Door latch question

[slpdave]

Hello all,

My 2000xlt drivers door latch is faulty....I believe. I haven't been about to unlock the drivers door with the key in the tumble for a while now, if I diconnect the tumbler from the latch it works fine. I now can't pull the button and unlock the door, the button will not raise. the actuator on the power locks cannot muster the strength to unlock the door (this could be the actuator or the latch or both). and lastly, when I pull the interior handle, it unlocks but it is hard to pull and it feels like something is about to give.

upon inspection from the inside with the panel removed, everything looks good but it doesn't work. it looks like all 4 methods of unlocking the door are attached either directly or via likage to the latch.

so does anybody have any experience with this? Am I on the right track with the thought of needing a new latch? How hard is it to change the latch?

Of course any other input on this would be nice.

I have searched and haven't found anything that explains how to change the latch which would be nice.

Thanks, David

 

[Lizard]

Hello all,

My 2000xlt drivers door latch is faulty....I believe. I haven't been about to unlock the drivers door with the key in the tumble for a while now, if I diconnect the tumbler from the latch it works fine. I now can't pull the button and unlock the door, the button will not raise. the actuator on the power locks cannot muster the strength to unlock the door (this could be the actuator or the latch or both). and lastly, when I pull the interior handle, it unlocks but it is hard to pull and it feels like something is about to give.

upon inspection from the inside with the panel removed, everything looks good but it doesn't work. it looks like all 4 methods of unlocking the door are attached either directly or via likage to the latch.

so does anybody have any experience with this? Am I on the right track with the thought of needing a new latch? How hard is it to change the latch?

Of course any other input on this would be nice.

I have searched and haven't found anything that explains how to change the latch which would be nice.

Thanks, David

Lucky for you, I have insomnia right now. I just finished this repair a couple of hours ago. Had same symptoms: Driver's door lock wouldn't open with remote, and couldn't open with key. I swore it was the actuator going bad so I did the rebuild that I saw posted here somewhere. No improvement. What the problem turned out to be was a broken return spring in the latch itself. I found the broken spring while looking into the latch and fished it out. The "j" hook at the long end of the spring had broken off. I looked at my passenger latch to see what it was connected to, and it was attached to a lever and the other end of the spring was attached somewhere internally in the top of the latch housing. Realizing that it would be impossible to reinsert this spring without totally disassembling the latch, I started wiggling things from inside the door and realized that the rod that travels up to the door handle (has a yellow plastic block which this rod threads into), is linked to this lever in the latch. Try lifting this rod up a bit towards the door handle, then while keeping it lifted, hit your unlock switch and see if it now opens. The fix was to connect a spring from the bracket just behind where the yellow block is snapped into, and I connected the other end of the spring to a small hole I found in the top of the latch housing. This keeps the door handle rod in the "up" position. Note: I had to remove the window channel to get better access. Has been working great. Can now unlock with remote or key.

 

[slpdave]

Thanks

I'll look and see if your fix works for me, did you also have the issue of the door being hard to open/unlock from the inside handle.

David

 

[Lizard]

Yeah, I think it was a little more difficult to open than usual. I also cleaned the latch with some brake parts cleaner spray, then relubed the latch and all of the linkage pivot points with some white-lithium spray grease. Now opens and closes like the sound of a new door!

 

[slpdave]

Well what do you know!

I bought a 6" spring at the local Tractor Supply during lunch. I had to extend it a little to make it reach the hole in the top of the door but viola, it works. I had tried lubricating everthing with lithium spray last week but that didn't fix it.

Now with the spring and the lubrication from last week it works like a champ. Now I need to fix the little light bulbs in the master control panel and the door will be completely like new.

Thanks for your direction, it was indespensible.

