Door wont unlock only opens from inside

[dersch6221992]

Okay so on my mounty the drivers door wont unlock correctly. i went out to go to work this morning and i pushed the key fob and i heard the doors unlock only to find the drivers door did not unlock itself. I tried the key pad and all it does it unlock the door and i can see the lock go up and then fall back down. The key fob/ pad will unlock the other doors.

so i think its clearly something with the door lock. i dont know if its the pin or what it is.
i dont know if its related but my unlock button on this door doesnt work, the lock button works. and the power window stopped working on this door too.

THOUGHTS"??"?

 

[swshawaii]

The door latch "assist" spring may work. I had your issue and tried it. Ended up replacing the latch.

http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=207373

 

[koda2000]

Okay so on my mounty the drivers door wont unlock correctly. i went out to go to work this morning and i pushed the key fob and i heard the doors unlock only to find the drivers door did not unlock itself. I tried the key pad and all it does it unlock the door and i can see the lock go up and then fall back down. The key fob/ pad will unlock the other doors.

so i think its clearly something with the door lock. i dont know if its the pin or what it is.
i dont know if its related but my unlock button on this door doesnt work, the lock button works. and the power window stopped working on this door too.

THOUGHTS"??"?

i had a similar problem on my '97. my problem turned out to be a tiny broken spring inside the latch. it would get in the way and not allow the lock to open unless you fiddled with it. you couldn't even get it to unlock with the key. once i noticed the spring floating around in the latch, i fished it out and it's been working fine ever since. i don't know what the purpose of the spring was, but it works fine w/out it.

as far as your lock button and window not working. that's usually caused by broken wires in the driver's door jam.

 

[dersch6221992]

thanks guys i will check this out later this week when i get some time. but i also noticed i have a ton of slack in the door handle on the outside. as in if you life it up you can almost lift it up fully before it opens. its not tight like factory.

 

[pbnj22]

thanks guys i will check this out later this week when i get some time. but i also noticed i have a ton of slack in the door handle on the outside. as in if you life it up you can almost lift it up fully before it opens. its not tight like factory.

you probably have broken springs on the outside door handle. i bought my truck that way and finally got around to fixing it a few weekends ago. both my springs were roached. but i had similar issues too you with the unlock thing but after taking door panel off and a few other bolts to get to the door handle, i was just fiddling with everything in there and when i put it all back together now it seams to work normally.. so something must have just gotten misaligned..

 

[pbnj22]

Okay so on my mounty the drivers door wont unlock correctly. i went out to go to work this morning and i pushed the key fob and i heard the doors unlock only to find the drivers door did not unlock itself. I tried the key pad and all it does it unlock the door and i can see the lock go up and then fall back down. The key fob/ pad will unlock the other doors.

does the "keypad" on the drivers door open every door? i almost locked my keys in my car because i am used to just leaving them in there and punching in the code to get in.. but when I was having issues with the drivers door lock i couln not use the keypad to get in

 

[koda2000]

you do realize that after putting in your 5 digit code, if you hit the 3/4 button everything unlocks, right?

what pnj22 is referring to is "floppy door handle syndrome". does your driver's outside door handle feel limp and/or floppy? if so the springs are broken (one or both) and you can either add a spring to the rod (there's a sticky on that) or replace the door handle, which requires drilling out the factory rivets that hold it on. if you need help with doing this, i can supply links to a video and my experience, as i just did this job. i replaced my rivets with pan-head Phillips screws, star washers and nyloc nuts. total cost for the repair was under $20.

 

[swshawaii]

Good advice removing the door panel first to diagnose. Here's the exterior door handle replacement thread if needed.

http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=165081

 

[pbnj22]

you do realize that after putting in your 5 digit code, if you hit the 3/4 button everything unlocks, right?

what pnj22 is referring to is "floppy door handle syndrome". does your driver's outside door handle feel limp and/or floppy? if so the springs are broken (one or both) and you can either add a spring to the rod (there's a sticky on that) or replace the door handle, which requires drilling out the factory rivets that hold it on. if you need help with doing this, i can supply links to a video and my experience, as i just did this job. i replaced my rivets with pan-head Phillips screws, star washers and nyloc nuts. total cost for the repair was under $20.

i did not know the press 3/4 trick! that is sweet!
and i just replaced my outside door handle and used nylon locking nuts as well!
I had the bolts laying around. paid 8 bucks for 2 door handles. (1 as an extra)
and 10 bucks for dupli color exact match paint.
so 18 bucks and now i have extra paint for touch ups and i have an extra handle

punching out the factory rivets is the hardest part, i needed my dad to hold the handle open so i could "smack it" then had to drill them out a bit bigger to get my bolts to fit but it was pretty easy after reading through a few threads on here

 

