speedjunkie

iTrader: (3)

My passenger door was opening fine until just the other day when it wouldn't open at all. I took out the latch tonight and reinstalled it, and it actually opens now, but you have to pull really hard and pull up on the handle (basically lifting the door a little) to get the door to open. It seems like the hole is a little too long to make contact soon enough (red arrow), but why would it be just fine one day and happen all of a sudden? I saw this other thread (post #6)...

https://www.rx7club.com/showthread.p...ght=door+latch

...saying to stick a bolt or something in the hole to make contact sooner, but I'd rather not do that. I'd rather fix it another way, something less rigged. Any ideas or suggestions? Or will I just need to get a new rod? Has anyone fixed this issue successfully before?

speedjunkie

iTrader: (3)

Anyone?

Sgtblue

iTrader: (16)

I had a similar issue as you've described with my door lock on the driver's side. For whatever reason, one day it simply wouldn't unlock with the key.
It turned out to be an issue with the length of the rod. I determined that the rod had (apparently) bent just a little and wasn't quite long enough to unlock the door...though there was nothing visibly changed.
I ended up lengthening it by straightening it out slightly at two or three different points where it was bent by design. This effectively lengthened it just enough (probably less than an 1/4 inch) and I haven't had issues since.

Cgotto6

iTrader: (8)

This problem is pretty common from what I have seen. I had this issue on my last FD. It is usually the handle that is the problem, not the latch. I took off the handle, and on the back side you can see these two rods/plates. Im trying to say this off memory, but I remember that one of the rods would return too far past where its supposed to stop, and this would cause a binding issue. All I had to do was put a standard hose clamp on one of those rods and sinch it down to limit the other rod from returning too far and causing a binding issue.

I used to have to really pull hard on the handle (actually flexing it) before the rods would "cam" out of the binding position and operate like normal at normal pressures. After I did the fix above it was like factory again.

speedjunkie

iTrader: (3)

Alright, I straightened that rod a little, and no luck. I sprayed WD40 on the springs and anything else gunked up in the back of the handle, and no luck. I believe it's just that my handle was slowly breaking, cause it's broken now and won't open at all haha. Time for aluminum handles!

speedjunkie

iTrader: (3)

OK so I figured out what the problem was. There was a piece bent, and it was also wearing on the handle itself, not to mention where the handle broke too.

The piece was bent like this...


So I bent it back to what it was supposed to be, like this...


And this is where the handle was worn. The part that's rubbed off is where the bent part was rubbing...