Rear Passenger Door won't close at all

[NDD101]

Hi All,

I have a 1995 Ford Explorer XLT 144k miles

My car never fails to have perfect timing to have something go wrong,
So heres the story:

My car's rear passenger door won't close, why out of no where, absolutely no clue. A little background, I don't live in areas of extreme cold or snow so I know it's not frozen or anything like that. I took a picture of the problem and a picture of a working door. I took the car to auto zone and the guy tried his best, but said It'd need an auto body shop, and my trusted mechanic is closed and pretty far from where I'm at (you can imagine the difficulty of driving far and worrying about the door spontaneously opening)

I bought this car about a month ago used, so obviously, the previous owner didn't do a great job of maintaining it.

So I really really really would appreciate any help, and offering any information anyone can provide.

Thank you all so much!

Messed Up thing

Working thing

 

[colintrax]

Looks to me like the latch is closed. Lock the doors, unlock, then pull the handle.
You could also use a flat head screw driver to pop it open

 

[NDD101]

Looks to me like the latch is closed. Lock the doors, unlock, then pull the handle.
You could also use a flat head screw driver to pop it open

Hi Colintrax,

Thanks for your response. I've already tried that, it does seem to be stuck closed and locking/unlocking isn't doing it. Flathead screwdriver doesn't do the trick either. Any other possibilities on how to lower that latch?

 

[colintrax]

Try pushing on the other "legs"
You could also spray wd40 (or similar) on the latch. Make sure nothing is bent, not sure what caused those to close in the first place.
Looks like something is rubbing or hit the latch

 

[corkey]

only the top one is latched, you will have to move the bottom one to the latched position too before both of them can be unlatched using the outside door handle, and a screwdriver in the hole where the door pin usually goes,,

 

[colintrax]

^ I didn't catch that. Good job on actually looking

 

[NDD101]

only the top one is latched, you will have to move the bottom one to the latched position too before both of them can be unlatched using the outside door handle, and a screwdriver in the hole where the door pin usually goes,,

Sorry I'm kind of confused. So the bottom latch has to move up into the patched position, and then I open the door handle with a screw in the door pin? Where exactly is the door pin? Hopefully when I do that, both should be unlatched?

 

[colintrax]

Use your finger or screw driver to close the bottom latch (pushed in) if you're looking at the picture, push on the "finger" on the right side towards the left (the other finger)
Then you should be able to pop it open with the handle, don't think you need a screw driver but I've never messed with the door latches. Been trying to modify my liftgate though, and don't need a screwdriver for it

 

[NDD101]

Use your finger or screw driver to close the bottom latch (pushed in) if you're looking at the picture, push on the "finger" on the right side towards the left (the other finger)
Then you should be able to pop it open with the handle, don't think you need a screw driver but I've never messed with the door latches. Been trying to modify my liftgate though, and don't need a screwdriver for it

When I did that, the bottom unlatched, but the top didn't go anywhere. Any ideas why?

 

[colintrax]

So when you pulled the door handle the top latch didn't undo itself? I'm guessing its stuck then

 

[NDD101]

Right, it wouldn't unlatch at the top. If its stuck which I think it is, can it be unstuck somehow? I've already tried WD-40.

 

[colintrax]

Well I'm the wrong person to ask. I'm not sure what would cause it to get stuck, hopefully someone else can chime in. Probably wouldn't hurt to go ahead and start tearing the door apart. Not hard to do, and will probably be needed to fix the latch

 

[corkey]

tried it on my 99, it seems the top one is spring loaded, and mine just swung down to the open position,
maybe hold the handle up and kind of help it out with a finger or screwdriver,,
if that doesn't work, use a bit more force,but not too much, it's all metal, but don't hammer on it ,

 

[NDD101]

Hey guys, I really appreciate all the help.
I've tried to force it down with a screwdriver and all but it just won't budge. Bottom works fine, makes me thing that either the spring is no longer connected to the top or the spring broke or something of that nature. Its incredibly hard to see, so I'm just going to have to tinker with it a bit more tomorrow. I almost wish there was some kind of diagram of how it works so I know exactly what is going on. If anyone might know of some kind of diagram or explanation of the mechanism I'd really really appreciate it.

 

[1996BLKBauer]

When looking at you pictures it sees that your latch mech is sunken into the door slightly. Could be part of you problem, if it is not aligned right to begin with then it won't close properly, and could have broken something. Also I recently had to take out the latch mech on my drivers door, it was not too much fun, but once you get a light in there, you will be able to see how it is all put together. take off the door panel, peel back the weather plastci, and take a look for yourself. also that latch is only held in with those large phillips screws, so taking it out, to either replace it, or so you can see what really is the problem would be much easier.

what I would do is simply take out the old one, and go to your junk yard and grab a used one, lube the new/used one up with some white lithium grease, and pop it back in, and it will be good as new.

 

[NDD101]

When looking at you pictures it sees that your latch mech is sunken into the door slightly. Could be part of you problem, if it is not aligned right to begin with then it won't close properly, and could have broken something. Also I recently had to take out the latch mech on my drivers door, it was not too much fun, but once you get a light in there, you will be able to see how it is all put together. take off the door panel, peel back the weather plastci, and take a look for yourself. also that latch is only held in with those large phillips screws, so taking it out, to either replace it, or so you can see what really is the problem would be much easier.

what I would do is simply take out the old one, and go to your junk yard and grab a used one, lube the new/used one up with some white lithium grease, and pop it back in, and it will be good as new.

I know the latch is held in by those screws on the sides, but what's holding onto it on the inside/what is connected to it? When I removed those 3 screws the mechanism itself wouldn't come out, possibly because its connected to something I can't really see?

 

[colintrax]

On the inside there should just be a linkage that you can slide the latch off of or undo a set screw. You should be able to figure it out when you look in there.

 

[bobflood]

Unfortunately, there are at least four different rods connected to the latch mechanism - inside handle, outside handle, power lock actuator, lock button - and if I remember correctly they are connected in four different places on the latch mechanism. There is also an electrical connector that tells when the door is opened or closed to run interior lights, door open warning light, etc. All have to be unhooked before you can get the latch out - and it's a PITA due to limited access and lack of sightlines. Plus I think you might have to do them in a certain order because at least one of the rods has "key" on it and will only go in one way. This is, unfortunately, one of those times you might just have to take it to the dealership and get a pro to do it (that was what I had to do when mine got stuck closed and door would not open - after fighting it for several hours I surrendered and paid local dealer about $200 to replace latch).

 

[1996BLKBauer]

Unfortunately, there are at least four different rods connected to the latch mechanism - inside handle, outside handle, power lock actuator, lock button - and if I remember correctly they are connected in four different places on the latch mechanism. There is also an electrical connector that tells when the door is opened or closed to run interior lights, door open warning light, etc. All have to be unhooked before you can get the latch out - and it's a PITA due to limited access and lack of sightlines. Plus I think you might have to do them in a certain order because at least one of the rods has "key" on it and will only go in one way. This is, unfortunately, one of those times you might just have to take it to the dealership and get a pro to do it (that was what I had to do when mine got stuck closed and door would not open - after fighting it for several hours I surrendered and paid local dealer about $200 to replace latch).

Ouch, on the other hand if you do it yourself, and fix it, you can make a quick buck when somebody you know has the same problem. I would gladly take a case of beer to do one, it really isn't that bad as long as you remember not to force anything, and not to bend the rods. It also helps to get a pack of door rod clips. I did mine at my school, thankfully they had a pack of those, because one was missing, and I broke one.