Re: Stuck Door

["twinenginedmc12" <twinenginedmc12@xxxx>]

--- In dmcnews@xxxx, wmack <wmack@xxxx> wrote:
> I still can't get my driver's door open. I have tried messing with 
the rods 
> and everything, and nothing works. I'm at the point now where I am 
thinking 
> of drilling out the old latch assembly from the inside. Has anyone 
tried this 
> before?
> 
> Thanks
> Willie
> Vin 5043

Hi Willie. Here you go.


This troubleshooting sequence is tailor-made for Willie, who is 
having trouble with the front driver's side door latch of his car. 
The sequence makes assumptions that may be valid only for his car. 
I've called the parts I reference whatever I felt like. There may be 
different, official names. I apologise for not following convention, 
but feel it doesn't matter, as long as Willie can follow what I'm 
talking about.
Email me privately at twinenginedmc12(AT)gendreaumicro.com, and I'll 
give you my phone number, if you want verbal explanations of this 
hard to follow text, Willie.


Assumed:

The rear door latch is okay.
The torsion bar is installed and properly tensioned.
The door panels, armrest, and translucent plastic vapor barrier have 
been removed from the door.


Before you start:

Print these instructions out, so you can have them with you at the 
car.

If you find any broken, disconnected or bent parts, stop right there, 
and give me an email. This sequence assumes everything's intact, 
which might be a stretch.

You might benefit from taking the panels off of the passenger door, 
to see how things work on the door that functions properly. It's 
less destructive then wrecking the driver's side door latch 
mechanism. Instruction manuals often recommend overhauling doors one 
at a time, so you can use the intact door for reference.

Lubricate all the pivot points in the linkage, just in case it's 
simple binding causing the trouble.

These are "no whining" instructions. Use them at your own risk.


Start here.

1. Check to determine whether front latch mechanism is locked.

Find the front lock actuator rod. It's about 1/8inch in diameter, 
runs horizontally about 5inch from the bottom edge of the door, and 
has a distinguishing pair of 40-45degree bends in it. On one side, 
it should connect to a lever at the cylindrical lock solenoid, on the 
other side it should connect to a t-shaped plastic piece at the lock 
mechanism. At the t-shaped piece, the rod connects to what would be 
the "bottom" leg of the t. 

Try to move this rod back and forth, length-wise along its axis. 
Doing this locks and unlocks the car, if it's working right. You 
should be able to move it back and forth about 3/8inch, using a 
pressure of only a few pounds. Don't force it. If you do, something 
will bend or break, introducing new and improved problems not covered 
by your DeLorean warranty :). While you're moving it back and forth, 
there should be a distinctive k-click, c-klick noise. This is the 
sound of the lock mechanisms locking, and unlocking. There is a lock 
mechanism in the rear latch, and one in the front. Each one makes 
its own noise. They both need to work, to unlock the car. Move the 
rod back and forth, while listening intently to the rear mechanism, 
and then the front mechanism. Since you've already determined that 
the rear mechanism works okay, you should expect to hear the click, 
klick noise there without problems. The front latch mechanism is the 
suspect one. If you hear the click-klick noise at the front 
mechanism okay while you're moving the rod back and forth, it's 
likely that the lock is working okay. Move the rod toward the back of 
the car. This is the unlocked position. 
Proceed to "3. Unlatching the door."

If, on the other hand, you don't hear that click klick sound at the 
front latch, proceed to "2. Unlocking the front lock manually at the 
latch mechanism."


2. Unlocking the front lock manually at the front latch mechanism.

The T-shaped plastic part at the front latch mechanism can be 
manually actuated. One end of the t, the part closest to you when 
you look at it, doesn't have anything connected to it. Move this 
part of the t up and down. Don't force it. This plastic part should 
rotate back and forth, and you should here the click-klick sound of 
the lock locking and unlocking. If you hear this sound, move the part 
of the t described up. This is the unlocked position. Proceed 
to "3. Unlatching the door."

If the t shaped part doesn't rotate freely, try to figure out what's 
jamming it. This is probably the problem, causing your door to be 
stuck locked. If it does move freely, but doesn't make the clicking 
noise, there's one move accessible part of the linkage to test. The 
furthest-away from-you part of the t interfaces with another plastic 
part at the latch mechanism. Try to move this part back and forth, 
listening for the click-klick sound of the lock locking and 
unlocking. If you can't move this part back and forth, or don't hear 
the click-klick, the lock is probably jammed at the latch. You should 
get a professional at this point.


3. Unlatching the door.

If you haven't convinced yourself the door is unlocked at this stage, 
it's pointless to proceed. You must go back to "1. Check to 
determine whether front latch mechanism is locked." and make sure the 
door is unlocked first.

If you're sure the door is unlocked:
Find the front door latch actuator rod. It runs horizontally about 
10inch above the bottom edge of the door. One side is connected to a 
pivoting bracket that also connects to the door handle cable, the 
other to the front latch mechanism itself. It can be distinguished 
by the adjustment turnbuckle on it. It's possible that a bad or 
outdated adjustment to this turnbuckle is causing your problem, but 
we're not at that stage yet. I mention it only to identify the rod.

Move this rod back and forth along its axis. Don't force it. It 
moves about the same distance back and forth as the front lock 
actuator rod, but doesn't make any particular noise, except for the 
quiet clicking together of the linkage parts and the door. The latch 
mechanism is sprung, so as you move the rod toward the back of the 
car, it should put up progressively more resistance. When you move 
the rod forward, the resistance should decrease. Both the front and 
rear latch mechanisms have springs, so try to "feel" whether the 
front latch has this springyness or not. We're assuming that the 
rear does, because it's working right. If you don't feel this spring 
tension, or if you can't make the rod move, it may be jammed 
somewhere. Try to find out where.
If it does move okay, and you feel the tension as described, then it 
might be okay.

Move the rod toward the back of the car. This unlatches the front 
mechanism. At this point, the front lock should be unlocked, and the 
front latch should be released, and you should be able to open the 
door. I'm still assuming that the rear mechanisms are working 
correctly. If the door doesn't spring open itself, door misalignment 
might be jamming it a little bit. Hold the rod toward the back of 
the car, under tension to release the latch, while simultaneously 
pushing the door outward. The lower front part of the door is a good 
place to push. Don't push too hard, about 10 pounds, and don't push 
on the exterior steel. If this doesn't open the door, get a 
professional. It's likely the problem is inside the mechanism 
itself, or that the mechanism is jammed on the pin in some screwy 
way. Either way, don't try to "drill out" the mechanism. You'll 
probably just wreck the door, which probably still won't open when 
you're done drilling. Get the professional.

If the door does open, then the lock and latch mechaniam are probably 
okay, and slope or binding in the rods or linkage are probably the 
cause. See if you can find anything damaged, jammed or unconnected. 
There are too many screwy things that could go wrong to list.

Good luck. Let me know how it goes.

Rick Gendreau
11472