Drivers door hard to open

[97redsport]

So i have been battling to open my drivers door, sometimes. I thought it was just gummed up so i sprayed some stuff like wd-40 and well it helped for all of 1 day. I was locking at the latch in the door. and it had some play. I don't know how to explain, um looks like a claw or hook looking thing that wraps around the post on the body when the door closes. Is this thing i should look into replacing or should something else i can try to do. So any help would be good.

 

[dynamite196]

have you tried tightening it? it's possible the door slipped a little on the hinges and it's misaligned too

 

[97redsport]

i would need to remove the door panel. I dont know off hand what it looks like without looking. I can look later i guess.

 

[smullins76]

i have a 97 mounty and i too have had alot of issues with the driver's door lock. It's a 4 door, so i use the key fob to unlock and when the lock would stick half way up i would just unlock all 4 doors, reach in thru the rear drivers door and grab the handle on the inside to open the door. Well then i remember the old fashioned way of just using the damned key if it didnt pop up. I thought at first it was just a weak electric motor on that door for the lock since 95% of the time it was the only one being unlocked with the key fob. But then trying to use the key i found that the key would actually meet resistance of some sort in turning to open the door, but nothing that alot of hard, forceful twisting would not alleviate. Well, needless to say last week when doing this one morning as i was leaving for work, i heard and felt a loud pop, my first thought " Oh great i broke the friggin key off in the lock, now how am i gonna start it?" but it was actually something inside the door lock mechanism. Now the door won't lock at all, although i can still arm the alarm and it goes off if the door is opened. I haven't opened it up yet to look inside and see how complicated the matter will be to fix it either.