David

 

[Lizard]

Glad it worked!! Weird how a 20cent spring can bind up the whole works on these doors. You mentioned using a 6" spring--- I actually used the original spring that had broke in the latch. I just bent a new hook with some needle nose pliers. The spring was around two inches in length. Doesn't require too much tension to keep that rod up (insert your own joke here!). If you find that the door is still hard to open, I'd go with a lighter duty spring.
Cheers,
Bryon

 

[slpdave]

The spring I bought was a light duty spring, it did take some fiddleing to get the tension correct or else the door would unlock by itself due to the pull of the spring. I flipped the last "coil" of the spring 180 degrees so it was sitting "outside" the spring from the end it looked like this OO one o being the spring the other being the last coil. I put this on the bolt that protrudes through the yellow plastic piece that attaches to the back of the latch (you cant see it without moving the windows trac, I used a dental mirror to look behind the trac). the reason for flipping the last coil out was so the spring could stay basically straight and not make a huge bend that could, with my luck, get bound into the window track. the other end had 2 coils straightened out with pliers with a hook on the end to attach it to a hold in the upper door. The hole is above and just to the side of the yellow clip so the spring is straight at all times. I believe this is a permanent fix.

the 6" spring was just what was available and easy to put on.

Thanks again for your help.

David

 

[daffy]

Ok, I'm having a very similar problem, the remote won't quite kick the lock open unless it's tapped twice quickly. I took the door panel apart, lubed, and things are marginally better, but I saw no evidence there was a spring there. Couldn't find any remnants, nothing.

Has anyone got a picture of the spring installed? Maybe I'm just overlooking it, it is kind of a pain to get ones head in there to look around

 

[slpdave]

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

this thread shows the yello block that is being referred to, it also shows the door panel removed. I used a dental mirror (my sister-in-law is a dental assistant) to look behind the window track. any mirror will work, I guess if I didn't already have the dental mirror my daughter would be out her Hello-Kitty mirror, anyway if you get the door panel off, with the window up, reach behind the window track and you will feel a square block with a piece of all threadish material through it. raise up on this and see if the locks work normally, if they do, then it's the spring issue. there are 2 ways to fix it. I can vouch for the altenate spring location, it's been 2 weeks now and it still works perfectly. if the other spring is still in the latch you can fish it out. do a search for "door latch" or "door handle" and you will probably get plenty of information.

David

 

[daffy]

Yep, I followed that thread, removed the door panel, found the yellow block, but cannot see a spring anywhere.

I think I'm going to buy some more of those panel fasteners and take apart the passenger door to look at it.

 

[yglide123]

...I started wiggling things from inside the door and realized that the rod that travels up to the door handle (has a yellow plastic block which this rod threads into), is linked to this lever in the latch. Try lifting this rod up a bit towards the door handle, then while keeping it lifted, hit your unlock switch and see if it now opens. The fix was to connect a spring from the bracket just behind where the yellow block is snapped into, and I connected the other end of the spring to a small hole I found in the top of the latch housing. This keeps the door handle rod in the "up" position. Note: I had to remove the window channel to get better access. Has been working great. Can now unlock with remote or key.

I have the exact same problem and I'm trying to get it fixed but am having some issues with it...

I found the rod that Lizard was referring to and indeed lifting it a bit makes the door lock operate perfectly. And as previously described, a spring on the door handle had broken and the hook is no longer there. I took some pictures to show....

Here's the driver door handle with the broken spring:

And here's the passenger side and what it is supposed to look like:

Weird thing is, it doesn't feel as if the spring would have actually done anything because I can't push the door handle up any more (and the spring on the other side is just fine).

And just for reference, the rod needing to be lifted is pictured here:

So can anyone explain to me a little more simply how I would lift this rod using the spring only - or am I going to have to replace the door handle? I think I understand that I'm not fixing the spring in its current place - but somehow moving it somewhere else that ends up holding the rod up higher.

Any other suggestions would be great as this problem is quite obnoxious!! Thanks a ton!

 

[yglide123]

oh - and that's on a '98 XLT

 

[yglide123]

anybody?

