How to: Remove and replace door latch assembly

Door latch removal and replacement.

I encountered this common problem on my 98 explorer and could not find a good how-to online. The symptoms I was experiencing were problems unlocking the door. To unlock the door I had to work the interior door handle while hitting the power button to get the door open. The power actuator on it's own would not unlock the door. The small spring in the latch assembly had broken, I re-bent it once but it broke a 2nd time so I decided to replace the latch assembly. My interior handle also broke leaving me unable to open the door.

This removal and replacement can be done by the knowledgeable enthusiast, but if you have large hands with fat fingers you may struggle. The following procedure worked on my 98, but your mileage my vary.

1. Remove the door panel and peel back the liner. If you can't get the door panel off you probably need to stop and seek help. If you are in the same situation as me and can't get the door open because of the broken interior handle you can roll down the window and pop the top of the door panel out of the track at the top with a flat screwdriver. This will allow you to get your arm in and manipulate the rod to open the door.

2. With the door open roll the window up and remove the window track at the rear edge of the window. There is a bolt at the bottom of the track, remove this bolt and lay the track down in the bottom of the door.

3. Remove the interior door handle. There are two screws to remove then slide it towards the front of the car and pull. You can then rotate it off of the rod.

4. Remove the two wiring connectors from the latch assembly. The larger one has a clip, and the smaller one in the upper corner just pulls off.

5. Locate the rod that goes from the latch assembly to the exterior door handle. Open the clip on the latch end to free the rod and leave it hanging free. Count how many threads are exposed or mark the bar so you can install it in the same place on the new assembly.

6. Use a large phillips screw driver to remove the three screws holding the latch assembly in place. You may have to use a pair of vice grips on the screw driver handle for leverage.

7. With the latch assembly free in the door pull it down to free the bar that runs to the lock button from the sheet metal at the top of the door. Leave it hanging from the latch assembly.

8. Work the end of the bar that runs from the lock assembly to the lock cylinder free of the rubber clips on the arm on the back of the cylinder.

9. Take the entire assembly and rotate it to free it from the J on the end of the rod from the actuator on the bottom of the door. Work the assembly out of the door with the interior handle rod, door lock button rod, and lock cylinder rod still attached.

10. Transfer the interior handle rod, door lock button rod, and lock cylinder rod to the new lock assembly. There is a tab in the top corner of of the assembly where the smaller wiring connector slides on, make sure it is bent out perpendicular so you can slide the connector on.

11. Insert the new assembly into the door and rotate it over the J bend on the end of the rod coming form the lock actuator. Make sure that you are not trapping the wiring or the exterior handle rod behind the assembly.

12. Hook the lock cylinder rod through the rubber clips on the arm on the back of the cylinder.

13. Insert the lock button bar through the hole in the sheet metal at the top of the door.

14. Screw the latch assembly down with the three existing screws through the edge of the door.

15. Use the plastic clip to attach the exterior door handle rod to the latch assembly.

16. Connect the two wiring connectors.

17. Reinstall the interior door handle.

18. Reinstall the window track. It snaps into place at the top then replace the bolt at the bottom.

18. Make sure everything works! Don't shut the door yet, just make sure the power lock works, and the dor unlocks when you pull the interior handle. Use a screwdriver to close the latch jaws and make sure the interior handle releases them. You should now be able to shut and reopen the door and make sure the window goes up and down.

NOTES : During this process a mirror may help you see what is going on. If you need a reference for reassembly take the door panel off of the other door to look at.

There may be a better way to do this, but this is what I know worked on my 98.

 

[wrigley_1285]

This problem is all too common. mine has been out almost a year! I'll need to replace it soon. thanks for the post, it's gonna be useful

mine was broke almost a year also. finally couldn't stand it any more and got it all done in an afternoon.

I live about a mile away from a body. So i just went to them to rivet my new outside handle on. It only cost me $5 under the table and took all of like 5 minute to do.

 

[Hoydog]

So I’m not the first poor sucker to endure the Explorer driver’s door that won’t open? I spent approx. 9 months feeling very ghetto while opening the window to release the door from the outside, or climbing over the console to enter and exit from the passenger side. No need to explain how embarrassed the kids were when their friends rode along! Today I woke up early to find and order the interior handle (it broke in a rage trying to force the door). Later today at work I looked out the window to see an Explorer pull into the lot and the driver (6’2” 250lb.) climb over the console to get out. Amen, brother! I immediately googled and found this instruction. I picked up the part after work for $40 at Ford and the job was complete in under 2 hours. Followed your recipe and, voila! I have no mechanical training but I am pretty handy and very cheap about things that fall under the heading of “how hard can it really be?” Thanks for the step-by-step. If anyone is looking for a cheap interior door handle, I found the best price at rockauto.com. $13.33 incl. shipping.

