Side sliding door issue - door jammed open

[Grand Tourismo]

Would you Adam'n'Eve it!!
Yesterday I saw my first "foreign" MP out on the road - foreign meaning one that I do not recognise from my local area.

It was a beautiful Cavansite Blue '19 plate and we were facing each other on the Tesco roundabout in Wellingborough.
I was waving at them because they had a really nice MP, they were waving at me because my side sliding door was jammed half open (I'm a door half open rather than a door half closed type of guy).
Turns out the side door motor has burned out and therefore the cable mechanism just jams it tight in whatever position the door is in at the time.

MB assist couldn't get to me until between 7pm - 9pm so I opted to drive my vehicle to my local dealer. I simply didn't want to risk leaving the vehicle outside overnight with storm Eva passing by and I had no idea if MB assist would be able to....assist that is.
Anyway turns out it is possible to disconnect the cable and return the door to manual if anyone needs to, but don't ask me how just yet as I don't know. I will report back on this thread when I know more.

So thank you blue MP in Wellingborough for trying to help out, and it is just my luck that you turned up at the most embarrassing moment Morris and I have had to encounter so far!!

 

[SteveR]

Wow, that's a new one. Not heard of any instance of that before GT
Yes, it will be good info on how to override when you find out more

Ummm... 'Morris' ?

 

[Grand Tourismo]

Wow, that's a new one. Not heard of any instance of that before GT
Yes, it will be good info on how to override when you find out more

Ummm... 'Morris' ?

Van Morris...or Morris Van...it's a long story

 

[GeorgeG]

Would you Adam'n'Eve it!!
Yesterday I saw my first "foreign" MP out on the road - foreign meaning one that I do not recognise from my local area.

It was a beautiful Cavansite Blue '19 plate and we were facing each other on the Tesco roundabout in Wellingborough.
I was waving at them because they had a really nice MP, they were waving at me because my side sliding door was jammed half open (I'm a door half open rather than a door half closed type of guy).
Turns out the side door motor has burned out and therefore the cable mechanism just jams it tight in whatever position the door is in at the time.

MB assist couldn't get to me until between 7pm - 9pm so I opted to drive my vehicle to my local dealer. I simply didn't want to risk leaving the vehicle outside overnight with storm Eva passing by and I had no idea if MB assist would be able to....assist that is.
Anyway turns out it is possible to disconnect the cable and return the door to manual if anyone needs to, but don't ask me how just yet as I don't know. I will report back on this thread when I know more.

So thank you blue MP in Wellingborough for trying to help out, and it is just my luck that you turned up at the most embarrassing moment Morris and I have had to encounter so far!!

I had a problem with my electric door not closing fully. It went in for repair under warranty - would have cost about £1,500 if I’d had to pay for it. Not quite sure what they did, but it was fairly major. My sister-in-law, who uses a Vito for transporting her sculptures, has 2 electric sliding doors which have both failed. It was touch and go whether to scrap it or not because of the cost.

My go-to guy in the Westfalia factory tells me that in Germany people tend to buy ‘vans, if possible, with everything manual - roof, door, seats etc because eventually they will all fail at some considerable cost.

Many years ago I had a BMW 2002 tii Lux. Apparently the ’Lux’ spec was peculiar to the UK because BMW felt it was necessary to ‘bling-up’ cars for the Brits because they considered us susceptible to unnecessary accoutrements.

When I had a California several years ago I remember reading about a number of electric roofs that failed. There was a case of a couple who had to secure their roof in a semi-closed position and drive back from the South of France at no more than 30 mph!

Hymer use manual roofs on their van conversions. Putting the roof up is very quick - probably quicker than the MP electric roof - and fool proof.

On the question of sliding doors, VW had a better solution in my opinion, with the use of an ‘electric’ catch which just secures the door after the initial manual slide.

 

[Method7]

I’m sure there will
be after market parts or conversions available for all these things, my old V280 had air suspension on the rear, was very vulnerable to the climate and would pack up every couple of years due to corrosion in the valve, a simple clean and lube would fix it but you had to remove the pump from under the vehicle to do it. The first time it happened MB said the pump wasn’t serviceable, they fitted a new pump at over £1k, I told them to put the old one in the boot.. fixed it myself and just swapped them over each time it happened after that.
There was a much cheaper after market spring conversion available but I liked the ride quality of air so stuck to the occasional afternoon on my back under the van.

