Ever since I got my car back from the body shop I am unable to lock or unlock the drivers door from the inside and out. They took off the door handle to paint it. Also on the inside of the drivers door I can't push the door lock lever down at all. It seems like its stuck open. Did they hook up my door handle wrong on the inside? I didn't have any time to look at it because I had to go out of town to work. I'm hoping someone can steer me in the right direction.

R.K.

 

How did they paint it? I'm just questioning if it's possible that some paint could have dried, in or around the springs, and made it hard to open. My better guess is that they put the locking mechanism, and handles together improperly, as the FD's mechanism is a bit different from other cars. I recently pulled apart my squeeking hard to open handles, sprayed some WD-40, and they opened a lot easier. I also took my door panels off yesterday (I'm spraying the plastic pieces this week), so I got a good look at how my locks and stuff work. Try taking off your door panels to gain access to the locking mechanism, and take a look at the inside of your door to see if all your lines, and stuff are connected correctly. I will try and post a pic of my door with the panels off later if you need a comparison pic.

 

Thanks shinobi-x. I will try that when I get home. I would appreciate if you could take some pics. Thanks.

R.K.

 

Ok, I'll take the pics later when I get home, just keep a look out...

*Here, I'm specifically talking about the drivers outside door handle and lock, not the interior one*
Are you sure your locks are not stiff in any way? Mine were pretty hard to move, and I mistook them for not being able to move at all (until I took off the screws to inspect the lock). Just make sure to check and see if they do not move at all- if you get any play, then most likely they are just stiff because the were screwed in too tightly. What about passenger side? do they move, but no unlocking motion happens too?

 

The passengers side I can open and close with the key and open and close it from the inside. I will see if they are screwed in too tightly.

R.K.

 

take the black plastic cover off the inside of the car (near the window), then remove the two bolts. Then goto outside the car and pull the handle slowly out, there are 2 rods that connect to the mechanism on the handle. It sounds to me like they did not reconnect them or they broke them. I would take it back to them incase they broke it. The door handle is like 200 bucks.

If they are not broken, its easy to fix. You will see these plasic/rubber sleeves that will attach to the door lock mechanism.

David

 

I WANNA SEE!! I WANNA SEE!!! send me pics when you are done.

David.

 

Ok, here is the pic...

It had to be cropped a good bit so that it could fit in the forums, but you can see the lines leading from the handle and such...

I'll try and take another when it's not so bright out.

 

I have the exact same problem. My passenger door lock is fine. However my drivers door lock (the little loc/unlock switch on the inside of the door) is stuck in the unlock position. I too would like to know how to fix this. Thanks.


-Jeff

 

Sure thing.