roof is either catching at the rear, or is suffering from hardened grease and lack of fresh lubrication, or both.

[Grepot]

I'll start by lubing the rails on the sunroof and see where that gets me. Is it possible that the lifting mechanism has broken or the temperature is affecting the functioning?

[Brianmoooore]

Adding lubricant in a few places is only a partial and temporary solution at best. It needs to be fully stripped down, including pulling the cables out of their tubes, cleaned and lubricated from scratch.
Take the panel off and work the mechanism to see if anything's broken. There's no known weak points, but anything will break if someone tries hard enough.
Old grease is harder in cold weather.
Beware of the stainless steel pieces if you strip it down. the edges are razor sharp.

[Grepot]

Right, I've managed to get it in the up position with great care using the allen bit under the trim panel. The motor now moves it freely between closed and up but it's essentially stuck in the opposite way now. It refuses to travel backwards to slide into the roof. It feels as though there's a threshold between sliding into the roof and sliding up which the motor can't get past.

I think I'll leave it closed for tonight in case it rains and then try and remove it fully tomorrow.

Also, with removing the headliner, I haven't seen anyone mention the trim piece which covers the touring rear hatch mechanism. I'm assuming this is just held on with plastic tabs like everything else but I'd appreciate confirmation.