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Rear Door Won't Open

4K views 5 replies 3 participants last post by  frenchdragon 
#1 ·
I just purchased a '00 GC & the left rear door won't open. The seller had told me he thought they had activated the child safety deals, but wasn't for sure, but he couldn't get the door open afterwards.

How much of a pita is it to remove the door panel with the door closed?

Also, the right rear door electric lock mechanism makes a noise (they are all very loud) but doesn't unlock (it will manually unlock). Is this probably just a mechanical connection issue?
thanks,
Mike Sal
 
#2 · (Edited)
Never had to do this myself, but i heard that you can remove the cover with the door closed. I only wonder if the cover will come of in one piece. And even if you have the cover of, it can be a pain to get the door open. Some had to destroy the lock mechanism to get it open. It can be that the outside handle rod has disconnected from the door lock. When then the child lock is activated, you won´t get the door open anymore.
A lock motor which makes noise but doesn´t want to lock/unlock, normally needs to be replaced. Maybe that some cleaning and lubrication could make it work again.
 
#3 ·
Removing the inner panel wasn't too bad, just removed the seat bottom so I could gain access to the lower edge of the panel.

Now the bad news....it appears the mechanism itself is broken. The lock rod, inner door handle rod, and exterior handle rods are all attached, but don't really catch on anything when actuated (the inner handle rod does pull down a lever with a spring on it, but it' doesn't appear to attached to anything).

I'm going to cut some of the inner metal away so I can get a little closer to the mechanism. I'm assuming I'll need to destroy the mechanism (if I can) to get it to let go of the latching anchor. Anyone else have to go thru this???
Mike Sal
 
#4 ·
Is the door latch / lock mechanism the same for front and back doors? I don't have room at the moment to get the jeep into the garage (working on a '55 studebaker) so it has to set outside. I want to have the replacement latch ready to go before I destroy the old one & have a door that won't close.
 
#5 ·
Success!!!! I took the passenger side door latch out so I could study what I was up against & finally determined root cause.....the plastic connection between the interior lock rod & the mechanism is broken and the child safety lock was activated. I was able to figure out that a plastic linkage was accessible just behind the metal cover on the bottom side. I was able to push it up with a right angle tool and then pull the opening rod.....and presto!

I then took the mechanism apart & removed the lock cam, put it back together & I now have a door that will open & close, but won't lock. This will do until I can buy a replacement latch mechanism. If I figure out how to post pictures, I'll post some when I take it back out again.
Mike Sal
 
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