# Help! how do I unblock habitation door lock?



## ChrisandJohn (Feb 3, 2008)

We picked up our new to us Knaus yesterday and have been happily working out where to store everything inside.

We now have a problem though with the habitation door. We can't unlock it from either the outside or inside. Looking at the manual it says

Warning: 'The locking lever must be depressed completely to the stop so that the opening mechanism does not become blocked'

It doesn't say how to unblock it though!

Does anyone know how to do this please? It's a Sun Ti 600LF.


Chris


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## joedenise (Jul 20, 2007)

Was it working when you looked at the MH? 

I would get back to whoever you bought it from, whether dealer or private. They should be able to help.

Denise


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## Christine600 (Jan 20, 2011)

My first van (a Concorde) did that the first day I had it. Managed to get it open by slipping a nail file under the handle and gently pushing it.

But your door may have a completely different issue of course.


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## Morphology (Jul 23, 2010)

Difficult to describe. From the inside, look at the bit you pull to open the door. The little flap next to it is the bit you press in to lock it.

First make sure it is fully locked by pressing it in hard.

As you then pull back the bit to open the door, the flap you just pressed in should come back with it.

If it doesn't, wiggle a finger in next to the bit you would press to lock, and pull it back towards you so that it is flush with the bit you pull to open the door. Then try pulling the bit you pull to open the door.

Ours is a bit tempremental and needs the odd wiggle to get it to behave.

If all else fails, the brown panels are just held on with velcro, you should be able to pull them off and free the mechanism up.

I gave ours a good squirt with spray grease, which seemed to help.


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## Morphology (Jul 23, 2010)

Trying again with photos this time.

Make sure the locking latch is fully pressed in (see Locked below).

Pull the opening lever - the locking latch should come back with it. We generally have to do this twice. Once to pull the locking flap back into to place, and a second time to actually open the door.


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## ChrisandJohn (Feb 3, 2008)

Just to clarify some points:

Yes, we had been shown how to lock the hab door from the inside, as Morphology described and had done this a few times. Mostly I had been locking it from the outside, with the key, as I had been in and out the van several times loading it, sometimes though I left it unlocked when I went indoors.

This afternoon John had entered the van via the cab door to move it across our drive a little so we could access the outside storage door. Some time after that I tried to unlock the hab door with the key and it didn't work. We then went inside and tried from there but no luck. Between us we can't actually remember whether he locked it from inside or whether I had left it locked from outside.

Morphology, thanks for your post and excellent description. We've tried your suggestions, apart from removing the panel, which we're reluctant to do at this stage. The caution that I quoted from the manual refers to the mechanism becoming 'blocked', but does not say what to do if this happens. Has yours actually 'blocked', or just been difficult to lock/unlock?

I'm hoping a miracle happens overnight :roll: If not we'll ring the dealer in the morning.


Chris


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## Morphology (Jul 23, 2010)

ChrisandJohn said:


> Has yours actually 'blocked', or just been difficult to lock/unlock?


Not sure I understand the distinction, but if by blocked you mean "won't open from the inside or outside" then, yes (and I suspect this is what the manual is referring to).

To free it I have usually pressed the locking flap in hard, then jiggled the handle until it opens.

There have been comments on the Knaus owners forum about some inner part of the mechanism breaking and it not opening at all, but you'd have to take the inner panels of too see whether that is the case here.

The locks themselves are made by Zadi, and there is a fairly poor diagram of the internal workings on page 21 of this catalogue:

http://www.motorcaravanning.co.uk/pdf/zadi_general_catalogue_2011.pdf


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## ChrisandJohn (Feb 3, 2008)

Thanks everyone. Thought I'd let you know that we resolved this problem by taking it back to the dealer, who found a broken spring and sorted it.

If something like this happens again we won't hesitate to investigate it ourselves, but didn't want to rip off panels so soon after we bought it.


Chris


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## Morphology (Jul 23, 2010)

Phew! Glad you got it sorted.

I had visions of you being still stuck inside, or spending several weeks away clambering in and out via the cab doors....


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## ChrisandJohn (Feb 3, 2008)

Morphology said:


> Phew! Glad you got it sorted.
> 
> I had visions of you being still stuck inside, or spending several weeks away clambering in and out via the cab doors....


So did we! So we were very relieved when they fixed it. We thought we might be told they'd have to order a part etc. etc. Unfortunately though we won't be away for several weeks, just two and a bit in France and three altogether.

Chris


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## Jonathanm52 (Nov 25, 2016)

ChrisandJohn said:


> So did we! So we were very relieved when they fixed it. We thought we might be told they'd have to order a part etc. etc. Unfortunately though we won't be away for several weeks, just two and a bit in France and three altogether.
> 
> Chris


Hi similar problem. I think I have the correct replacement spring but I can see where it should go. Do you have a diagram or other inspiration please? Jonathan


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## ChrisandJohn (Feb 3, 2008)

I'm sorry Jonathan I can't really help. The door locking incident happened over 3 years ago, just after we bought the van. We took it back to the dealer and they fixed it. I believe though that it should be possible to remove the door panelling (if you haven't already done so) and have a look. We were reluctant to do that ourselves at the time as we'd just bought the van and felt we shouldn't have to be fixing it ourselves at that stage.

I hope you manage to work it out, or that someone else on here can be more helpful.

And, welcome to Motorhomefacts by the way.


Chris


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