Rear Door NOT Stuck!

[mgbeda]

Hi Guys,

Well, yesterday something went wrong with the left rear door on my '87 5th Avenue. It acts like the door can't be unlocked; it won't open from inside or out. The lock button moves up and down manually or with the power locks and it feels like it is connected inside, but... The door had been used, and locked and unlocked, earlier the same day, and it's a rust free CA car.

Does anyone know of a clever way to get the door open without cutting through my pristine inner door panel?

NEVER MIND. I just went out and tried pulling the door handle while pushing the lock button down. That reset something and then I unlocked it and now it works fine. Phew.

-Mike Beda

 

[Oldiron440]

Try spraying lube on what you can of the door locks and latches maybe even take the trim pads of and do them up correctly.

 

[Hayzoos]

I would take the door panel off. I might even remove the latch mechanism. A clean, inspect, and re-lube of the latch is in order. You then also want to look at linkage pivots and get them re-lubed. While you have the door opened up, clean and lube the window mechanism.

The original lube is going to be dried and hardly a lube. The situation you described seems like something to do with the locking in the latch got stuck and probably due to the old lube in there. Now is the time to fix it before you have the same thing happen again, but have a harder time correcting it.

BTW, It is possible to get a rear door panel off when the door is closed. The rear seat bottom and back have to be removed (hint, seat removal way easier if at least one back door opens, otherwise it is nearly wedged.) Then the trim surrounding the door should be removed. It will still be fairly tough to get the panel off since you would still barely get to the edges of it. Not impossible, but have to do it once and you will make sure you don't have to do it again.

I had to deal with a similar situation in a '93 Grand Cherokee rear hatch with cargo in the way too. That latch was notorious for having a critical plastic clip on the linkage fail without warning.