OK, so my front passenger door is permanantly locked. I had a passenger in the car a few weeks ago and he opened the door, got in and when he went to get out the door wouldn't open. Locks work perfectly, door handle seems OK.

I can't get the door panel off because the door is closed. I planned on cutting the panel, but before that I wanted to try something.

There is a guy on my route that's the manager of a body shop. I asked him if he had a slim jim at the shop. They actually have a guy that's a certified locksmith. I took the car down there after work today. The locksmith spread apart the top of the door and looked inside. Everything is perfectly normal.

Guess what?

My fawking door latch isn't working some internal spring came loose or is stretched. He said he had that happen once before and it took him about 5 hours to fix it. I am going to have to very carefully break the latch apart from the top of the door. He told me I should probably cut the panel out so I can remove the window. Last time he did it, he used some kind of air chisel with a long extension.

Sonofabish. Now my passenger door is Dukes of Hazzard style until I can get the latch taken apart.

 

Are you sure the door has to open to remove the panel? I thought it was just some screws on there, and then clips, but nothing wraparound that would need any special access.

 

Yeah, there are two screws beside the dash that can't be accessed and several clips that are inside the doorframe that won't come undone. Actually, the locksmith pulled the clips on the top and it's open about 2-3 inches and I can see everything inside.

 

I'm almost tempted to take my panel off to see how much room you have to access the latch. You've got to trip it somehow. I'm sure there's a way to do it without some fancy air chisel. Or maybe not, that's a tricky problem you've got. What's you're next step? Are you going to have this guy fix it or diy?

 

It's the actual latch that latches the door to the frame that is messed up, not the handles, rods, locks, etc.


I am not going to pay the body shop to do it. They would probably charge me at least $100.

I can access it from the top of the door. Like I said, maybe 2-3 inches, tops. He took the top clips off the door panel.

I was thinking about trying to hit it with a hammer and a long piece of metal, like rebar or something. I kind of want to find another latch (not my driver side one) and see how the internals work before I start breaking/hitting stuff.

If anyone has a parts car with the door panel off, I might be wanting a latch. Well, I KNOW I will need one eventually. I would like to have two of them -- one to take apart to see how it works (and also see how to break it/cut it open) and another to replace mine.

ugh, what a mess

 

I'd try to spray some WD-40 or PB Blaster at the latch through the space that you have open and see if that loosens the mechanism enough.

 

I'm not sure if you already looked at this or not. But if not it might help. If I had batterys I'd go out and take some pictures of that extra door around the latch area.

 

Thanks. I have an FSM with the same diagram. The part I need is the piece on the LH side where it shows the screw outside of the door.

The body shop guy says there are springs inside the latch that either come off or get so worn that they don't work right, keeping the door from unlatching. I was thinking I might try to figure out the "outside handle adjustment" piece to see if I can get it to open. Too bad they don't have another diagram with a close up of that.

 

So you're gonna try maxing out the handle throw so it will move it farther? That might the easiest solution.

 

This is the 1st time I've ever heard of this problem occuring...Anyone else encountered this?

Good luck with fixing it, Cliff.

 

The body shop/locksmith said that in something like 15 years it was only the second one he could recall. I still haven't really messed with it. I am waiting to get another latch before I do anything to mine. I don't want to have a door that won't stay shut in the meantime.

 

I wish i still had my old parts car right now,you would have already had pics of the inner workings,and a spare door latch in the mail..

 

John has my spare door in his gayrage last time I looked.

 

Same thing happened to my Aztec Red 92 when I had it. Something about the red car? I ended up screwing up the door panel by undoing just the back half of it and forcing it open enough to beat the crap out of the latch and breaking it to get the door open.
Then I was so frustrated with it I took it to the dealer and had them put a new latch in it.

 

Good thing to know I am not the only one it's ever happened to, because no one else I know has had this happen with any car.

I potentially have another panel lined up, but the locksmith undid the top of the panel, giving me a couple inches to work with. Hopefully, I can work it that way without ruining my panel.

