Audi A6 C5 Rear drivers side door

[Peter D]

Audi A6 C5 Rear drivers side door will not unlock. The Button plips and that's it. You can not open the door from the inside or outside.
Using the interior handle does lift the button the whole way but it does not unlock the door.
Any Ideas welcome.

Regards Peter

[ceilidhalfie]

Hi Peter. Yesterday I replaced the rusty front door on my 2002 Allroad with a rust-free resprayed door, so the "internals" (of the front door!) are fresh in my mind. The "button" you speak of is a rigid rod that hooks onto a (fairly fragile it appears) plastic hook on the locking mechanism. So if you are tempted to put grips on the end of it and pull -'don't overdo it.
Have you tried, unlocking car with the fob and then disconnecting the battery? When I removed the electrical connector from my front door locking mechanism, the door lock was now manual and operated only by the handle. If this does not work imho your rear door lock has failed closed (surely not!).
If this is the case, you will have to destroy the interior trim! How much of it depends on how it is fastened on. With the front door, it is only two little screw - on the trim at either side just under the window but located beside the a-pillar and the b-piller so you cannot get at them. The rear door is probably similar to the front in this respect. Also, if you can dremmell (?) cut theses areas away, is there space for you to lift the panel trim up 8cm and lift out? If not, you will have to cut out enough at the door lock end to get at the lever mechanism - below the door lock would be best as there is nothing behing the trim in this area.
If you do not have access to a manual, let me know and I will check you the rear door trim is fastened. HOPING DISCONNECTING THE BATTERY WORKS FOR YOU!

ANOTHER THOUGHT. Occasionally, my rear doors wil fail to de-safe - I notice this when opening either door and the courtesy light does not come on. When clearing all failt codes with VCDS, the courtesy light come back on - always. MAYBE, clearing the fault codes might just unlock the rear door. Worth a try.

PETER - Don't know if this is any help. Friday I was replacing the front passenger door (minus the subframe) and after fitting door handle and locking mechanism (all electrics out), I tried shutting the door to check door alignment and it would not open! MILD PANIC.... but I noticed the small plastic lever (which the end of the knob - not installed - hooks onto) was in the down position. I simply pulled it up and heard the door unlock.
It might therefore be an idea to "fiddle" with this knob to see if you can unlock.
Failing the above, as I said I think the door trim is going to have to be abused!. I am also going to replace the two rear doors on my Allroad and whilst searching e-Bay I did see a few rear door trims for sale - not expensive but will need to match your trim code.

You could also remopve the trim on the other side - take out the two screws, THEN SHUT THE DOOR and see if you can lift off the trim with the door shut. If it does, you could try to identify the exact path of the two screws and then drill out the screws thru the door trim - you might save the door trim that way - fill the drill hole and paint touch up.
Hope above helps and good luck - let us know the final solution!

[Peter D]

Any other suggestions the door is still locked. Regards Peter