 

[hpgrl23]

Parts

Okay, someone please explain to me in detail exactly what parts I need to order. I have a 2001 Ford Explorer Sport and I used to have the problem where it took forever to unlock my driver's side door, but after my Dad messed around with it and go a little angry at the door, I now cannot open my door at all and have to crawl through the passenger side. This wouldnt be a major problem I could deal with except I am almost six months pregnant. So, you can see the difficulty. My fiancee is too stubborn to take the car in, and frankly, $200 is a load of bull to have to pay for a problem so common and fixable from home with parts purchased ourselves. We have plenty of friends who have car knowledge, I just need to know exactly how to describe or tell the person at the parts store what I need. The latch inside does not catch at all btw.

Dead Link Removed

 

[Hoydog]

Replacing door latch

To hpgrl123 - The original post at the top of page 1 of this thread (posted by teCh0010) iss an excellent step-by-step for replacing the door latch. The part was about $45. Good luck with the lock and with the baby!

 

[scandinavian]

I don't have easy access to a Ford dealer, anyone found a latch assembly online that looks like OEM quality?

 

[J.A.F.E.]

I just did mine today and this writeup was very helpful. Two areas were a bit of a problem: the outer door handle rod and getting the latch separated from the power solenoid.

The outer latch rod attaches to the yellow clip and I was a bit confused how to get them apart. I discovered the yellow clip opens like a door with the "hinge" on the inside side of the door and the latch part on the door skin side. The photos show the clip open and closed.

Getting the latch out of the door is a bit fussy and took several tries but it came without bending or breaking anything. Oddly, getting it back in was easier than getting it out. I think if the solenoid was removed it would make the whole procedure much easier. If I ever do it again, I'll drill out the rivet. The whole thing start to finish took just under an hour not including putting my tools away.

 

[J_C]

Like many others I had my '98 Explorer driver's door latch spring break about 4 years ago. At that time I ended up buying the replacement latch for $30 from a dealer.

After taking care to note how the spring was connected on the new latch assembly, I took the spring out of the new latch assembly and put it in the original latch while it remained installed in the door, using needle nose pliers through the latch hole. I would recommend others try doing this as it seems much easier, though it does take a bit of patience blindly manipulating the end of the spring up into the hole at the top.

Now here I am posting about it because the driver's side passenger latch spring broke at the bottom just like one did in the driver's door. Last time I tried to bend the original spring and reuse it but it broke leaving me to buy the whole latch mechanism. This time the spring seems to have bent well enough to try and reuse it but the straight portion looks too short to fit now, and being an ultra-tightwad I have to ask whether anyone has a lead on where to buy just this spring? I wondered around the local hardware store last time one broke but didn't see any springs that were a close enough match to try using them.

Surely there's some company that makes every shape and size of little spring you could hope to want, but I don't know who. I checked at smallparts.com and McMaster-Carr's sites, neither of them have anything that looks close enough to this spring.

 

[KRICHARD27]

97 explorer driver door handle

I just fixed my driver side door that was stuck shut. It was the inside handle that was the problem.. The handle itself is all plastic which is what is wrong in the first place.. On mine the screws that hold the actual handle to the metal part of the door were too tight and it wore out the plastic on the handle and eventually broke off.. That caused the handle to pull on the rod, but there was not enough pressure to open the door... I somehow got the door open after only 5 minutes, and then i took the door panel off and fixed the problem... From what i read on this site i am a lucky s.o.b. Because i didn't have to take the seat out and it didn't take very long.. Good luck to whoever else has this problem.. I wish i had a video of it because i couldn't find any videos as to what i should look for.. I just got lucky

 

[J_C]

After I fished the spring out of my '98 Explorer's drivers side rear door latch, I took some (spray can with a straw on it) grease and lubed all the areas I could access from the outside of the door side.

After lubing it the lock seems to work consistently without the broken spring being replaced, so I'm holding off on replacing it. The drivers door lock on the other hand would not work without replacing the spring, they look the same and the latch is the same part number so I'm not sure why the rear door works without the spring being replaced but it does, so...

I'll probably buy a replacement latch or two someday just in case the dealerships aren't able to get the part anymore, it's really annoying that they designed this latch spring setup so poorly as I've never had a part like this break on any other cars so consistently with light use rather than abuse. I just wish somebody would sell a pack of compatible springs, rather than 30 bucks a pop for a 20 cent spring.

