Passender Door Permanently closed

[chri]

I'm dealing with a bit of an unusual problem, and I want to see what (if any) options are out there before I give up and pay what's likely to be a huge amount of money to get it fixed professionally.

My passenger door ('08, hatchback Yaris) will not open. The lock won't respond either manually inside the car, or using the key and neither indoor nor outdoor latch will open the door. I managed to get the door panel off enough for me to stick my hand and arm in to where the actuator/locking mechanism is, and manually pushing down the locking mechanism lever will not open the door either.

At this point it seems like something in the actuator/locking mechanism is broken which is preventing the locking mechanism from releasing.

Any ideas on how I can get the door open? If I can get it open, I can replace the actuator myself. I'm just concerned that the only way to release the door will result in having to replace the door.

Thanks!

[CTScott]

Below is a picture of a Yaris door lock assembly. The two circled areas are the lock (white area on left) and the latch release (lever on right). The keylock has a little shaft that rotates that white part to unlock the door. The outside handle has a rod that pulls the latch release. Try getting your hand on the latch release lever to see if you can flip it with your finger. If that doesn't work, try turning the key in the door while feeling if the white part is rotating.

If none of that works, I would try prying the black plastic apart from inside the door to gain access to the innards of the lock assembly.


Yaris door lock.JPG

[chri]

Thanks CTScott,

That's kind of what I was resigning myself to do. After a few tries and some damage to the plastic casing of the actuator, I managed to remove it from the door lock assembly, which allowed me to open the door.

Now that I know I don't have to take it to the shop, I'll just buy a replacement actuator and install it. Thanks for your help!

[cry0]

Hey chri,

I'm having the exact same issue, sadly I'm not exactly handy when it comes to car repair when blind. Can you describe how exactly you got the door lock assembly out without having the door open? To my knowledge, it's attached by the three screws on the side of the door, which I can't access because it's stuck shut.

[WeeYari]

Originally Posted by cry0

Hey chri,

You will never hear from this member. Thread is 6 months old, and the only 2 posts by chri are in this thread. Dead user. Hopefully CTScott stumbles across this for you.

[chri]

Originally Posted by cry0

Hey chri,

I'm having the exact same issue, sadly I'm not exactly handy when it comes to car repair when blind. Can you describe how exactly you got the door lock assembly out without having the door open? To my knowledge, it's attached by the three screws on the side of the door, which I can't access because it's stuck shut.

Hey cryO, getting the door open is the first step, and it is unpleasant (but doable). Have you ever taken the paneling off before? With a lot of maneuvering and wiggling, it's possible to partially remove the paneling enough for you to stick your hand in the gap, and manually open the door by pulling the latch release lever (see response by CTScott).

As for getting to the point where you can remove most of the paneling, this video is pretty helpful for the general idea:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0o6Epf0Cfo8

You will be able to get everything off (including the main three screws) except for a plastic push insert that's located on the door by where your sideview mirror is. Once all the screws are out, I was able to gently pull the paneling forward towards the bottom and back of door to pull out the push inserts, and then lift up the paneling towards the back of the door and pull forward, revealing a gap, from here you can squeeze your hand in (be careful, I ended up with a number of scratches on my hand from this) and find the latch release near the bottom of the actuator. If you've never done this before, I'd suggest taking the paneling off the other door so you understand how it's held in place, and practice finding the latch release where you have plenty of room.

Once you get it open and take out the actuator, all the reading I did suggested that you just need to clean the copper leads on the motor to get it working again. I took it apart, cleaned the leads, and the motor started working for me again, but I ended up buying a refurbished replacement on eBay anyway (putting the actuator back together can be tricky).

Good lucK!

[bronsin]

Originally Posted by WeeYari

You will never hear from this member. Thread is 6 months old, and the only 2 posts by chri are in this thread. Dead user. Hopefully CTScott stumbles across this for you.

I imagine he got a price from a mechanic and had them do it. I cant believe it would be terribly expensive.

Or would it?

[cry0]

Originally Posted by chri

Hey cryO, getting the door open is the first step, and it is unpleasant (but doable). Have you ever taken the paneling off before? With a lot of maneuvering and wiggling, it's possible to partially remove the paneling enough for you to stick your hand in the gap, and manually open the door by pulling the latch release lever (see response by CTScott).

As for getting to the point where you can remove most of the paneling, this video is pretty helpful for the general idea:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0o6Epf0Cfo8

You will be able to get everything off (including the main three screws) except for a plastic push insert that's located on the door by where your sideview mirror is. Once all the screws are out, I was able to gently pull the paneling forward towards the bottom and back of door to pull out the push inserts, and then lift up the paneling towards the back of the door and pull forward, revealing a gap, from here you can squeeze your hand in (be careful, I ended up with a number of scratches on my hand from this) and find the latch release near the bottom of the actuator. If you've never done this before, I'd suggest taking the paneling off the other door so you understand how it's held in place, and practice finding the latch release where you have plenty of room.

Once you get it open and take out the actuator, all the reading I did suggested that you just need to clean the copper leads on the motor to get it working again. I took it apart, cleaned the leads, and the motor started working for me again, but I ended up buying a refurbished replacement on eBay anyway (putting the actuator back together can be tricky).

Good lucK!

I'll try this out. I know when I try to pull the rod (or push, rather) nothing opens and I've tried fiddling with the little lever beneath it to no avail, so I may have already tried this. I appreciate the info though, I did manage to track down an actuator for $50 so I'll call myself lucky on that Mark!

[cry0]

Alright, so my actuator came in (turns out it's mechanical only, no electric like mine, but as long as it works I don't mind that. Plus it looks like it has the space for the electric parts, they just arent in it). And upon playing with it... I still fail to see how I will be able to take out my current stuck actuator.

The internal unlocking mechanism isn't working. The lever at the bottom doesn't open the door.

EDIT:
Alright, I have found a small piece that I can turn with a 10mm wrench that will unlock the new actuator; I have yet to try it on my car but I will post an update later for anybody else that has this problem. Below is a picture of what I am talking about:



UPDATE-
Alright, so I grabbed a massive pair of pliers and just crushed the mechanism, taking chunks out at a time, until I got down to the bare door mechanism. This allowed me to upen the door and switch out the actuator assembly. Everything is switched out and working great, thanks guys!