Door-Stuck-Locked!

[gerviswaddell]

Hey folks,

Here is my dilemma, Passenger door is stuck in the locked position, it cant be unlocked with the lock/unlock tab, nor with either handle, or the key. Prior to this failurethe passengers side door mechanisms had been acting up, took some fiddling with the lock tab/handles to get it to unlock (pulling the tab and jiggling the inside door handle) now its stuck, with the door shut, how can I access the innards of the door and fix this problem?

Im assuming i need to get the door open to do any work on it, any specific tricks (coathanger? etc...) to getting the door open.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated,

thanks again!

Dave.

[toughtercel]

hi, boy that a tough one , well you mention you tried inner door handle and ineer door lock too , the only soluation my self , i would try take out( remove) passager seat out of corse you have to remove driver seat out first then other seat and try remove few screws and yank the interior door panel out without ripping apart or move the panel enough to get you arm in the door to push down to release the door hatch , that all i can say , good luck

[toughtercel]

sorry that was bad grmmer , i meant push the the linkage down which it attach to door latch

[Petros]

I do not think there is a way of removing the inner panel with the door closed without damaging the panel. Unless you have a spare panel I would not try it.

You should be able to see the door latch from the window slot with the window rolled all the way down. Use a flash light or one of those dental lights (with the tiny light on the end of a stalk). You should be able to hook the latch with a stiff wire hook.

There are little push/pull rods that operate the latch, they use plastic clips to hold on the rods. when the car get old these clips get brittle and break off, I have seen it a number of times. IF this is the case you will have to hook the part of the latch where the push/pull rod attaches to the latch. Once you get the door open you can use fine wire to tie the rod onto the lever using a figure 8 type lashing so it will stay on but still be free to operate.

Good luck.

[gobbl3gook]

Mine does this sometimes.
I take the heel of my hand and whack the door panel about 4 times, about 2" below and 2" to the rear of the keyhole. (When you whack the right place, you're whacking the lock mechanism rather than a hollow part of the door).
Works every time for me, sure beats having friends ride in back.
I lubed the lock mechanism (via the keyhole) and it only jams occasionally now.
Ted in WA

[Mattel]

Ha, that's funny, my old tercel did the same, just needed an open palm slap to put back in line, i eventually wd40'd it - something in the mechanism not lining up?

[toughtercel]

that the words i was looking for " WHACK / WHACKING " to loseing plastic fittings from door , thanks

[gobbl3gook]

One more thing -- my lock only jams when I lock the door when the door is open, then close it holding up the latch. If you close the door while it is unlocked, then lock it afterwards (with a key from the outside or pushing the shaft from the inside) it doesn't jam.
Ted in WA

[xirdneh]

i've used a slim jim to open the drivers and passenger side doors but it did not work in the usual manner.
it finaly worked pushing it straight down.
while doing that it hammered something down that unlocked it

[xirdneh]

i've used a slim jim

i forgot to mention i never tried this on the back doors
and the slim jim was just a thin piece of metal about 1-1/2 inches wide by about 20 inches long and about 1/16 thick

[Highlander]

BTDT- The old '83 had this happen to the driver's door, needless to say the wife wasn't happy about climbing over the stick shift. I solved it by using a 2" hole saw to cut a hole in the door panel by the lock mechanism. As soon as I moved the latch bar, the door handles worked fine. From what I could glean, the latch bar gets 'lost' betwixt and between the two positions, thus your methods of "swatting' have shaken them loose. Never had the problem again
The big problem with my solution was that when the wind blew in winter, you got a nice cold breeze up your back

[Mattel]

I'm not sure (it has been a while since I did this) that there is an threaded adjuster on the where the rod from the door handle attaches to the lock mechanism inside the door - which you can rotate to keep the rod snug in it's receptacle female part in the lock. I'm pretty sure that after I got sick of my bang on the door to open (which I thought was pretty cool party trick for a while) I eventually fixed it up good. Might be worth a look at, and while you are there put some more grease on your window winder mechanism.

[simon84]

I have managed to remove the inner door panel to get at a stuck door. It was in winter and things were brittle so there were some cracks but not too bad. If you are careful then I think it's possible.
I have also had problems with the lever mechanism that is on the inside of the door handle coming loose. The plastic weakens and the lever pops out. When you put your fingers under the door handle and lift, there is no resistance and no door opening action. The door still opens from the inside. I know I really just need a new handle but I have had a couple go now. The trouble is that the ones from the wrecker are old and end up breaking. I am wondering if there is another way to fix this.

[toughtercel]

yeah , it the metal stud goes into plastic door handle that cracks (very common) , try every possible to invent something but no luck , so all i have to do is waste my time go many different auto wrecker to remove DR handle and hope find good ( look new) door handle keep my self extra in stock . wonder if rear door handle are same as front door handle

[simon84]

Rear door handles are not the same as the front.
I tried that and no luck.