Well, this does it, I took some pictures and will post them sometime tomorrow. The PDL is no longer a myth!
Here's the deal, I took the door latch out to try to fix the trouble today. If you remember my door was stuck shut and wouldn't open. I had gotten it to open by removing the door panel while the door was still closed. This took removing the seat and was less fun then a tax audit, well not really but you get my point. Anyway, after unhooking the inside latch I was able to put enough pressure on the latch to get it to open and close with about 3 times the normal pressure.
Taking out the latch:
I'll assume you have the door panel removed already. If not it's three screws in the arm rest, one you can see and two are under the part your arm rests on. This can be removed with a flat head, there are no screws on it. If you need to unhook to wires remember to remove that panel for the switches from the front part first. Once the screws are out you can use the flat head to pop the plastic door panel plugs out of the door and once that's done you can pull it up and out.
1) Pull back the plastic on the latch side of the door
2) Remove the 10mm bolt on the inside door jam just under the latch, this secures the window track.
3) Remove four door lock and opening rods going to the latch. With the short one for the outside latch I found it easier to disconnect it on the bottom instead of the top.
4) Remove the three screws holding the latch in. These are inside the door jam.
5) Pull the latch down and out the lower/larger opening. You don't have to disconnect any wires.
6) Remove the clear plastic piece, I found it pretty easy to do with a flat head and it basicly just pulled off.
7) You can now see the full metal plate on the latch that was pressed against the side of the door. On the side of it that was facing out just below the metal plate you will see plastic. Right here you will see where the spring is going through the wall. Like a package of hot dogs pushing out of the plastic. There is one screw holding this plate on, remove this screw and the metal plate.
8) You will now see one spring sort of in the center down in a channel and the other very close to the side wall (this is the trouble) with a small 1"x1/2" plastic/metal part that can move up and down. Remove this plastic/metal part and take care not to let the spring or the little plastice piece under it fly away. I would remove that small plastic washer type thing and set it someplace so you don't have it fall off and end up finding it later.
9) Now if you look at the spring you will see that it's curved at the top 1/3" due to the shape of the channel it sits in and where the curve is there is steady wear pushing out on the thinnest wall due to the curve. On mine the spring coils had eaten into the plastic to the point it was binding and embedded into the plastic keeping the latch from moving down enough even with force.
10) I would clip the bottom part of the spring as high as can be freely removed. In the case of mine I had to pull it out with a vise grips. In your best case you would have other springs there and would be able to put a fresh one in. In my case I stretched the spring about 1/2" and I was set.
11) To deal with the worn plastic I took a small razor and smoothed it out as best I could. I then spent 15 minutes thinking about what would fit in there to secure it and still allow it to move freely. Too thick there isn't enough room, too thin and I don't have to tell you. If you can't cut it with a scissors it's going to be too thick. I came up with the perfect thing, I went down to my gate and snipped a part off the "keep out" sign. You can buy them at Wal-Mart for about $1 and it's a pretty thin metal, makes the wang wang noise when you move it back and forth. Just the pervect thickness though!
12) Cut a piece about 1.5" x 3/16th and that should fit in there well.
I just put this in and reversed the above steps to put the door back together. It now works perfect! I'll work on getting the pictures up right now but I would say if you have to go into your door for ANY reason that this is a MUST do PM! I would strongly consider doing the two front doors at the very least as I'm planning to get to the drivers side door as soon as I can!
Good luck all and I hope the next person to find they have a door that won't open now has the answers instead of having to spend 2 weeks dealing with it like I have.
THANK YOU TO THE PEOPLE THAT RESPONDED TO MY FIRST THREAD AND CHibbard FOR EVEN TIPPING ME OFF TO WHAT WAS WRONG!
Here's the deal, I took the door latch out to try to fix the trouble today. If you remember my door was stuck shut and wouldn't open. I had gotten it to open by removing the door panel while the door was still closed. This took removing the seat and was less fun then a tax audit, well not really but you get my point. Anyway, after unhooking the inside latch I was able to put enough pressure on the latch to get it to open and close with about 3 times the normal pressure.
Taking out the latch:
I'll assume you have the door panel removed already. If not it's three screws in the arm rest, one you can see and two are under the part your arm rests on. This can be removed with a flat head, there are no screws on it. If you need to unhook to wires remember to remove that panel for the switches from the front part first. Once the screws are out you can use the flat head to pop the plastic door panel plugs out of the door and once that's done you can pull it up and out.
1) Pull back the plastic on the latch side of the door
2) Remove the 10mm bolt on the inside door jam just under the latch, this secures the window track.
3) Remove four door lock and opening rods going to the latch. With the short one for the outside latch I found it easier to disconnect it on the bottom instead of the top.
4) Remove the three screws holding the latch in. These are inside the door jam.
5) Pull the latch down and out the lower/larger opening. You don't have to disconnect any wires.
6) Remove the clear plastic piece, I found it pretty easy to do with a flat head and it basicly just pulled off.
7) You can now see the full metal plate on the latch that was pressed against the side of the door. On the side of it that was facing out just below the metal plate you will see plastic. Right here you will see where the spring is going through the wall. Like a package of hot dogs pushing out of the plastic. There is one screw holding this plate on, remove this screw and the metal plate.
8) You will now see one spring sort of in the center down in a channel and the other very close to the side wall (this is the trouble) with a small 1"x1/2" plastic/metal part that can move up and down. Remove this plastic/metal part and take care not to let the spring or the little plastice piece under it fly away. I would remove that small plastic washer type thing and set it someplace so you don't have it fall off and end up finding it later.
9) Now if you look at the spring you will see that it's curved at the top 1/3" due to the shape of the channel it sits in and where the curve is there is steady wear pushing out on the thinnest wall due to the curve. On mine the spring coils had eaten into the plastic to the point it was binding and embedded into the plastic keeping the latch from moving down enough even with force.
10) I would clip the bottom part of the spring as high as can be freely removed. In the case of mine I had to pull it out with a vise grips. In your best case you would have other springs there and would be able to put a fresh one in. In my case I stretched the spring about 1/2" and I was set.
11) To deal with the worn plastic I took a small razor and smoothed it out as best I could. I then spent 15 minutes thinking about what would fit in there to secure it and still allow it to move freely. Too thick there isn't enough room, too thin and I don't have to tell you. If you can't cut it with a scissors it's going to be too thick. I came up with the perfect thing, I went down to my gate and snipped a part off the "keep out" sign. You can buy them at Wal-Mart for about $1 and it's a pretty thin metal, makes the wang wang noise when you move it back and forth. Just the pervect thickness though!
12) Cut a piece about 1.5" x 3/16th and that should fit in there well.
I just put this in and reversed the above steps to put the door back together. It now works perfect! I'll work on getting the pictures up right now but I would say if you have to go into your door for ANY reason that this is a MUST do PM! I would strongly consider doing the two front doors at the very least as I'm planning to get to the drivers side door as soon as I can!
Good luck all and I hope the next person to find they have a door that won't open now has the answers instead of having to spend 2 weeks dealing with it like I have.
THANK YOU TO THE PEOPLE THAT RESPONDED TO MY FIRST THREAD AND CHibbard FOR EVEN TIPPING ME OFF TO WHAT WAS WRONG!
