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Ramsaye-
I'm guessing the spring lost one end some time ago, maybe a couple of years ago, requiring 'the knack'.
It has been increasingly notchy, but forceable for a couple of months.
Today, I guess either the spring lost the other end, or the broken bit interfered with the remnant.
We'll find out if the pen spring is strong/durable enough.
mespilus
This evening the conservatory door decided to downgrade it self from needing 'the knack' to lock, to inoperative. Hmm. Consoled myself to the hope that being probably 25 years old it did not contain the expensive sounding 'gearbox' of @Ramsaye 's door.
Undid enough screws to allow the mechanism to be taken indoors for scrutiny.
Took the lid off, (after guessing its intransigence was due the hidden 5th screw under the QA label), and was greeted with a bedoinging spring, which did its best to hide under the table.
Carefully scraping off bits of dried out grease and pvc swarf from the mechanism revealed a short spring. Then another. And finally a third. So a spring, with no indication of its anchor point needed replacing. The mug of dead pens offered up a range of suitable-ish springs.
Locating the square spindle (?) and a handle showed what the mechanism was meant to do.
So those flat plates must be activated by the key rotating the barrel. Can't quite separate them, but there is a place where a carefully compressed and located spring could 'live'.
Bedoinging spring could live 'here' but is it meant to push 'that' in or out?
Hmm, nothing to secure it against for 'in, so must be 'out'.
Cleaned all the sliding surfaces, and applied grease. Located both springs, (eventually), and resecured the lid.
Back outside with several torches and bike lights to illuminate cavities in the pvc door.
Just could not locate the mechanism and get it into the hole it emerged from. But then found I was using the wrong anchoring hole. Pencil marks on the pvc door edge to show where the screws would resecure the long door edge sliding bits,
and,
barely two hours after being alerted to a non-locking door,
I was turning the key in the barrel ............ it would not fully turn!
Don't worry, it was only an idiot 'unlocking' an open door.
Pulled door into position, pulled handle up, and turned the key.
The mechanism glid into place, much smoother than I can ever remember.
(Who wastes any memory remembering the action of the conservatory door?)
Son un/locks door to confirm it is 'fixed'.
Just as well there was no 'Wests' tonight, as I would have been very late.