Now I'm thinking about prevention, maybe lubing the lower spring pivot point will extend the life of the other door latches, I would take the latch apart and file or polish that pivot point if the latch were more easily taken apart but they used a mashed-together and spot welded method of latch mechanism assembly so that wouldn't be reasonable to do.

 

[snoll63]

I Just wanted to put out a big thanks for this post. My door handle and all the locking gut went to hell. A local shop wanted $600. to fix. I fixed it with a friend for approx $120 including all new parts.

 

[MrPie68]

wow, started this repair yesterday, finished today. I gotta say that putting everything back together, and getting everything out in one piece for that matter is difficult with big hands! I had to walk my mechanically impaired Wife through it since her hands fit inside the door better. Everything back together without the manual lock bar (bent the crap out of it getting it out, could not figure out how to get back in!) Great write up, made the job much easier...though still went through a 6-pack!

 

[dantco]

Thanks

teCh0010,

Thanks for sharing. I followed your lead to correct what appears to be the result of bad testing, or worse "Planned Obsolescence/Failure."

Seems there are many people experiencing the same problems. We depend on people like you who share solutions. Thanks to explorerforum.com for maintaining a space for you to share and us to profit.

Dave

By the way, the repair went smoothly and with very little cursing. The big-handed-person warning was right on, but my wife helped by watching me scrape all the hide off of my arms.

I had a little "door" experience because the lock solenoid rivet broke some months ago and I repaired that by replacing the rivet with a bolt.

 

[Fordboarder5]

From reading this it seems that everyone's problem is with the interior handle. My '01 sport's interior handle works fine, in fact it is the only way to unlock the driver's door. The power locks will not unlock it, only using the interior handle. I pulled the door panel off only to discover a broken spring... not sure where it goes to or where it's from.

Will this "how-to" solution" fix my issue? Also I have a lot of slop or play in the outside handle before the door latch opens, is this related to the latch assembly? or is this a other spring problem?

Thanks so much in advance because I think this may be the fix to my "ghetto" situation of unlocking the driver's side door!

 

[teCh0010]

From reading this it seems that everyone's problem is with the interior handle. My '01 sport's interior handle works fine, in fact it is the only way to unlock the driver's door. The power locks will not unlock it, only using the interior handle. I pulled the door panel off only to discover a broken spring... not sure where it goes to or where it's from.

Will this "how-to" solution" fix my issue? Also I have a lot of slop or play in the outside handle before the door latch opens, is this related to the latch assembly? or is this a other spring problem?

Thanks so much in advance because I think this may be the fix to my "ghetto" situation of unlocking the driver's side door!

Yes, it should. Your issues is exactly how my issue started out. If it keeps going down the same path mine did you won't be able to get the door open at all in a month or two.

Do you have an entire spring or half of a spring? Some people are able to get along for a while longer by putting the spring back in the latch assembly from the outside, but that seems to only be a temp fix.

The longterm solution is to replace the entire latch assembly. After you are done if you still have slack in your outside handle you can adjust it by adjusting the rod before you close the door up.

 

[Fordboarder5]

Ok, Thanks so much for the response. I'll plan on doing it this week then! Just wanted to be sure.

So far love the exploder, its like a 11 year newer bronco II!

 

[Ctalk4eva]

Just curious...Does anyone have a video block of instructions? Thank you for the post btw =-D

 

[Mirge]

If someone else happens to be doing this in the near future, please take plenty of pictures as you go through the process.

I have a feeling I'll be needing to do this myself shortly LOL...

 

[nmos]

Thanks to teCh0010 for the description and JAFE for the pictures.

My problem is that the yellow plastic clip that holds the outer latch rod to the latch is broken. Is this piece part of the latch assembly or does it have it's own part number? What the heck do I call it?

 

[JCat]

Thanks to teCh0010 for the description and JAFE for the pictures.

My problem is that the yellow plastic clip that holds the outer latch rod to the latch is broken. Is this piece part of the latch assembly or does it have it's own part number? What the heck do I call it?

When I recently purchased a new latch from Ford ($39) it came with all the plastic clips, except the one that holds the door lock rod. I had to use the old one.

 

[nmos]

A little more searching turned up the part number E83Z-5421952-B in the following thread. http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?p=1496424&highlight=yellow+plastic+outer+latch+rod#post1496424

Sure enough my local dealer claims to have them for $3 each!