Door will not open

[jathib]

Passenger door will not open.
I need to get the door panel off to check what's going on but the door will not open with either inside or outside handle. I have lock/unlocked multiple times manually and with power locks but I cannot get the door open to unscrew and remove the panel.

Any thoughts before mutilating the panel?

Thanks

 

[Jafro]

Oh son of a bi***! Sorry to hear of your dilemma.

I'm not sure what all is behind the center surround of the door panel, but if you have to break something on it, that's a part that you can replace without having to replace the whole door panel. Hopefully you can get room to access the door latch assembly through there somehow.

Have you called any garages/locksmiths to see if any of them could do it without destroying the door panel? Might be worth paying someone if you can't get a door panel cheaper... ?

 

[jathib]

I did it!
First I stuck a long phillips head screwdriver where the screws would be in the back part of the panel and removed both screws.
Next I rolled the window completely down.
I took both screws that I could get to on the hand pull and opener faceplate.
I then pried the panel toward the seat as carefully as possible.
I then unstuck the gooey black stuff on the clear plastic dust cover and reach my hand in and pushed pulled and felt around the latch till it opened.
I then had to carefully push the panel out of the car against the door to open the door fully.
I then removed both front screws and removed the panel.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
I then removed the latch and outside door handle (not an easy job)
I figured out what went wrong:
It seems that the pivot area of the latch was slightly bent due to the lock mechanism getting stuck halfway between open and close.
when pressure is applied to the door handle (either outside or inside) it will bend the latch this way -- allowing the outside handle connector rod/bar to detach from the latch.
also with the latch being slightly bent the inside handle will not catch on the latch to unlatch it.

I bent it back (oiled and greased every pivot point) then pain-stakenly reinstalled it all.
It works fine but the power lock motor must be getting weak because I think that's what is causing the latch to be in the half-way mode.

I just have to be careful when using the Power locks that someone doesn't try to open the door if it has a "bind" on it. The handle is very easy to open when it works so if it feels like it's not gonna open it shouldn't be forced or it will bend again.

Thanks for all the advise that was given. (trial and error has gotten me this far...)

Now on to the top! ( the alloy weird shaped bars are both broken from the top stack)
--I hope those are what make the top fold as it's going down so I don't have to get out of the car to finish the top retraction manually.