1997 Eclipse GS passenger door wont open. Everything is connected and it all looks like it is moving everything it should but the door won't open and the inside handle is connected but it is stuck partially out.

How do you fix this?

Does the outside handle open the door or try to sometimes?
Does the door try to move outward at all or is it neither door handle won't undo the latch?

luv2rallye said:

Does the outside handle open the door or try to sometimes?
Does the door try to move outward at all or is it neither door handle won't undo the latch?

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The door does not move with either handle and neither handle will try to open the door. It all started when me and a friend went up too the store. He goes "help can't get out" so I get out go around open it from the outside fine then I close the door thinking nothing of it. We come back out and he can't open from the inside or out so he starts pulling on the outside side and I start pulling on the inside and we get it to open then close the door to drive home. When we get home it took some more pulling on both handles but we get the door open then not thinking it will not open again we shut the door. Now I can't get it to open at all.

I have also partly destroyed the door panel to get a better bite on the connecting rods and still nothing.

It's a common problem with the DSM and I just fixed a friends and mine. Here is a pic of the passenger door lock actuator mechanism.

The bigger rod on the right is attached to the outside door handle (other rod is the key lock rod). Assuming nothing else is wrong, this rod bends slightly after years of use so that it no longer pushes down (goes left in pic) far enough to open the door mechanism. The proper and best fix is to unbolt the actuator and then remove the door handle and bend this rod about 10* straighter (where it used to be).

You don't have to remove the actuator (it's a REAL pain to get out around the window slides) but just unbolt it so it can move up near the door handle opening when you remove the door handle so you can bend the rod. Either way you'll have to remove the inner door panel to unbolt the door handle.

I DON'T RECOMMEND THIS BUT there's another more getto way which sometimes works where you don't have to remove the door handle. Notice the bolt I added at the end of the door handle rod (it's not normally there). This effectively reduces the outside handle throw needed to open the door.

It's tight but you can add this with everything (except the inner door panel) still on the car. The trade off is sometimes (happened on one of my doors) it allows the door open rod to move too far where it interferes with the outside key mechanism of the actuator.

[Edit: Note: I wouldn't recommend doing this getto thing of putting a bolt in the rods slot like I show in my pics - it caused more problems than it was worth. Instead do the above 1st paragraph way (which is also post 12 - read that for more detail.]

luv2rallye said:

It's a common problem with the DSM and I just fixed a friends and mine. Here is a pic of the passenger door lock actuator mechanism.

The bigger rod on the right is attached to the outside door handle (other rod is the key lock rod). Assuming nothing else is wrong, this rod bends slightly after years of use so that it no longer pushes down (goes left in pic) far enough to open the door mechanism. The proper and best fix is to unbolt the actuator and then remove the door handle and bend this rod about 10* straighter (where it used to be).

You don't have to remove the actuator (it's a REAL pain to get out around the window slides) but just unbolt it so it can move up near the door handle opening when you remove the door handle so you can bend the rod. Either way you'll have to remove the inner door panel to unbolt the door handle.

Click to expand...

Thanks after seeing the pictures I was able to get the door to open right up

luv2rallye said:

It's a common problem with the DSM and I just fixed a friends and mine. Here is a pic of the passenger door lock actuator mechanism.

Click to expand...

how did you take that out?

Remove inner door panel. Un-clip the 2 push rods on the actuator (they get in the way). Unplug wire connector going to door handle key lock (don't remove end going to key lock or you'll never get it back on properly - trust me on this!). Remove 3 bolts on door edge holding actuator. Remove 2 bolts holding door handle (one on outside edge and one is difficult to get at on the inside but possible - can only turn a tiny amount at a time with box end wrench). Pull door handle up from the outside enough to bend the rod back. Re-install everything. [Note: I wouldn't recommend doing the getto thing of putting a bolt in the rods slot like I show in my post 4 pics - it caused more problems than it was worth.]

http://www.rcaz.com/rcaz/sub indexes/eclipse_door_handle_removal/index.htm

luv2rallye said:

Remove inner door panel. Un-clip the 2 push rods on the actuator (they get in the way). Unplug wire connector going to door handle key lock (don't remove end going to key lock or you'll never get it back on properly - trust me on this!). Remove 3 bolts on door edge holding actuator. Remove 2 bolts holding door handle (one on outside edge and one is difficult to get at on the inside but possible - can only turn a tiny amount at a time with box end wrench). Pull door handle up from the outside enough to bend the rod back. Re-install everything. [Note: I wouldn't recommend doing the getto thing of putting a bolt in the rods slot like I show in my post 4 pics - it caused more problems than it was worth.]

http://www.rcaz.com/rcaz/sub indexes/eclipse_door_handle_removal/index.htm

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ya my passenger side door was really bad i put a bolt in the fork part and i went to open it form the out side and i snapped the handle right off and i got pissed and never touch the car for a week

Another problem that happens is the smaller rod from the door handle to the actuator (key lock rod) cracks through right at the end of the slot. It then won't lock when you turn the key. I removed that rod and had the crack welded (soldering kept breaking). Notice crack in drivers side 5 pic (zoom in close) and it welded in drivers side 7.

luv2rallye said:

Another problem that happens is the smaller rod from the door handle to the actuator (key lock rod) cracks through right on the end of the slot. It then doesn't lock properly with the key. I removed that rod and had the crack welded.

Click to expand...

ok thanks for the info

luv2rallye said:

Pull door handle up from the outside enough to bend the rod back.

http://www.rcaz.com/rcaz/sub indexes/eclipse_door_handle_removal/index.htm

Click to expand...

Hey bro, what part of the rod do you bend, the top part or the loop part, and how, I tried bending the top and get to get another actuator from the junkyard , thanks

I unbent the large rod slightly at the two places it already is bent, so that the rod is then slightly longer (and slightly straighter). In my case, which is typical, the large rod wasn't pushing down far enough when the door handle was pulled (due to it got bent too much over time at those 2 places it was normally bent), so lengthening it solved it.

It took some experimenting with how much to bend the rod yet keep the flat loop part that slides over the actuator knob in the same plane so it doesn't buckle and slides in the same correct direction. You don't have to remove the actuator but you will have to remove the door panel and do some un-pleasant things (see post 7).

Your case might be different however. [Don't do the getto bolt trick as it ended up causing other problems.] If the actuator is sticking you'll have to remove it and clean it up and grease it whether you bend the rod or not. Also read post 9.