He told me beating the crap out of it is about the only way to do it. He had used an air chisel before.

 

Actually the panel didn't LOOK too bad back on but it was torn at the bottom. I never did get new one. Loved that car though.

 

SAME thing happened to me on my 91 SE. I took off B-pillar plastic piece and somehow pulled off rear part of door panel to check things out. Like you I found everything to be ok. Before giving up I pushed the lock down hard and pulled up hard and it unlocked. Happened to me again and same technique worked.

 

Part is on it's way! Just reading all this information though. Hmmm. I just realized that my wife's '90 is having trouble with her front passenger door opening. Although, on her car, it is the outside handle that needs some "caressing" before it'll open...inside no problem. Interesting.

 

well, as soon as I get the latch, I will have a go at the one in the car and let everyone know.

Thanks for getting that out, Chris. I hope you didn't have to rush or anything. I rarely have any passengers and No one even knows about the door latch thing except one guy at work.

 

Trust me,chris doesn't ever get in a rush....

 

It's my size I tell you.....My Size!!!!

 

I got the part today. It took two days from TN to Oregon. UPS can't beat that for $6. haha

I will probably not be able to crack the door open until maybe tomorrow after work or Sunday. My wife works tonight, Friday and Saturday night.

 

Update:

Tonight I got the door opened. I took the pillar cover off and carefully got the back half of the door panel off, so I could access the latch. Then, I gave it a few good whacks with a hammer on a long, large flathead screwdriver. The door just popped open after about 5 minutes of this.

Probably tomorrow I will taked everything appart and reinstall the new latch I got from Chris Gregg. I think the hard part is over now. I think I bent some of the rods connecting the lock and/or latch, so it might take a while.

 

well, all I have to say is




j/k - but it would be cool to see it live and in living color

congrats on getting it open w/o too much collateral damage!

 

Right on, glad to hear you got it open.

 

There wasn't any room. Definitely not enough for the camera. I tried very hard to keep everything intact -- the window, the plastic, the door panel.

 

Right on man glad it's at least open and with so little labor. I'm sure your right about the hard part being over with. Good you could salvage your door panel

 

ah, was worth a shot I bet you'll have it back to normal in no time!

 

Im glad you finally got it open. Sounded like quite the inconvience lol.

Black91gxe-Normal is bad for him as that means his door is sealed. Factory spec>normal lol.

~Alex

 

ha, funny

 

Wow, actually replacing the door latch was a bit harder than I thought.

It took me about an hour, but mostly because I did most of it before realizing how much easier it is by removing the rail for the window.

Everything works now, but I haven't put the door panel back on. I loosened one of the bolts to the window for a little more access early on (the window is up) and I need to put that back before putting the door panel on. My battery died because my door has been open since last night. I didn't even think about that...

Oh, later I will take a picture of the old latch. It seems that I hit in in a perfect spot to spring it open, in case this happens to anyone else.

 

I still think you should have left it alone and painted the Dukes of Hazzard scheme instead

 

After all that bullsh!t, I probably should.

I also managed to buy new tires for the 4th gen wheels I have been saving up and I got that taken care of so I can make it to GG in case it rains. Too bad your sorry azz won't be there

 

If it was Saturday I could


but Sunday... if you come over Snoqualmie we can probably wave at each other

 

I am driving to Portland to meet up with some other guys and caravan to GG.

You don't need to go East. You need to photo GG. That is your next assignment for the paper.

 

But I really really need to register for classes and find a place to live







besides, there probably won't be enough parking there anyway

 

Nothing like a job well done, especially when it's cheap and only takes 1/5th of the quoted time..

 

yeah, it was a little tougher than I thought, but I got REALLY lucky in getting the old one to open up (since the door was closed).

Here is a picture of the old latch:



It looks like I hit it in JUST the right spot to push down the spring and unlatch the door. If you look really carefully, you can see the metal end of the spring inside the busted plastic. I was probably a cm or so away from missing it.