Door lock problems

Ok guys and gals...my drivers side door lock was sticking a bit, so i pulled the door skin off, and lubed up the linkages about 3 months ago.

Yesterday, the mechanism was acting up, but before i had the chance to get back into it, the darn thing stopped working all together. Now i cant get the door open to pull the skin and access the linkages again.

Anyone have any ideas on how to open the door? LOL

Good one!!!! Without popping the lock I can't think of anything!!!!

I managed to get the door skin off, no easy task with the door closed...LOL I have access to the lock mechanism now and the linkages, have lubed all up and still the latch actuator, (which i havent identified yet) refuses to pop the latch holding door closed...

okay, got the door to pop open. it appears that the locking rod or cylinder has some play in it. will have to keep door skin off and window open for now, but at least i am not climbing over the passenger seat. I have to force the locking assembly past what feels like its' stop to allow the latch to operate. i may run it by the dealership and ask the techs what the solution is.

has eased up on the amount of pressure needed a little, but after 5 or 6 separate looks into it, i cannot identify anything binding yet. Will continue and diagram once i finger it out

Well, i solved this problem. After not seeing any binding linkages, and no other visible issue i was left with one choice...

I disconnected all 4 linkages from the latch and pulled it out. The lock linkage clips were pretty easy to manipulate, but the door handle linkage clips were a bit more of a challenge. I ended up grasping the clip with needle nose, and "popping" the threaded ends of the rods out with a flat head. Worked with no visible damage.

It was a pretty tight fit, but do-able with the window all the way up. The latch actually has to be lifted higher in the door then wiggle-rotated out of place. Once in my hand, i could see that while the areas i had hit with the brake parts cleaner and liquid wrench appeared clean, the whole inside of the latch mechanism was pretty grimy.

Gave it a good once over from every angle with the solvent while working the linkage points manually, and it suddenly started working again...imagine that...LOL

Gave it a good coating of the lube, and re-installed that sucker, and it (knock on wood) seems to be functioning properly again with distinct sounds as it locks and unlocks. I may just pull the passenger door latch this weekend and give it a good PM as well...

Hope this never happens to y'all, but i think most of the grime was sand from PINS that made it past the window slider and into the door so perhaps this post will help someone in the future

Cheers!

Nicely done.

Thanks! it was a HUGE pain in the you know what, but past is past...next issue please...LOL

Good job resolving the issue.....but a more permanent way to resolve the issue is to simple loose the doors completely.