Need help fixing a locked door.

[Zipper369]

Hey guys,

I've been doing a lot of work on my 99 Tahoe. The other day I replaced a broken interior door handle on the passenger side. The handle works, but it doesn't feel right. When I open it from the inside, I can't feel any sort of click from the latch, but the door opens just fine. Anyway that's not my main problem right now.

I've used the locks a few times since I changed the handle, and it's been working thus far... until last night. I locked the doors, did my stuff, came back and the passenger door would not unlock. Needless to say, I cannot open it from the inside or the outside. I've tried to repeatedly lock-unlock it with the electric lock mechanism many many times, but to no avail. I've tried the manual lock slider-thing but I don't think it's pulling the metal rod far enough to full unlock the latch.

Do you guys have any tips/tricks or know a way to get it open so I can work on it? Also, what would cause the electric locking mechanism to stop unlocking it? I've searched around on Google, but I couldn't find a thing.

 

[justimagination]

:welcome:To the forum. When you removed the RIVET that holds the inside handle in place, did you slide the handle back in position to ALIGN the hole where the RIVET was ? You can use a SCREW that fits where the RIVET was. The handle must not be seated correctly or you have the ROD'S in a bind. There is small plastic clips they lock in so they will slide easy. I would remove the trim panel and go back over what you did and make sure everything is working freely. I just did mine recently, so I've been there. JMHO...........Good luck.
david g. :naughty:

 

[Zipper369]

Thanks, I'm going to try to pull the panel back off. It's gonna be a pain with the door closed. When I installed the new handle I put a bolt and a nut in place of the rivet, so I know the handle is pretty much where the old was was seated.

 

[Zipper369]

Ok, so, I managed to fix it and now it works like new! I took the panel as far off as I could and removed the bolt that I put in place of the rivet. I slid the handle assembly forward and out so I could disconnect the lock rod and unlock the door. Once it was open I could take the panel the rest of the way off. Next, I inspected the connecting rods, like you said, and I noticed that the one for the handle had two 90° bends in it, forming somewhat of a 'Z' shape. The bends looked uneven and after playing around with the rods and the latch I found my problem.

What happened was that the handle rod wasn't retracting far enough to let the latch unit unlock itself. It basically acted as if someone was pulling on the handle when it tried to unlock (everyone knows you have to let go before it will unlock). So my solution was to take a pair of vice grips and straighten out the 'Z' bends a little bit to lengthen the rod some. That worked perfectly.

I followed up by spraying down the latch unit with some PB Blaster, to help clean it a little, and then followed that with some white grease to make it nice and smooth. Now the door opens, closes, locks, and unlocks just like new.

 

[lesterl]

YEA!!!! Another one doesnt bite the dust!!!!