Walt, apparently the early cars have a shorter cable for the exterior release handle preventing the spring on the latch release from pulling back far enough and allowing the locks to function correctly. I am having a similar battle with my passenger door. It works at the moment but it's very tight. Martin #1458 Walter Coe wrote: > 2) The hard way... Adjust the exterior door handle in such a manner that > the cable is slack enough to not leave too much tension on the front release > rod (tension on this rod will stop the latch from unlocking) <snip>