Fiat x290 passenger door locking with non working central locking

[darcywick]

The central locking on my Fiat X290 failed meaning that there was no way to lock passenger door there being no key access and no visible internal method to lock it. After extensive enquiries the following method was discovered. With the passenger door open there is hole visible above the lock mechanism, insert the ignition key and gently move until the key fully enters the door. This will operate the door lock and the door can now be closed and the lock is functional. To open operate the door lever from inside the van

[Keithl]

Dave,

 

You should have come and asked the forum members, the answer has been posted several times before!

 

For example... http://forums.outandaboutlive.co.uk/forums/Motorhomes/Motorhome-Matters/Locking-cab-door/40265/

 

Keith.

[darcywick]

I had seen the posts on locking X250 door by moving a plastic catch in X250 hole in passenger door. On the latest X290 it is different as you have to insert the key fully in the hole and it seems that the key coding is read.

[Derek Uzzell]

Could you be more specific about your use of the term “the latest X290” please?

 

This video-clip

 

 

demonstrates mechanically locking a Ducato’s passenger door and the demonstrator uses a screwdriver to operate the door’s internal locking mechanism, not the vehicle’s ignition key. This is the time-honoured technique used on X250 and X290 models, and it’s certainly the method I’ve used to mechanically lock the passenger door of my 2015 Ducato X290 when its central-locking played up.

 

All of the Ducato Owner Handbooks for X250 and X290 models advise that the passenger door can be mechanically locked but do not explain how to do this. There’s no external keyhole or internal locking-button on an X250/X290’s passenger door, so if the vehicle’s starter-battery is disconnected, or the appropriate fuse fails, or there’s a fault that prevents the vehicle’s central-locking from beng used, 'mechanical locking’ will be required to secure the passenger door.

 

As one of the reasons for needing to mechanically lock the passenger door is because the starter-battery that powers the central-locking is disconnected, I find it difficult to understand how the method you’ve described (“..you have to insert the key fully in the hole and it seems that the key coding is read”) would work, as there would be no electrical equipment active that would permit the key coding to be read. I’m also wary that a methodology that’s been used since the X250 was introduced in 2006, and that does not require the ignition-key to mechanically operate the passenger door’s lock, should suddenly be changed when there seems to be no great incentive to do so.

 

My 2015 Ducato is an X290 model, but it’s not the ‘latest’ Euro 6 version that began to be marketed in 2016. The ignition key is not needed to mechanically lock my Ducato’s passenger door: as demonstrated on the YouTube video-clip, any suitable tool (eg. a screwdriver) can be used to twiddle the locking mechanism.

 

It may be the case that the mechanical locking technique altered with the advent of the Ducato Euro 6 X290 in 2016 (or even more recently) making it necessary to employ the Ducato’s ignition key to mechanically lock the passenger door. But I’m not aware of this having happened and - other than your comment here - I can’t find anyhing on-line to suggest that using the ignition key (rather than say, a screwdriver) is now essential.

 

More background please.

[Derek Uzzell]

Out of curiosity I’ve further experimented with manually locking my Ducato X290’s passenger door and I was not able to do this using the vehicle’s ignition-key. However I could do this easily using a screwdriver, or the key that opens my Ducato’s habitation door and exterior lockers (or using any other ‘pointy’ tool for that matter).

 

It does not seem practicable with my 2015-built Ducato to insert the ignition-key any real distance into the hole in the passenger door (let alone fully into the hole as darcywick mentions above), so the lock and manually locking procedure may have changed with more recent Ducato X290s.

 

It would be helpful if darcywick could confirm the build-year of his/her Ducato X290 as, if the manual locking method has altered and the ignition-key MUST now be used, that information would be valuable.