The horizon has a manual roof so I would imagine a conversion from electric to manual would be quite easy, maybe not that cheap coming from MB but it’s much less faff… the only MP we saw before we made our purchase of the horizon was sat on the forecourt and the roof would move about a inch then cut out with alarms sounding, I thought that is far too much of a risk. My roof is up, down and locked in less time than you can open/close the drivers door window.

I have to agree it is a concern with two electric sliding doors and a not very easy, easy pack tailgate.

 

[Grand Tourismo]

I had a problem with my electric door not closing fully. It went in for repair under warranty - would have cost about £1,500 if I’d had to pay for it. Not quite sure what they did, but it was fairly major. My sister-in-law, who uses a Vito for transporting her sculptures, has 2 electric sliding doors which have both failed. It was touch and go whether to scrap it or not because of the cost.

My go-to guy in the Westfalia factory tells me that in Germany people tend to buy ‘vans, if possible, with everything manual - roof, door, seats etc because eventually they will all fail at some considerable cost.

Many years ago I had a BMW 2002 tii Lux. Apparently the ’Lux’ spec was peculiar to the UK because BMW felt it was necessary to ‘bling-up’ cars for the Brits because they considered us susceptible to unnecessary accoutrements.

When I had a California several years ago I remember reading about a number of electric roofs that failed. There was a case of a couple who had to secure their roof in a semi-closed position and drive back from the South of France at no more than 30 mph!

Hymer use manual roofs on their van conversions. Putting the roof up is very quick - probably quicker than the MP electric roof - and fool proof.

On the question of sliding doors, VW had a better solution in my opinion, with the use of an ‘electric’ catch which just secures the door after the initial manual slide.

Thanks for the report, I am not so worried about this George to be honest...it's not an issue I have heard of repeatedly and my extended warranty has covered the costs.
The replacement door motor is not in UK stock until 16/8 (two weeks away) not sure why it is held in German stock and not here in the UK.

I get my MP back tomorrow to use until then but in manual form... so will report on how they have disconnected the cables for anyone wishing to do so.

 

[Grand Tourismo]

Anyway turns out it is possible to disconnect the cable and return the door to manual if anyone needs to, but don't ask me how just yet as I don't know. I will report back on this thread when I know more.

****This door assembly is heavy, any lost, damaged, broken, nipped, bruised fingers/arms/legs/heads are at your own risk!. It goes without saying make sure your vehicle is parked on a level surface and/or jam the door from being able to trap your fingers when carrying out this get-you-home fix!!!
If you can, disconnect the power supply to the door by pulling a fuse and unless you are confident in what you are doing just give the assist people a call and... be safe people!! ****

The way the door puller works is on a simple cable system, using cables very similar to the old pushbike brake cable (with the little soldered nipple on the end).
In order to close the door you want to disconnect the cable which runs from the door shuttle towards the rear of the vehicle.

The door has three simple connection points, a roller runner at the top and bottom and a shuttle roller which is located roughly half way down the door towards the rear of the door. (just make sure all these running surfaces are clear of a jam, it might be this rather than the door motor)
Within the shuttle guide you will see a white plastic cup and the brake cable nipple sits within this cup, try to put a little pressure on the door by pushing it towards the rear, which should give enough slack to release the cable nipple from the cup. Pop it out and that's it!
Coil the now loose rear cable neatly away and store it in the end of the door runner slot until you are ready to reinstate it.

The door will now fully close and lock because the rear pulling cable has been disconnected, but the front cable is not yet disconnected so the door will not yet open fully (effectively it will only open as far as it reaches the end of the cable front length). In order to release this one you will have to start thinking about changing out the seized door motor.

(it may be possible to remove the front cable by removing the two large Torx bolts and taking the door slide cover off, maybe this will give you enough room to wriggle an arm in and remove the nipple but I have not tried this and I do not know if it will work)

Good luck, I hope this fix gets you home

 

[SteveR]

....Good luck, I hope this fix gets you home

Nice work GT
Thank you