Tried to close the drivers door yesterday and it would not close. It appears the "latch" , the lite C shaped thing on the door. is stuck in the closed position, or locked closed. Neither the inside nor outside door handles can operate the latch. Before I pull the inside door panel a big pita. What am i looking for when I get in there?

 

You need to get a screwdriver or something, put it inside the closed U (or C) shape, and pull it open while holding the door handle. It can get rotated like you see, which is the closed position, and will not let you latch closed because it then hits the bolt on the door jamb. I've had it happen before on my 1996. Lubricate it well with WD40 or some other penetrating oil, work it a few times, and it should be ok. BUT, you gotta pull it back to the open position while holding the door handle up.

The handles and latches on these trucks are kinda sucky. I've replaced the door handle on my drivers door probably a half dozen times over the past 30 years, and the passenger door handle at least once.

 

Thanks for your response. It was early in the process when I wrote that question. Its way more complicated than that. Apparently the whole mechanism is gunked up on the inside and a "post" connected to that handle came out of the latch. What a nightmare getting the post back into the slot and the handle back into the door. . It took me 6 hours at least to pull the panel, remove the handle, get that post inserted back into the latch. It took 3 guys to get it all put back together. I struggled to get that handle back by myself. I cant believe you've done it multiple times.
I bent the rod that connects to the inside door handle. I cant get it to stay in the hole in the handle now. Currently, the door lock, locks with the key, but wont unlock with the key.. Iam guessing I must have rendered one of the clips that connects a lever to the latch useless. Im waiting for more door panel clips to arrive before I tear the whole thing apart again.
None of the youtube videos were much help. They made everything look way easier than it is. Im dreading the whole process.
Ive always shyed away from electric doors and windows fearing potential repairs to electrical components. Ive never had either fail until now. I used to pull apart the doors on my 52 &54 3100s but they were never as complicated or time consuming as this was. Id rather do manual labor than do it again.

If you have any pointers to help me keep from losing my mind again. I would appreciate it.
.

 

If a linkage was disconnected, that would most certainly cause issues with opening the latch. Or what you are seeing now with it not unlocking with the key. I recently had to replace the door handle, and the lock cylinder had been pushed in by my son in law, who drove the truck a few years, and disconnected from the linkage. Those little plastic clips that hold the rods to the latch are easily broken, and not easily replaced, as the after market ones I've found don't exactly match the original GM part for the GMT400 series. I had to modify some clips I found at Autozone to work after a clip was broken that connected to the lock cylinder.

I won't say its fun, but I guess having been in the drivers door 6 to 8 times over the years has me pretty familiarized with it. I've been diving into doors since I started driving, and those old 70's cars had LOTS of power window regulators and door lock mechanisms that liked to fail. That is why my trucks BOTH have manual windows, which younger folks are puzzled by sometimes when I give them a ride!

The biggest thing that will make it easier is to get the linkage on the lock cylinder while the handle is NOT bolted to the door, so that you can do it through the opening in the outside, then "fish" the handle into the door, and get the two bolts on with a socket and extension. It may help to have the interior metal panel that the window regulator mounts to loosened as well, so that you can reach in that way. Glass needs to be up though.

I can say that my 2006 is made in a very similar fashion to the 1996. I had someone try to steal my truck and they punched a hole in the door directly under the door handle with a screwdriver or something, and all they did was disconnect the linkage, and they didn't get away with the truck. I had the fun job of reconnecting things, then patching the hole with bondo.

Good luck!

 

My 88 doesnt have any plastic clips. The clips are metal and look like this..I needed to release this clip in order to get the handle out of the door. Im guess it got deformed and popped off. I bought a couple new ones and hopefully I dont need to spend another 6 hours getting the new clip installed. I need to wait until it warms up before I go back out and pull things apart.

 

Actually, now that I see it, that is the same clip (metal) that my 1996 uses. BUT I lost one down into the crevices of bottom the door, and all I could find were plastic clips locally, and they did not work as well. I think the 2006 has all plastic clips in the door. I had to open it up to fix a loose linkage after someone tried to steal the truck one time and popped a hole under the lock cylinder with a screwdriver.

 

I think that’s what is causing my problem with the key not unlocking. These are easily deformed when you remove them and then hard to get to since most of the door is metal behind the panel. I purchased a “kit” from Amazon that had 3 of these and some plastic clips for 8 dollars.
I’ve been avoiding removing the panel, and taking the door apart to make this repair. I just hate this tedious kind of job.

 

I pulled the panel today and discovered the key locks the door. It will unlock the door intermittently. I have to pull up a little on the inside door lock and then the key works to unlock the door. I guess there is some slop in the latch. Not sure where to go with this but thanks.

 

I had some issues in my door lock mechanism that were resolved through lubricating the various parts. But I also can attest to LOTS of slop in my 1996 vehicle's drivers door lock mechanism. Key is very loose in there. For that matter.... and this might point to a worn out key.... I can remove my key with the truck cranked and in the running position, and it keeps running! I don't actually do, since I need it to turn the car back off, but discovered that recently...

Good luck working things out. Some days I think I am ready to toss all the old trucks and get something new, but then I read all the horror stories here and elsewhere with failed engines and transmissions on the newer trucks, and am glad to keep driving my 19 and 29 year old trucks.

 

The 88 came with 2 separate keys. The door lock and ignition keys are different.
At one point in my 15 year ownership of my truck, I experienced the same issue as you with the ignition key.
I thought it was great , until it wasn’t, because all my old 50 era Chevys were built that way.
Once started, the ignition key can be removed.
Eventually though I put the ignition key in one day and it got stuck. I couldn’t remove it, so it was nice to have a separate door key.
Im used to working on GM steering columns because all my CJ-7s came with Gm columns. The difference being, CJs are floor shifters.

It’s a lot of tedious work replacing the ignition lock.
Ive owned this truck a long time. Mechanically it’s been great and it’s fun to drive. I’ve had minimal issues with this kind of rinky dink stuff. But like you I often think I should seriously consider getting a newer one, especially if these nuisance issues become more frequent.
Toyota is rumored to be having a small PU to compete with the Ford Maverick.
25k for a new Yota PU can become very attractive.
Im getting a bit long in the tooth and becoming less motivated to tinker around with this kind of repair. I’ve spent close to 10 hours on this latch issue and I’m still not done.
Im thinking I may need to replace the latch but GM built latches are no longer available. Aftermarket latches can be had for as little as $20, up to $100.
I can’t figure out what to do. I can’t trust that a aftermarket latch won’t eventually bring me more headaches than I already have.