front passenger door lock malfunctioning

[ZDavis]

Alright so I have my 98 and the passenger door lock doesn't always unlock all the way. It will do a half way unlock and I am not able to open the door from the outside. Does any one know what could be causing this or what I can do to get this fixed tonight or possibly tomorrow morning I think it has something to do with the way the switch attaches to the lock post. Thank you

 

[swshawaii]

Pull the inner door panel and look in the bottom for a small broken spring.
Could also be a faulty or sluggish actuator. Panel must be removed first.

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

 

[gonenuke]

One way to test is make sure the outer door handle is pushed in and see if it unlocks and locks easier. The spring pulls the handle into the door if its broken then the lock thinks the handle is up and wont work.

 

[koda2000]

not that removing the door panel is that hard to do with a cheap trim panel removal tool but...

after checking with the handle pushed in (if that doesn't make it work) try removing the lock knob and spraying some WD40 down the rod. also spray it in/around the latch mechanism. reinstall the lock knob and spray a drop or two on the knob also. i had this problem on the driver's door on my XLT and Mountaineer. after spraying, the problem hasn't returned (almost 2 years now on the XLT and it's been about 4 months on the Mountaineer so far).

if you've got a broken spring (floppy or weak door handle) there's a fix you can do, for about a $1, by installing a spring from the rod to the lock retainer. there's a great Sticky (w/pics) on doing this. worked great on my Eddie Bauer. you'll need to remove the door panel for this.