Had to replace the drivers door handle because the arm that makes the door actually open broke (as is common for FC's).

Got the handle in and everything hooked up (the rods that make the door lock/unlock and open/latch). Opened then closed the door a few times to make sure it worked, locked it and unlocked it with the key. All good. I even locked the door from the inside then shut it to make sure it unlocked itself. That worked too.

Then after i verified everything worked like it should, i locked the door from the inside and pulled up on the handle so it wouldn't unlock itself (a lot of old japanese cars do this) and that's where my issue came up. It's stuck closed. Will "unlock" from the outside, and won't open. From the inside same thing. It will be "unlocked" and still won't open.

What could have gone wrong here? What would be my next course of action?

 

I think the most logical course of action is to remove the window trim from the exterior of the door, and see if you can peek inside.

You should be able to reach the rods from there, it's not exactly the most secure car. Once it's unlocked and open, obviously you'd have to take the door card back off and inspect to find the root cause.

Out of curiosity, what do you mean by pulling up on the handle so it won't unlock itself? I'd never heard of that.

 

I think he means the way you have to hold the handle up as you close the door so it will stay locked,

 

I can also get inside the car through the hatch, so if i need to do anything on the inside, i can probably get the door card off enough to peek inside. I saw a thread on here (i can't find it again) where the actual latch mechanism was jammed (below the rod that attaches to the outer door handle). Could that be the case?


In most old JDM cars (FC's included), if you lock the door from the inside, them close the door, it will unlock itself. This is a safety precaution so you don't lock your keys in the car. But, you can stop it from doing this by pulling up on the door handle while you shut the door. This will keep the door from unlocking

 

The interior card is difficult to remove from the inside because the front sort of meshes into the dash. One of the screw holes in front (maybe two) are enclosed behind the dash where it wraps to meet the door vent. You could possibly flex the door card and get your hands in at the rear side of the door, but then you risk damaging the card.

That's interesting, I never knew that Japanese cars did that. I'll have to test it out sometime.

 

My door cards are getting trashed soon anyway, so I'm not too worried about damaging them. Will see if i can peek in there and find out what's causing the jam
yeah I first discovered that and it blew my mind.

 

So, an update on this. I was able to get the door open thanks to a thread that i can't seem to find again. I'm still running into issues with the door jamming when i lock it, so i believe i need a new latch. But, in case someone comes across this thread in the future, or sees something wrong here, here are some pictures and a video

this metal tab is what is pushed on by the rod that sits above it, via the black plastic bit you see. The metal tab is what opens the latch, allowing the door to open. All I did was press down on this, and boom, door opened



this is a picture of what it looks like jammed. In the first picture, you can see the black plastic piece sits flush on top of that metal tab. When the door is unlocked, the rod that is attached pushes that black piece down and unlatches the door. When you lock the door, however, that black piece swings out of the way, so if the handle is pulled, the latch won't be opened. This picture shows that black piece being somewhere in between locked and unlocked. The corner of the plastic butts up against the metal tab, and basically stops it from unlocking. So, when you pull the handle, there's nothing to push that metal tab down and open the door.



Here's a video, in case the pictures weren't super clear:


Hope this helps anyone who comes across it.