Sounds as though the internal mechanism, spring or latch mechanical parts, have broken. I disassemble units for electronics but not for mechanical due to the PITA that it seems it might be. Not sure if breaking it apart to get to internal mechanical parts would work as I am unaware of any spare parts anywhere. I can get used and new replacements if needed.
But, the problem is ..... how to get the current lock to open so you can take it off. Are you sure nothing got wedged in the lock area somehow? Agreed that lubing it up would be good preventative but it is too late for that. Will have to do some research. How did you get the inside door panel off without the door open????? Or am I misunderstanding something?
The panel was already off. I took it off some time ago to work on various issues like indexing and a draining battery. I found broken wires and that fixed the indexing. I removed the fuse for the radio and vanity mirrors and that fixed the battery drain. The speaker grill has rusted so I was getting ready to paint it. I was also planning to glue in some insulation for both noise and heat. As far as the door opening, it has never been a problem until now.
Okay, I see, just doing a lot of small fixes to get it back into service. Well, if you are sure you have the lock assy unlocked and moving the proper rods for unlocking the door from inside and outside do not work, the only thing I can suggest is to try and drill a ton of holes in the lock assy so that you can either force the arm to open or break apart the assy enough to get it open. As I mentioned, there are replacements so don't worry about destroying the lock, just be careful about how you drill and pry so that you do not damage the surrounding paint and body.
The key would be to make some holes so that you could get a screwdriver into the side of it to force the latch that is surrounding the door pin on the body to move. Either that or to drill the 3 bolts that hold the assy to the door so that it comes loose and maybe allow it to move. The problem is that there is little room in there and a lot of metal layers you will need to go through to get to where you need to be. Take your time with the window up or out to give you some room, possibly use a center punch to help with the drilling in certain areas.
It sounds like you know your way around the R from lurking here and having a good mechanical aptitude, I wish you luck but there is no quick and easy way to get it open as far as I know. Having a door latch freeze in the locked position and not allow entry is a rare occurrence but it does happen, very scary!!!!!!
Sounds as if one of the plastic rod retainers broke. Check your rods at the "bell crank" and see if one of them has fallen off. You should be able to find a rod that is lose and pull on it to open the door. It should be mid way UP the door to the rear where the striker is. Use the passenger side to reference just how high up it would be on the inside of the door. There's a bunch of them, so fish around for the one that is lose. Hope you find the problem....
If that were the case wouldn't it still open from the outside if the door is truly unlocked? I know it won't open from the inside or outside if it's still locked. :confused
In my short experience, this appears to be a case of the connecting rod, from the inside door handle mechanism to the rear door latch assembly, having lengthened a bit too much. This is the issue I had with my passenger door. It would "unlock" electrically and manually but would not "unlatch". Pulling forward on the rod should release (unlatch) the door latch assembly and allow the door to open. Ultimately, my fix was to push the rod rearward until I felt it had "shortened" back to spec length. If it gets shortened too much,, you end up with the opposite problem, the latch assembly, and the door, will not latch closed ... it remains in the unlatched ("open") position. In order to effect this fix, you must detach the rod from the plastic cup into which the inside door handle metal tab rests. This is because the rod has stretched too much and simply sliding the plastic cup forward may not pull the rod enough to unlatch the door.
The rod will lengthen (unbend) over time from pulling too hard and often on the door handle. The handle only unlatches the door, the door must then be physically pushed open (with shoulder or elbow) to exit the vehicle. My wife just keeps pulling harder on the door handle thinking that it will magically cause the door to pop open. (see attached image)
If you need to drill thought I would add just one last note.
Looking at a driver side lock here at my desk, if you drill a hole just under the servo for the lock that the 2 wire connector goes to, you might be able to wedge in a screwdriver to pop the lever up at the same time the opening lever is actuated for opening the door.
Lock shown in the locked position, the left side is the arm that needs to be moved and the right arrow the drill area.
It turns out to have been the rod from the outside handle. It looks like I may have bent it while I was working on the wiring for the metal just got fatigued. It was flexing in the middle and not pushing down far enough. In the process of trying to lengthen the rod I broke off the plastic tip of the spring that is part of the outside door handle. So I will need to fix that. At least without the rod in place the inside door handle works.
Glad you found the problem and Carl helped you pinpoint the issue. For me, it sounded like you had everything off and actuating the physical levers on the lock mechanism and nothing happened. The solution was much simpler than going through the hassle of it not working at all
Just this week I had an issue with the passenger door NOT unlatching when the inside/outside door handle was pulled. The door would LOCK/UNLOCK electrically, but the inside AND outside door handles would NOT "unlatch" the door. I assumed that it was an issue with the connecting rod and took to disassembling the door panel ... here is what I found ...
the black plastic retainer that connects to the metal door face, located directly behind the inside handle and into which the off-white plastic slider rests, had become disconnected from the cutout in the door. It was moving along with the slider and allowing the slider to lift away from the metal door, essentially reducing the amount of movement available for the slider to properly actuate the connecting rod. (see picture)
My indications were:
1. When electrically actuated, the door lock knobs did not rise as much as they normally do; they appeared to only rise 3/4 of the height that they do when everything works properly.
2. The inside door handle did NOT retract to the fully closed position when released. The door handle remained slightly in the "pulled" position. I could "push" it back flush with the door panel, but when pulled it did not release (UNLATCH) the door lock mechanism.
3. The door would NOT unlatch with the inside OR outside door pull handle.
Once I had the inside door handle and spear removed, it was immediately noticeable that the black plastic retainer was disconnected from it's mount in the metal door panel. I clipped it back in place and, voila!, the door was back in proper operation.
Just another thing to check when dealing with these (increasingly common) door problems.
You guys are simply amazing!
Like who has a lock assembly on their desk to take pictures of?
Jeez! :thumbs
I had a regulator issue - Fuji said to take a hammer to it - well, sort of caveman attitude but it worked! HaHa!
I've had my panels off twice now - trying to be helpful but really could only think of the long rod our lock knob screws onto.
Story about that, as I put deadener in and shave a tad off the foam surround - put it back together and the knob was too high when locked
I was a bit pissed, thinking I had to take it apart again but my brother suggested I try turning the knob down.
Don't want to fess up on the outcome! :blush-anim-cl: