new owner-- Doors stuck

[Spider4me]

Hi all, Newbie to the world of Lotus but well versed in other marques. Recently picked up 2 Lotus +2's so will be doing lots of asking questions.

Ok, did a search by Doors stuck and found some ideas but the blue car has been sitting outside under a cover most of the time. Drivers side, LHD, window partially down and reaching in can move the lock freely and the door latch both inside and out. It still won't open. Wondering how much force I can use and is there a trick that i should know about?

thanks
neil

[innesw]

Hi Neil,

This might sound weird but can you hear the rods moving in the door when you use either the inside or outside door handles?

I recently rebuilt my door but once I put the door card on, one of the rods detached from a handle. When trying to open the door you could hear the rod moving and hitting/bouncing off other things inside the door.

When I first started my rebuild, my locks were very sticky and not working, sometimes it would take a fair pull to open the door as the catch would stick as it was out of adjustment. Just make sure when it does release there's nothing for the door to crash into. Fibreglass isn't very tough being slammed against a brick wall of a garage.

Innes



p.s. interesting seats you've got in the blue car, any information?

[JJDraper]

Sounds like the rods connecting the inside handle to the door latch have become detached - they are held in place with slim split pins and can rust. Do not force the door! You will damage the fibreglass - after all they are designed to keep the doors shut in a shunt. If you cannot get the door to open with a key, and you can't get inside to dismantle the door card & latch gubbins - consider two drastic actions. Drill out the door lock barrel or otherwise force it open that way. Lock barrels are quite cheap and if you don't have a key, you will need new ones anyway. Second is more drastic - take out a front or rear windscreen to get access to the interior and hence get at the door cards that way.

The actual door latch is quite straightforward (crude) but effective. You don't mention which type of +2 you have - early or late, as they have different mechanisms. If you have exterior door handles with integral locks its early; if they are separate, it is a later one. Looking at the interior of the blue car, it looks like an earlier one as it has a centre console with a hinged cover.

The picture is of a door latch as seen from inside with the door card removed. To open the door you need to pull the square thing with the squarish hole downwards & you will hear the door latch open, hopefully....

Jeremy

[EPA]

I can't speak for the later models with the separate lock but the catches on the earlier version with integral locks can be accessed and operated by taking off the door cards. If the door is stuck shut then this would mean breaking the door card around the portion directly opposite the door handle but this is a better option than damaging the door etc.
The doors sometimes cannot be opened due to incorrectly adjusted linkages or they can get bent or disconnected.
Good luck
Ed

[Spider4me]

Success! was able to open the passenger side door today. Thanks for all of your tips. Will post more pics in a day or so once I get all the junk out of the interior and can open the DS door.
neil

[billwill]

Success! was able to open the passenger side door today.
neil

For the benefit of future owners who hit this problem, can you please describe what you needed to do.

[Spider4me]

Removed the windshield as it was the easiest option and was able to yank on the latch pull rod to get it to release. currently removing old carpets to get the moisture and leaves and stuff out.
More progress woohoo!
Thanks for the suggestions, all.