Door Stuck Closed - Not a Stretched Cable
#1
08-18-2018, 11:46 AM
Door Stuck Closed - Not a Stretched Cable
OK, so the doors have been acting up a bit of late, and finally, they both got stuck shut, neither interior nor exterior door handles would work. Some patience got the passenger door open, and I removed the door panel, then removed the latch, cleaned it, lubricated it, and reinstalled it. It works flawlessly now. However, the driver door is stuck closed, and no amount of persuasion seems to be able to get it open. I have snaked a stiff coat hanger onto the latch mechanism, as well as a fiberglass rod, and I can push the latch mechanism down as far as it will go, and it will not open (the door is unlocked, based on the button). This is not a "stretched cable" issue, as far as I can tell.
The door locks and unlocks via the console switch, it will lock if I press the button down, and it will unlock if I pull the interior handle. Still, the door latch will not release. I have removed the seat and the first door panel, but there is no way that I can seem to get the inner door panel off of the car, as one of the screws is blocked by the dash, and even then, I cannot get my arm up into the door to remove the three screws holding the top of the panel to the aluminum piece along the top. I could do this with the passenger door, as it was open and I could position my arm such that I could reach those three screws.
There are a number of other threads out there with a similar problem, but I have yet to find one with any sort of resolution.
Has anyone else run into this problem?
Tom
PS: The passenger window was replaced a while back, and one of the clips that goes between the aluminum and the glass is broken. Does anyone have a lead on where I could find that? A part number?
The door locks and unlocks via the console switch, it will lock if I press the button down, and it will unlock if I pull the interior handle. Still, the door latch will not release. I have removed the seat and the first door panel, but there is no way that I can seem to get the inner door panel off of the car, as one of the screws is blocked by the dash, and even then, I cannot get my arm up into the door to remove the three screws holding the top of the panel to the aluminum piece along the top. I could do this with the passenger door, as it was open and I could position my arm such that I could reach those three screws.
There are a number of other threads out there with a similar problem, but I have yet to find one with any sort of resolution.
Has anyone else run into this problem?
Tom
PS: The passenger window was replaced a while back, and one of the clips that goes between the aluminum and the glass is broken. Does anyone have a lead on where I could find that? A part number?
#2
10-08-2018, 09:30 AM
For anyone searching the archives, the only way I could get the inner door panel off was to pull on the rear section until it broke a little by the rearmost screw. That made enough room to get my hand in and remove the screws.
When I got the latch out, I could see that the small arm that moves to prevent the door from opening when locked had frozen in the up position due to corrosion and lack of lubrication. Normally, when you unlock the door this level drops down and re-engages the door latch. I removed the latch, cleaned and lubricated it, and put it back in.
Now, however, the door will not fully close unless I close it gently. Too much force won’t work, so if I slam it it won’t latch, but if I close it with moderate force it works every time.
Tom
When I got the latch out, I could see that the small arm that moves to prevent the door from opening when locked had frozen in the up position due to corrosion and lack of lubrication. Normally, when you unlock the door this level drops down and re-engages the door latch. I removed the latch, cleaned and lubricated it, and put it back in.
Now, however, the door will not fully close unless I close it gently. Too much force won’t work, so if I slam it it won’t latch, but if I close it with moderate force it works every time.
Tom
#3
09-05-2019, 12:00 PM
#4
09-05-2019, 12:20 PM
I did get it open, I removed the driver’s seat, then removed the door panels and saw that the mechanism was rusted and stuck in the locked position. Pushing the little lever-arm back down to the unlocked position got the door open and then a good clean and lubrication of the mechanism got it going again. You shouldn’t have to destroy the latch, figure out what’s wrong instead.
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