Hey guys. I took delivery of of my Chili Red '05 MCS with 34k on Saturday and could not be happier. I've wanted a MINI since '03, and I think I got a great one. No signs of mushrooming (still gonna get the reinforcement plates because I live in northeast Pennsylvania), no signs of rust, and very clean in and out.

I am having an issue with my passenger door. The door pin will not go up or down in relation to the lock actuation. The door lock works, it opens and locks no problem from the centre panel, and the key. However the pin just doesn't move kinda like it's disconnected from whatever support pushes/pulls on it. Anyone ever had this happen???

I would like to open up the door and see if that's the case, but should I be cautious of anything that could break? I don't have the luxury of a dealer close to me, but I've worked on ever car I've ever owned (2 VWs, Volvo, several Mazdas, etc.).

Thanks in advance all! Can't wait to learn and contribute more to the community.

 

I wonder if the door was ever opened with a "slim-Jim". I once had a similar problem on a different car after a lock-out, when the slim Jim was used to open the door. The tow guy said before he did it that somtimes some of the door internals can get dicconnected, and that is why they usually open the passanger side door.
It seems it should not be too difficult to takes off the inside door panel to investgate, and maybe fix it for free!!

 

Hey now, that's crazy talk!

Good point, never thought of the SlimJim thing. To remove the door cards, undo the screws on the door pull set up, and then does it just pop off clips with some gentle tugging?

 

Removing the door trim on the 1st gen MINIs is pretty easy. Undo the screws (you'll need torx-head screwdrivers) and then pop it off. There are instruction on here which you can find with the search. I believe that on your 05, there is a screw hidden under the padded area on the door pull. There's a catch and then the padded area slides out of the way. Or something like that, I don't have that on my 03.

Then start gently popping the clips out. Start at the bottom of the door, use a taped (to protect the paint) flat-head screwdriver.

As to your actual problem, the button is on the end of a steel rod that clips into a holder that is part of the locking mechanism. It pops off pretty easily with the door cover off, and wouldn't be too hard to miss when reassembling the door. If you take the panel off, you shouldn't take more than about 2 minutes before you are able to start reassembling, unless something is actually broken.

Good luck.

 

If his is like my '04, be sure to remove that circular reflector that hides one of the screws.