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I recently bought a 96 maxima, I had trouble figuring out how to attach my drivers side door handle to the car, that was problem 1. Now I've got the rods, door panels, everything.
Now my problem lies inside the drivers door. The door is acting though its locked and will not open, inside or outside. The door lock on the outside appears that it doesn't have a rod or I can't follow it correctly. I found the rod to the lock switch on the door near the handle but that switch is defunct, otherwise doesn't work due to the rod not secured to the switch itself.
Okay, now I pressed the lock switch on the door (testing the panel and switch after I put them in) unaware that now it is not connected or the rod has come loose. I did manage to bend the panel down so that I can see inside my door, as would be able to without the panel. BUT with the door unable to open, I am very limited in my capabilities nor can I take to a mech. This is all me. I've looked at diagrams and other sites/posts, and I cannot find what I am looking for.
What am I looking for? (sorry for the long post I just want to get this over with and be done with it) I am looking for a way to manually bypass the door latch so I can open it, by figuring out the lock or alternative methods. I need to get my door open, the other doors open and close fine.
When I first bought my '96 there was something loose in the driver's door that would often cause the power locks to engage when closing the door. I ended up replacing the latch, lock cylinder, and all the rods with those from a donor car.
This is the only diagram I can find in the FSM. If you can reach the latch (#7) by hand, you may be able to flip the lock tab to the unlocked position, then pull the tab on the top front of the latch assembly forward to open the door.
Last edited by komik; 07-16-2017 at 07:34 AM.
Reason: Updated image link
I believe I found the lock tab, and figure #7 although I am unsure if what I can really reach is it. I included the (edit) one image, the lock mechanism, view from the open access area.
Still I haven't gotten the door opened. Could the white box in the center be blocking me from reaching #7? How should the lock tab operate if I can reach it? would it click in/out of position?
Also, I had my daughter pull on the handle on the outside while I was inside the door feeling around and did not notice any mechanism attempting to release. Could this be a loose rod? I understand that this problem is very complex and without proper tools or training, reaching a solution is difficult.(sorry about oversized image, don't know how to resize)
Last edited by GlowingBrother; 04-13-2017 at 11:24 AM.
It's not particularly complicated or requiring of special training; it's just a PITA to see what's going on in there. If you don't have one, a mirror-on-a-stick is an essential tool, but you usually end up just reaching in and trying to figure it by feel. And you can always take off the panel on the passenger door and try to figure out the mechanism from that.
In the past, I have paid my $2 to get into a junkyard to take a look at how things should look, when I cannot fix the problem. It has helped every time, especially when I could not see how to route vacuum lines.
Well it's case closed. My girlfriend's step dad came over to take a look at it and he got it open. He claims he took three fingers, yanked up on the connection of the two lock rods and the door popped open.
04-11-2017, 02:00 PM
