VERY Difficult to Open Door
June 21st, 2024, 8:19 AM
#1
VERY Difficult to Open Door
My passenger side door has been pretty challenging to open since I bought it.
It has slowly gotten worse, and lately it's been nearly impossible whether I pull on the exterior door handle or interior door handle.
Having watched some YouTube, this makes me think that it's not necessarily a problem with the inner door handle or rod, or outer door handle or rods, since, to my knowledge there are individual rods for the outer handle and inner handle.
This makes me suspect the latch mechanism itself, though I don't want to buy the $90 Doorman latch assembly from Autozone if someone more learned than me can say "sounds like the clip came loose for the upper part of the assembly" or something...
Also I'd hate to buy an assembly only to install a stretched rod and have the same issue, with an unreturnable part.
The lock mechanism works perfectly, both auto and manual. Just seems like there's a disconnect from using the handle, to the latch opening up.
It has slowly gotten worse, and lately it's been nearly impossible whether I pull on the exterior door handle or interior door handle.
Having watched some YouTube, this makes me think that it's not necessarily a problem with the inner door handle or rod, or outer door handle or rods, since, to my knowledge there are individual rods for the outer handle and inner handle.
This makes me suspect the latch mechanism itself, though I don't want to buy the $90 Doorman latch assembly from Autozone if someone more learned than me can say "sounds like the clip came loose for the upper part of the assembly" or something...
Also I'd hate to buy an assembly only to install a stretched rod and have the same issue, with an unreturnable part.
The lock mechanism works perfectly, both auto and manual. Just seems like there's a disconnect from using the handle, to the latch opening up.
June 21st, 2024, 10:30 AM
#3
CF Junior Member
I've got a 1996 C1500, and can no longer count in my head the number of times I've replaced the outer and/or inner door handle on one side or another. The pot metal they make those things of tends to bend and eventually break over the years. Same with the tailgate handle on the '96. My experience is that the handle starts bending where the push/pull rods hook into it, to the point you have to pull the handle HARDER to get the door to unlatch, and that pulling harder further accelerates the bend in the metal where the rods clip in, making the issue worse and worse until you either can't open the door, or the door handle breaks when you try to forcefully do so.
My son in law had my 1996 for almost a year while he was looking for a replacement car, and brought it back with the outside door handle broken and the lock cylinder pushed into the door to boot. He's not a handy guy, and made no attempt to fix it. I fixed it with a new Dorman handle I had bought and forgotten to install before he ever borrowed the truck.
Since you suspect the latch, I would start there and look closely at the mechanism with the door open. It's pretty simple - you have the latch that goes around the bolt thing that sticks out of the door jamb, and the handle should always just unlock it so the door can open. Lubricate the lock mechanism LIBERALLY on the trailing edge of the door with WD40 and see if you can work it back and forth with a screw driver or something while the door is open, simulating what it does when closing. If you can't unlatch it, my bet is on needing to replace both door handles. As I recall, there may also be a couple of Torx bolts that hold it in place right there and if those are not tight, it might make it act up.
In 28 years, I've yet to have to replace the rods inside the door, just the handles themselves.
If its not urgent and isn't a daily driver, I would go to rockauto.com and avoid paying Autozone pricing.
My son in law had my 1996 for almost a year while he was looking for a replacement car, and brought it back with the outside door handle broken and the lock cylinder pushed into the door to boot. He's not a handy guy, and made no attempt to fix it. I fixed it with a new Dorman handle I had bought and forgotten to install before he ever borrowed the truck.
Since you suspect the latch, I would start there and look closely at the mechanism with the door open. It's pretty simple - you have the latch that goes around the bolt thing that sticks out of the door jamb, and the handle should always just unlock it so the door can open. Lubricate the lock mechanism LIBERALLY on the trailing edge of the door with WD40 and see if you can work it back and forth with a screw driver or something while the door is open, simulating what it does when closing. If you can't unlatch it, my bet is on needing to replace both door handles. As I recall, there may also be a couple of Torx bolts that hold it in place right there and if those are not tight, it might make it act up.
