jswaco

The passenger rear door will not open. The latch is broken. I took off the door panel and it appears the hinge screws are accessable. Has anyone ever tried removing a door this way?

Scott in MI

Is the latch broken or the handle?

If the handle is broken and you have the door panel off, then you should be able to access the part(s) that the handle mechanism presses against to unlatch the door. Try pulling these downward, by hand to unlatch the door first (you will have to do this from the inside of the door).

If you locked the door then the locking mechanism may be seized up, therefore the door won't open by trying to unlatch the door. At this point even taking the hinges off won't release the door latch, you will have to tap on the latch mechanism/box from inside the door and hope that the locking mechanism releases, so that you can unlatch the door (you might spray penetrating oil in there and work the lock). Once unlatched, remove the latching mechanism and either replace the latch mechanism part or lube the heck out of it with penetrating oil and when working then oil or grease it well (I generally fill the latch box full of white lithium grease to seal out water and maintain lubrication). Do not shut the door or you may have the same problem again.

jswaco

The latch piece that the rod hooks too is broken inside the door. There is nothing to trip to open the door latch from inside the door.

Scott in MI

Can you open the door from the outside?

jswaco

Cannot open the door from the outside, the finger lever or whatever you call is missing.

Scott in MI

If you have never worked on the door latch system then do this. You need to take the driver side outside rear door handle off (yes I said the other side - you will do this for a demo), removing the chrome piece on the outside door handle, by using a little tiny flathead screw driver at the rear of it. You will see a phillips screw at the front of the door handle and remove it. Open the door and you will find a hole on the inside of the door, above the latch mechinism at the level of the door handle, and inside there will see another phillips screw (the hole may be covered with a rubber plug), remove it and be careful not to loose that screw (use a good magnetic screw driver or you may fishing inside the door!). The outside door handle will come off now. Look at the door handle and squeeze the trigger, see how the lever comes down (the part that is inside the door). Now look inside the door, there is another lever that gets pressed by the door handle. This lever, if you press it down, will make the door pop open/unlatch.

If you have worked on the door handles before then:
Now go to the other side (passenger side) and from inside the car, through the now open door panel, locate that lever on the door latch mechanism (the part that the outside door handle presses against). Pull that lever down just like the outside door handle would do. If everything is good the door will pop open! Else read my earlier posting about tapping and playing with the lock.

I would suggest that you lube the latch system good if/when you take it off.

jswaco

Thanks scott, I will give it a try. I am familiar with the door handles as I replaced the driverside handle once before. As you can imagine there is not much room to work in the backseat with a closed door. I'll let ya know! Thanks!

Chris in VA

Sounds like its time for the 'ol BFH my friend. There's gotta be a way to knock the crap outta that latch that holds onto the door pin. Show it who's boss!

AudiSport4000

Haha...couldnt help but laugh at that

jswaco

Thanks guys!! Im gonna weld it,putty and paint and have a 3 door!