Originally Posted by pablo_dabs

Hi All,
Is it possible to punch the driver's door lock through to gain access to the door pin mechanism? Or, is this just going to cause a whole lot of damage with me still being stood outside the car?

History of this predicament, somewhat rookie error, bought the car, key worked in the ignition and fobs worked so it seems I skipped checking the door lock. Fine for a couple of years until I had a flat battery and found the previous owner had changed the driver's door lock and not supplied the new key.

The conclusion to this was me committing a junior hacksaw to the front grill to remove the the bonnet latch - I appreciate it's technically possible to reach this without destroying the front, but in practice it was beyond my level of dexterity! Now armed with this info, I never let the battery go flat, but also have a nice little mesh number up front..so not all bad.

A few weeks ago, my original (16 year old key) snapped off in the ignition. No major problem, came out fine or so I thought. I bought a new empty fob as I knew dismantling would likely destroy the original . The spare was a copy a local auto electrics company made, which stopped working after a year, but I dismantled this also to harvest the key. I rebuilt the fob carefully and with no damage to the internals and new batteries. The fob no longer opens the car! Pressing the fob makes the fob make a couple of small quick flashes followed by a longer flash, with no key for the door I'm left with breaking in as my only remaining option. My thought is if I punch the lock through I can buy a replacement handle for a left hand drive without the lock hole (mine is UK). I have also now rebuilt the copy (minus key) after finding that the reason it may not have worked previously was potentially due to the battery contacts not being hooked enough therefore not making proper contact. This fob also acts in the same way... small flashes followed by a more solid flash, but no unlock

Advice very welcome!