[koda2000]

i did not know the press 3/4 trick! that is sweet!
and i just replaced my outside door handle and used nylon locking nuts as well!
I had the bolts laying around. paid 8 bucks for 2 door handles. (1 as an extra)
and 10 bucks for dupli color exact match paint.
so 18 bucks and now i have extra paint for touch ups and i have an extra handle

punching out the factory rivets is the hardest part, i needed my dad to hold the handle open so i could "smack it" then had to drill them out a bit bigger to get my bolts to fit but it was pretty easy after reading through a few threads on here

easy-peazy, you first use a small punch to drive the "nail" out of the center of the rivet, then use you largest drill bit (min 1/2" i used a 5/8's). then reach inside the door and pull out the remainder of the "banana" rivet. i used the external toothed star washers because i was working alone and they allow you to turn the screw w/out needing to hold the nut with a wrench.

the other trick is to remove the lower window channel (one 10mm bolt) to have more room to work. i got lucky as the handle i replaced was on my black Mountaineer, so no painting required.

the keypad does a bunch off stuff besides open the driver's door. read your owners manual.

 

[dersch6221992]

easy-peazy, you first use a small punch to drive the "nail" out of the center of the rivet, then use you largest drill bit (min 1/2" i used a 5/8's). then reach inside the door and pull out the remainder of the "banana" rivet. i used the external toothed star washers because i was working alone and they allow you to turn the screw w/out needing to hold the nut with a wrench.

the other trick is to remove the lower window channel (one 10mm bolt) to have more room to work. i got lucky as the handle i replaced was on my black Mountaineer, so no painting required.

the keypad does a bunch off stuff besides open the driver's door. read your owners manual.

is that link above the one i need? i definitely have the floppy door handle syndrome!!!!!!!
and what else does the keypad do?
1. code to open it
2. 3/4 to unlock all doors
3. 4/5 locks doors
4. ??/

 

[koda2000]

is that link above the one i need? i definitely have the floppy door handle syndrome!!!!!!!
and what else does the keypad do?
1. code to open it
2. 3/4 to unlock all doors
3. 4/5 locks doors
4. ??/

the only other function i recall is to turn autolock on/off with some combination of the 7/8 button. read the owner's manual for the the full list, though that might be everything. the 4/5 to lock seems ridiculous to me, but whatever.

i'll see if i can locate the link for adding a spring. if you want to replace the handle, i used a u-tube video on http://www.youtube.com/user/1aauto

here's the add-a-spring fix link. the best pic is on post 19. i did this fix on my '01 explorer and it worked great.

http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=207373

 

[71cutty455]

I had this same issue with my Explorer about a month ago and fixed it pretty easily. I was going to try the spring fix like koda2000 just showed but was able to find another way to fix it. I planned on doing a quick write-up and took pictures but just haven't had the chance, I'll try to do the write-up tonight and link you to it...

 

[dersch6221992]

I had this same issue with my Explorer about a month ago and fixed it pretty easily. I was going to try the spring fix like koda2000 just showed but was able to find another way to fix it. I planned on doing a quick write-up and took pictures but just haven't had the chance, I'll try to do the write-up tonight and link you to it...

thank you that would help a ton!

 

[71cutty455]

thank you that would help a ton!

Sorry it took so long but here you go -

http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?p=3308467#post3308467

I hope it works out!

 

[Steeda04SVT]

This thread is full of epic win!! Have the same problem on my new 97 5.0 on both my front doors but at least the passenger side front door has tension on the door handle. It's just when I hit the unlock button on the remote, you don't see both sides unlock and so I ordered a new latch as well and didn't think of using the pan head screws and nyloc nuts. Plus on my 97 EB 4.0 the door handle works fine but wont unlock with the key.

 

[JimMadsen]

My floppy door handle was a bad rod from the handle. There is a threaded rod that drops to the actual latch, a plastic clip holds it in place. All I did was pop the clip and lowered the rod closer to the ground and reattached.

And I just used epoxy on my door handle replacement..... yeah bad idea as I will never get it off again, but it was something like 10 degrees out and needed a fast fix to get to the car seat on that side reliably.

 

[Steeda04SVT]

My floppy door handle was a bad rod from the handle. There is a threaded rod that drops to the actual latch, a plastic clip holds it in place. All I did was pop the clip and lowered the rod closer to the ground and reattached.

And I just used epoxy on my door handle replacement..... yeah bad idea as I will never get it off again, but it was something like 10 degrees out and needed a fast fix to get to the car seat on that side reliably.

Are you talking about what looks like a little yellow plastic clip? I've seen it before but once I get my latch in then I plan on popping off all the door panels to see what's going on with each of the door latches.

 

[JimMadsen]

yellowish white. Follow the rod from the handle down to the latch mechanism. You will see it. Well maybe not see it, but feel it. It is a plastic clamp over the rod. You can pop it open and adjust the rod up and down. Do that first just in case it moved over years of use. I think going down by 1/4s of an inch at a time is what I did. Test and repeat until sure it is fixed or not the issue.