driver side outside door latch is sticking
05-15-05, 05:04 PM
#2
Originally Posted by ahoym8t
its really hard to open and im affraid im goin to break it. any suggestions?
05-15-05, 08:10 PM
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You can do a couple of things, but in the end you are just delaying the inevetible. What to do is take of the black trim piece on the backside of the door. ( by your left shoulder) That will expose 2 10mm bolt heads. take them out and it will allow you to remove the latch/handle assembly from the door enough to unhook the bars that actuate the lever below. Then you should have enough slack in the electrical cord to lay the latch down on the door( with protection from scratching the paint of course
) and inspect the assembly.
You will see the metal lever assembly that coinnects to the plastic handle you lift on from outside. It is basically a C shape or E without the middle line that wraps around one end of the plastic handle. What happens is the lever gets corroded over time and begins to get stiff. That in turn bends the ears that wrap around the handle and then allows them to cut a groove in the plastic handle. Once this happens you are pretty much left with replacing the assembly.( Which from Malloy Mazda using Ray Crowe is about 200 bones) I got about an extra 2 months out of mine once it gouged the handle the first time but just 4 days ago it gave up the good fight all together.
If you catch it before it is too late you can take the metal lever off and re-bend the ears to make it fit tighter.( which is how I extended it's sorry life the first time) Then re-assemble and lube the dofpiss out of the whole assembly, and hope for the best.
Hope that didn't confuse you. It is a pretty self-explainatory assembly if you take a minute to look at it and figure out how it works. Tools required for the job include a 100 ratchet or wrench, a #2 phillups head screwdriver and a large phillups head screwdriver. And a set of traditional old pliers to bend the ears back into place.
But unfortunately you should start to budget the new assembly into your plans for the future....sorry se la vie for us FD owners
Hope yopu found this more helpfull than a SEARCH comment rendered above.Since searching this forum tends to turn up more cat fights between ignorant people than usefull info.
) and inspect the assembly.You will see the metal lever assembly that coinnects to the plastic handle you lift on from outside. It is basically a C shape or E without the middle line that wraps around one end of the plastic handle. What happens is the lever gets corroded over time and begins to get stiff. That in turn bends the ears that wrap around the handle and then allows them to cut a groove in the plastic handle. Once this happens you are pretty much left with replacing the assembly.( Which from Malloy Mazda using Ray Crowe is about 200 bones) I got about an extra 2 months out of mine once it gouged the handle the first time but just 4 days ago it gave up the good fight all together.
If you catch it before it is too late you can take the metal lever off and re-bend the ears to make it fit tighter.( which is how I extended it's sorry life the first time) Then re-assemble and lube the dofpiss out of the whole assembly, and hope for the best.
Hope that didn't confuse you. It is a pretty self-explainatory assembly if you take a minute to look at it and figure out how it works. Tools required for the job include a 100 ratchet or wrench, a #2 phillups head screwdriver and a large phillups head screwdriver. And a set of traditional old pliers to bend the ears back into place.
But unfortunately you should start to budget the new assembly into your plans for the future....sorry se la vie for us FD owners
Hope yopu found this more helpfull than a SEARCH comment rendered above.Since searching this forum tends to turn up more cat fights between ignorant people than usefull info.
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