Door Lock Jammed! Please help.

[JinXRacer18]

Hey guys I own a 1995 Ford Explorer XLT 4 door. Right now the drivers door will not lock. If you hit the lock button on the door or the remote all the doors will unlock and lock normally except the drivers door. It is stuck unlocked. If you look at the little button/pin thing coming up from the door that goes up and down when unlocking and locking its jammed. You cant push or pull it. It moves a little if you pull on the door handle but its stuck and the door wont lock?.

How do I fix this?
Im assuming i have to take of the door panel so does anyone have instructions to do it? Thanks for the help.

 

[Mike Ramsey]

I have the same problem. I searched the forums and found the instructions. In my case I think it is the rivit holding the actuator in place. I went to the dealer and found that the part costs $1.17 but they wanted $120.00 to fix it.
In a day or 2 I am going to take off the door panel and look inside. I will let you know.

 

[JinXRacer18]

I have the same problem. I searched the forums and found the instructions.

Do you have a link? Thanks

 

[n3m3s1s]

the panel will pull right off.
take out the two screws above the interior handle, the panel is held on with plastic fittings. i just yanked on mine, you can use a trim puller or a screwdriver if you want. you may want to replace your fittings if your door panel starts to rattle when you are done.
once you get the panel off, you should be able to fiddle around inside and figure out what is wrong. all the rods seem confusing, but it's pretty simple to figure out.
my problem was a broken spring in the latch which inhibited my lock function.
i made the mistake of having midas (took them 2 hours) replace my interior handle before i realized how easy it was to do myself...was a $180 mistake that would now take me less than 15 minutes.

if this doesnt help, you get stuck, or you have more questions, post again or PM me.

 

[jp450]

Could be a couple of things but they would all be fixed by simply replacing the latch. The latch was about $40 from the dealer and took about an hour to replace. Just remember where all the pieces go...

 

[JinXRacer18]

the panel will pull right off.
take out the two screws above the interior handle, the panel is held on with plastic fittings. i just yanked on mine, you can use a trim puller or a screwdriver if you want. you may want to replace your fittings if your door panel starts to rattle when you are done.
if this doesnt help, you get stuck, or you have more questions, post again or PM me.

Ok i took off the 2 screws and want to remove the door panel but i do not want to break any clips. Any tips? Pull up, down, left, right? Thanks

 

[n3m3s1s]

the clips wont break, they are like lil 'christmas trees', just pull it outwards. after you get it off, you will understand a lot more.

 

[JinXRacer18]

OK. I pulled off the door panel and took a look around. I managed to find a clip that is broken. Here is the deal. If you put a key into the tumbler and turn it the key wont retract back and it wont lock or unlock the door. If you look in the door panel there is a rod conected to the pin thing that moves up and down when you unlock and lock the door. Connected to that is a white clip that is broken. Where does that connect to? Does it go to the lock tumbler? Does anyone have an exploded view of inside the door panel? How do i go about fixing this? Thanks

 

[buck2850]

I had the same problem, or similiar with my 99 Sport... if you locked the drivers door, it wouldn't unlock. I went to the dealership, and bought a latch for 34 dollars ... it is about a 4 + hour job. I went to Autozone and got a Haynes manual, and while it was somewhat useful, I still had to figure out where all the rods went. So my advice is to pull the panel as recommended in the post above, and study all of the rods & connections, and just "do it".
You will have to remove the rear window guide, but that is one of the simple things. .... good luck !

 

[leetz]

Same problem... on my 98 sport. Had to buy a whole new latch assembly thing. I messed around with for like 3 hours. I finally gave up and got chris's friend to fix it for me. Chris ( boominexplorer) told me he fixed his by pouring mass amounts of oil in there. I guess that loosened some parts up and made it work again.