Passender Door Permanently closed

[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!