Help, my driver's side door wont open. With the window down I can see that the rod to the exterior handle is no longer connected at the handle. However the interior handle rod is still hooked up on both ends.

Pulling the interior handle I can see the rod moving the door latch but it still wont open. Both exterior and interior lock rods are still connected. It's like the door latch remains locked even though i can see the lock rods pulling when I unlock it.

This all started when the exterior handle rod fell off the exterior handle so I was having a passenger open the door from the inside to let me in. Now the interior handle isn't working either even though I can see its rod is still connected.

I'm completely stumped, how do I get this door open?? Is is possible that something inside the latch itself is broken?

 

You're going to have to get the door panel off to get at the mechanism. Best case is that all it needs is some WD-40 or similar to loosen up. Worst case is that you will need to pull off the interior door handle and pull BOTH rods out of the door to straighten them out as they're probably bent. In which case, it's probably best to also remove the latch, clean the crap out of it, lube it, and work it by hand until it works the way it's designed to. You can get replacement rod clips either through a parts store or eBay. Oh, and when you get the door panel off, you need to push DOWN on the part of the latch that the outer door handle connects to in order to unlatch the door (inner door handle actuates a second lever which does the same).

Of course, the lock could also be stuck as well...

 

I've seen before where the clip on the outside handle breaks and allows the rod to fall into the latch holding the lever on the latch down just enough that the lock won't completely disengage, may also bind latch up. If you can see the latch well enough look for that rod. It may be causing your problem.

 

BTW Be sure the inside handle is actually pulling the rod. Sometimes the inside handle can break where it just doesn't pull the rod. Handle otherwide looks and feels normal.

 

Yup this is exactly what happened. The outside door handle rod had disengaged from the handle and fallen by about a 1/4 inch into the latch mechanism and was binding it up. I just pulled the rod back up and hooked it onto the handle. Everything works great!!

Now where can I get the plastic retainer to keep that rod in its place?

 

Any parts store should have them. Advance has them in the HELP section. Glad it worked.

 

Im having the same problem, only thing different is that my rod that connects to the outside door handle feel to the bottom of the door.


When I take off the door panel inside, am I going to have to disconnect the electrical lines to the switches and buttons?

 

Nope, shouldn't need to remove them from the harness.Just separate them from the trim bezel.