One day a few weeks ago my sister was on her way to work. she pulls in and tries to open the drivers side door. The handle goes up and moves but the door is locked shut and wont open. outside handle goes up and nothing as well. tired key and still nothing. I got the door panel mostly off from inside the car and moved the locking and opening bars up and down and still nothing. Any ideas on how to get it open?? i dont care if it ruins the door i can snag another one but this thing refuses to open. any help is appreciated.
I had a similar situation in my 91 Tercel. I tried getting most of the door panel off but couldn’t get it all the way since the door was stuck shut. I don’t remember everything that I did but I tried forcing the door open as far as I could and was able to wedge a screwdriver in the jamb where the door locks itself onto the car. Then I just pried the door unlocked to break it free. I was actually stunned that nothing broke in the process, but this could be worth a try.
hm ive basically tried this and i kicked the door super hard and it still wont open lol
You know what, I remember now something else I had to do. I reached inside the door panel and had to fiddle around with the locking mechanism with my fingers first. This was the only way I was able to budge the door open enough to get the screwdriver in there and pry the lock the rest of the way open. Lots of nicks on my hand and a good deal of expletives later, I finally was able to pry it free a bit. Ended up bending the window tracks a bit to get my hand in there better, and just had to bend them back into place when I was done.
hm yea ive fucked with the lock mechanisms and cut the shit out of my hands lol. i dont get it the locks and everything work its just the actual lock that locks the door to the chassis seized up on it i think.
Yeah locks can be a funny thing. My Prizm right now can’t be locked or unlocked from the outside with the key. I tried playing around with it one day but just said screw it and let it be. Locking and unlocking from the inside works fine, but it’s probably similar to a situation that you’re facing with the something seizing up.
def im about ready to saw the door off and get a new one from the junk yard if i have to