Anyone know why my doors won't open?

It started last year with the passenger door. When the vehicle is unlocked for the first time the passenger can't get in or out without yanking on the handle two or four times before the door opens.

Once it is opened it works perfectly fine the first time, every time, until you relook the door, then the game repeats.

Lately the driver's door started doing the same thing — except, I can't open it from the inside no matter how many times I yank on the handle.

To get out I have to drop the window, reach outside and yank on the outside handle multiple times until the door opens.

I consider this to be a safety issue because in an emergency you are trapped in the vehicle!

This vehicle is like the 928 reincarnated with all the electrical gremlins it has, but that's another thread.

 

Marv - you know where we're going to tell you to look... just pull up the carpeting and take a looksee..

 

Do the doors still lock/unlock, can you hear them do so? Sometimes the electronic actuator burns out - my doors would randomly lock while driving and other times they would not lock when parked. With that issue, my door would fail to unlock and then the passenger would have to pull the interior handle twice (once to unlock, once to open the latch) to open the door.

If not, there is an adjustment mechanism for the door pull, it is located behind the right side cover of the door handle. #6 is pops out and is ribbed so that you can lengthen or shorten the pull and then insert it back into the mechanism. I know this works for the outside handle, I do not know if there is an adjustment for the inner handle.

I have to pull on my handles 2x for the doors to open. Some dingus stripped all of the screws to get to the adjustment mechanisms on my pig so I just deal with it.

 

are your drain plugs removed from the inner rocker panels? are your sunroof drains clean? is there water in your ecu and battery under the seat...those are my guesses. good luck!

 

I thought the German double-pull to unlock and then open was completely fail-safe, mechanical, and independent of anything electrical. No?
That's how it seems to be on my Cayenne and X5.
I always assumed it was implemented completely mechanically in the lock actuator mechanism. I could definitely be wrong (tell me), but if so, then the problem is probably there.

 

Pulling 2 times to open from the inside of the car is normal on many German cars. Supposedly prevents unintentional opening of the door while traveling at speed. Though the stats of people being injured by inadvertently opening a door at speed don't seem to indicate that being an issue that causes injuries. Pulling the inside handle more than 2 times or more than 1 time for outside door handle, is normal. If it takes many tries and opening the door from outside means there's a problem. Start with the water issue first.

 

Thanks!

Did that, but my harness has no splices at all. I pulled apart all the wires and found nothing.

No sign of water intrusion, either.

 

Everything's dry.

Post Script, love that 951 in white.

 

Yes, in my 47 years of driving I have yet to fall out of a car while in motion.

I have had one car catch fire and both passenger and myself were able to exit the vehicle with a single pull to the door lever.

 

That looks interesting!

Yes, the door locks fine, but fails to open reliably from outside and inside. I'll check the adjustment. Thanks!

 

Have you tried to unlock the doors with the 'unlock' button on the armrest?

Do you hear the doors unlock when you shut the car off & pull the key?

On mine, the doors automatically lock at something like 3mph. After I shut it down, they unlock when I remove the key. I can hear both of these.

If someone wants to get out, they have to pull the handle twice to open the door. First pull unlocks, second opens.
If someone wants to get in, I have to push the button on the armrest to let them in.

It sounds like an adjustment issue. From the fact that you can open it from the outside, it sounds like the door is unlocked and it's the latch release that needs to be adjusted.
But I could be wrong on that.

 

Look in the Cayenne DIY subforum. I put an article in there with photos on what's wrong when the mechanical handles and cables aren't working

 

Yes, I hear the thunking when the doors unlock just as you describe. The unlock button also works.

 

Awesome. Looking for it now.

Thank you!!!

 

Surely you jest...

Early model 928's also suffered from worn key door lock switches; as key fob remotes were still in the design stages. Closing your door with the key inside the car was a recipe for disaster, as the worn switch would inadvertently lock all your doors. Workshops learned very quickly to leave the driver's window open when entering the service bay.