In 28 years, I've yet to have to replace the rods inside the door, just the handles themselves.
If its not urgent and isn't a daily driver, I would go to rockauto.com and avoid paying Autozone pricing.
Last edited by jfmorris; June 21st, 2024 at 10:33 AM.
June 21st, 2024, 12:10 PM
#4
I've got a 1997 C1500 2wd standard cab.
I bit the bullet and took off the inner door frame, taped the window in the upright position.
It was a combination of issues. The outer door handle rod was completely free inside of the door. The inner door handle rod clip has a good bit of wobble in the clip of the mechanism. The mechanism itself looked as though it had been pulled out of a vat of tar, getting stuck at full open.
I'll likely be purchasing a new door latch, but I temporarily sprayed some CLP into the mechanisms moving parts and worked it in a bit. It's opening now, albeit still somewhat difficult, which should get me by.
I bit the bullet and took off the inner door frame, taped the window in the upright position.
It was a combination of issues. The outer door handle rod was completely free inside of the door. The inner door handle rod clip has a good bit of wobble in the clip of the mechanism. The mechanism itself looked as though it had been pulled out of a vat of tar, getting stuck at full open.
I'll likely be purchasing a new door latch, but I temporarily sprayed some CLP into the mechanisms moving parts and worked it in a bit. It's opening now, albeit still somewhat difficult, which should get me by.
June 21st, 2024, 12:14 PM
#5
I've got a 1996 C1500, and can no longer count in my head the number of times I've replaced the outer and/or inner door handle on one side or another. The pot metal they make those things of tends to bend and eventually break over the years. Same with the tailgate handle on the '96. My experience is that the handle starts bending where the push/pull rods hook into it, to the point you have to pull the handle HARDER to get the door to unlatch, and that pulling harder further accelerates the bend in the metal where the rods clip in, making the issue worse and worse until you either can't open the door, or the door handle breaks when you try to forcefully do so.
My son in law had my 1996 for almost a year while he was looking for a replacement car, and brought it back with the outside door handle broken and the lock cylinder pushed into the door to boot. He's not a handy guy, and made no attempt to fix it. I fixed it with a new Dorman handle I had bought and forgotten to install before he ever borrowed the truck.
Since you suspect the latch, I would start there and look closely at the mechanism with the door open. It's pretty simple - you have the latch that goes around the bolt thing that sticks out of the door jamb, and the handle should always just unlock it so the door can open. Lubricate the lock mechanism LIBERALLY on the trailing edge of the door with WD40 and see if you can work it back and forth with a screw driver or something while the door is open, simulating what it does when closing. If you can't unlatch it, my bet is on needing to replace both door handles. As I recall, there may also be a couple of Torx bolts that hold it in place right there and if those are not tight, it might make it act up.
In 28 years, I've yet to have to replace the rods inside the door, just the handles themselves.
If its not urgent and isn't a daily driver, I would go to rockauto.com and avoid paying Autozone pricing.
My son in law had my 1996 for almost a year while he was looking for a replacement car, and brought it back with the outside door handle broken and the lock cylinder pushed into the door to boot. He's not a handy guy, and made no attempt to fix it. I fixed it with a new Dorman handle I had bought and forgotten to install before he ever borrowed the truck.
Since you suspect the latch, I would start there and look closely at the mechanism with the door open. It's pretty simple - you have the latch that goes around the bolt thing that sticks out of the door jamb, and the handle should always just unlock it so the door can open. Lubricate the lock mechanism LIBERALLY on the trailing edge of the door with WD40 and see if you can work it back and forth with a screw driver or something while the door is open, simulating what it does when closing. If you can't unlatch it, my bet is on needing to replace both door handles. As I recall, there may also be a couple of Torx bolts that hold it in place right there and if those are not tight, it might make it act up.
In 28 years, I've yet to have to replace the rods inside the door, just the handles themselves.
If its not urgent and isn't a daily driver, I would go to rockauto.com and avoid paying Autozone pricing.
The following 2 users liked this post by msaluta:
jfmorris (June 21st, 2024),
Rednucleus (June 21st, 2024)
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