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How to fix back doors that don't open from inside.


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I haven't seen a tread like this, so here one is.

Of course, check the child safety thing first.

My back doors have never opened from the inside, so today I fixed it.

It's pretty simple.

Take the door card off. It comes off by popping the covers off from the handle and taking out the two screws, then just pop the door card off.

Kinda wrestle the cup thing around the handle out.

 

Once the card is off peel back the plastic on the upper back end, and you'll see this.

IMG_4164.jpg

 

The bottom one is the adjustment for the handle. Something must just get loose over time, because both my back doors needed adjustment.

Here's a closeup.

 

IMG_4165.jpg

 

Just undo the screw and take up the adjustment. The handles had a lot of play before they actually moved the opening mechanism in the depths of the door. Adjust it so there's barely any slack.

 

Here's a picture after I adjusted it, the red arrows show where the screw used to be, you can see the shiny mark.

 

IMG_4166.jpg

 

 

Tell your passengers to thank me because they can now open the back doors :D

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Nice. Never looked in my door panels. Good to know so I can maybe get my passenger rear door to open from the outside again, assuming the top adjuster is for the outside handle. :)

 

Though it could be due to the fact it's caved in from sliding sideways into a tree out at the dunes......... :rolleyes:

(worked for a year after that though, just recently stopped working)

While I got it apart maybe I'll finally push the door back out. :)

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Nice. Never looked in my door panels. Good to know so I can maybe get my passenger rear door to open from the outside again, assuming the top adjuster is for the outside handle. :)

 

Though it could be due to the fact it's caved in from sliding sideways into a tree out at the dunes......... :rolleyes:

(worked for a year after that though, just recently stopped working)

While I got it apart maybe I'll finally push the door back out. :)

 

The other adjuster is for the lock.

The outside door handle hooks directly to the open mechanism. You could probably get in there and fix it though, just not as easily.

 

 

They have never opened from the inside? They did when I owned it. I even had a car seat back there and quite often opened them to put my daughter in and out. Weird! Well at least they are all good now!

Maybe they did, I dunno. I didn't notice it until it stopped working :rolleyes:

But it's been a while. They used to be so that if you pulled the handle and pushed on the door with some force they'd open, then it took more like a hip check to open them. Then they just stopped. So it's definitely been getting worse.

 

The only reason I took the door card off in the first place is because the back driver's side power lock stopped locking. I use that door for throwing my crap, so I like it working right. Turned out that was a simple fix, but then I saw how easy the door handle was too.

Edited by 987687
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If you haven't already, could you copy your OP into the USMB (appropriate section, of course)?

 

Also: How did you fix the electric lock in the rear? Mine doesn't work, either, I do it by hand every time I need to lock/unlock it, and it hasn't been important enough to make me take the time to mess with taking the door all apart yet. Might be worth it if it's not too involved, though.

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If you haven't already, could you copy your OP into the USMB (appropriate section, of course)?

 

Also: How did you fix the electric lock in the rear? Mine doesn't work, either, I do it by hand every time I need to lock/unlock it, and it hasn't been important enough to make me take the time to mess with taking the door all apart yet. Might be worth it if it's not too involved, though.

 

I don't really know... I took it apart, cleaned all the grit out, and put it back together again. And it just worked...

The actuator always worked, it made noise and the lock by the handle made a feeble attempt to move. It must just have been gummed up.

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