door stuck shut

[scottzg]

Ok, i have a door on the front passengers side that someone got in and never got out of. They closed it, and now it wont open again. The door panel is trapping the door's guts inside. I think the problem is the door actuator for the power door locks. You cant turn the key all the way or unlock it from the inside, theres resistance.

Is there a non-invasive way to pop this puppy open? I have tried to slim jim without success, and the door panel is preventing me from accessing the problem. Thanks for the support

[magicmike]

Is it possible that the seat belt or something is stuck in the door jam? Try this at home.........push on a door really really hard and try turning the handle,,,it should be really really hard to turn the handle. This may be happening to your car door. Just a thought.......try putting considerable pressure on the door from the outside (like lean against the door and try to unlock it with the key) that might take some pressure off if there is any there. I just remembered that when I was in college we used to lock people in their rooms by wedging pennies in their door jams. one person would push on the top of the door stretching it about 1/2 an inch then the other would stack pennies in the jam. the pressure of the door bending will make it nearly impossible to turn the handle lol. I hope that makes some sense. as for taking off a panel with the door shut good luck. one thing you could try is taking off the pull handle from the inside. that would at leaste tell you if the rod fell off.

Good luck,
I hope you didn't mind hearing my old college story lol

Mike

[scottzg]

nay, the seatbelt is just where it should be, i doubt theres somethng stuck in there. i took the handle cover off and the rod is connected, im almost sure its something internal. thanks tho

[scottzg]

i got it fixed. The problem, that the panel was stuck in place, was fixed by yanking really really hard and shearing all the little clips. easily replaced. The actuator was frozen, fixed with wd40. But yea, unlike camrys, you can rip it out.