 

[rontx1]

What I have found on my '98 Ex passenger door and reading the threads is that there is a sping in the door latch itself that is broken. This is not the spring on the outer door handle as in the photo. I can look at the latch with the door open and see that the end has broke off this spring by comparing it to the drivers side door. I can also raise the rod connected to the outer door handle slightly and this will allow the door to unlock. My understanding is to add an additional spring to hold this rod up as mentioned earlier. I have not done this yet but will try this as I don't want to replace the latch if I can help it. I also have a broken spring on the outer door handle but that is another issue.

 

[drivetrain]

So can anyone explain to me a little more simply how I would lift this rod using the spring only - or am I going to have to replace the door handle? I think I understand that I'm not fixing the spring in its current place - but somehow moving it somewhere else that ends up holding the rod up higher.

Any other suggestions would be great as this problem is quite obnoxious!! Thanks a ton!

I just completed this fix on my 98 XLT 15 minutes ago. I found this thread this morning while I was searching on how to fix it, and now that I've got it fixed, I thought I'd better add what I learned. My problem was the exact same as yours, that rod needed to be lifted a bit and everything would work just fine. The springs on my handle are broken as well, but those aren't the ones you need to be concerned about. Go to THIS THREAD and check out the second picture, the one with the yellow block looking thing. That's at the bottom of rod you have pictured. Also, follow the advice given in that thread about removing the window track to get it out of your way. It's only one bolt and just slides right in and out.

What I did was get a small coil spring from the hardware store, it was about 2 inches long and had loops on the ends. One end I stretched out a bit and hung it in an opening on the top of that gold looking plate(the door latch). The other end I looped around the bottom of that rod under the yellow block, and then found a lock nut that fit perfectly so I snugged it up underneath. You could probably find another way to attach it underneath but I just happened to have those nuts in my tool bag.

It works perfectly now. I also found that by doing that, I didn't need to worry about the door handle springs because that one kept the handle down just fine and it feels just as good as my passenger side with the springs intact. It was so simple I went ahead and added a spring on the other side as well since it will probably snap soon. Hope this makes some sense.

 

[rontx1]

Thanks for all the great help on this door latch issue. Unfortunately I broke the electrical connector off the door latch while trying to remove the widow track. On my vehicle there are a couple of wires from the door latch that are held to a bracket on the window track with a plastic "push pin". I didn't notice this until I had unbolted the window track and in the process of trying to get this loose I pulled too hard and broke the connector off the door latch. I went ahead and did the spring modification but later replaced the latch. The electrical connection apparently controls the interior lights when the door opens and the door ajar indication at the dash. The latch replacement instructions posted on this site worked well.

 

[Tarron]

Just finished

replacing the latch on the driver's door and all the pictures really helped. I thought about just bending the spring but didn't want to have to try and get my door open in some remote location. Local dealer wanted $300-$350 to do it so I bought the latch for $50 and saved some cash. Also fixed some the the stuff they didn't put back together correctly when they worked on my power window under warranty. Thanks for all the great information....

 

[yglide123]

sorry for taking so long to post my results.... it actually turned out to be incredibly simple! At least in my case; the loose spring was irrelevant as the second spring still worked. The door handle wasn't super firm, but worked alright.

Again, the lock wouldn't operate with the key from the outside; and could only unlock when opening the door from the inside with the handle. All I had to do was disconnect the rod from the yellow connector, then move it further up, and reattach the connector on the rod so that it was literally just positioned higher up (connector literally locked it in place as there are several threads on the rod itself). Works like a charm now. Wish I had tackled it earlier! Hopefully someone else's situation will be as easy as mine.

 

[Vern Dog]

door latch repair

Mine just went this weekend, seems very similiar to these posts, key won't unlook from outside, keypad won't unlock door, key remote won't unlock door, but can unlock door from inside, very stiff handle, will attemp these suggestions when day light comes again. ps, it's a 99 exp sport.

always lots of excellent info on these boards.
verndog