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Doors won't open from outside + child lock

11K views 12 replies 4 participants last post by  pga 
#1 ·
I bought my RRS with rear right doors that did not open or close using either remote or dash. I had to do it manually by pushing/pulling door knob.

After some reading I decided to replace door latch. After replacement, which took a noob like myself a while, I put everything together, closed the door and realized the door would not open from the outside. I went inside and opened it and afterwards everything started to work as expected. I could use outside door handle without any issues. All good, so I decided I will set child lock back...

Next day I couldn't open the door. Outside door handle doesn't work. Obviously I can't do it from the inside as well because of the child lock.

I can clearly hear the door mechanism when locking/unlocking using remote. Door knob opens/closes as expected. I'd say outdoor door handle somehow lost connection to the latch, but it is strange that the same thing happened just after replacing the latch and it was all good afterwards.

Any ideas on what could possible happen? Is there any method to unlock my doors (to at least get rid of the child lock?). Is it possible to remove door trim panel from the inside? - looks feasible but it could be tight. Or maybe it would be easier to simply unscrew door hinges that are visible after opening front doors and take the whole door off to disable child lock?
 
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#2 ·
I bought my RRS with rear right doors that did not open or close using either remote or dash. I had to do it manually by pushing/pulling door knob.
Do you mean lock and unlock? As far as I'm aware none of the doors will open with a button press.

Check in your vehicle settings that you don't have 2 stage unlock checked. If you do, only the drivers door will unlock with the first press of the button, and all the other doors will open with a second button press.
 
#8 ·
On the inside of the doors where the lever is - there is a second smaller lever that locks the door - if that smaller lever is in the lock position the door does not open - likewise if the dash lock switch is in the lock position the rear doors will not open - ensure the dash switch it in the unlock position and the rear door levers are also in the unlock position and the rear door should open from the outside - if not you have a problem :(

Garry
 
#9 ·
I guess we mean the same by door knob and small lever. This works as expected using remote or dash. It changes position just like in all other doors. It didn't work with the old latch but started to work properly after I replaced it. I can clearly see how other doors work. And yup, I do realize I have a problem :/

Did anyone tried to remove door panel on closed door? Or will I be the first one to try it? :)
 
#10 ·
So in case anyone is interested.

It is possible to remove door panel on closed door. There is enough space to do that, although it is way easier if you're not doing it for the first time. Small hands are helpful as well.

I managed to get my small hands into the door panel and open up the door by pushing the lever in the latch. The strange thing is that I was doing it for about 30mins, pushing it as hard as possible and it didn't work. I was completely lost. Then I felt I actually released the link between the outside door handle and the latch, pushed the lever on the latch once again and door opened up. Just like that.

After this I could safely remove the handle and latch itself and see what is going on. I tried the latch outside of the car and it worked perfectly fine. So I assumed I had to make some mistake while installing it previously, probably on outside door handle - door latch connection. So I installed it again very carefully. You have to put the latch and handle mechanism into the door at the same time and there is not much space. Tried it on car - works great. Tried it again - doesn't work!

And that's how it was, it was usually working, but from time to time pulling the link didn't force latch to open. What is more strange in 95% of cases it was working when I had the latch on the floor, disassembled from the car. But when I installed it back again the rate was about 50%. I installed/uninstalled it 4 times because I simply couldn't believe what I saw. I'm not kind of a guy that would believe in non-deterministic behavior of mechanics/electronics :) I couldn't spot any difference in the latch lever position or anything, it was going up/down in the same way every time, the connector seemed to do the work and pull it as expected. The connector between the inside door handle and the latch was working perfectly all the time.

The most important part to notice is: the new latch replacement is not OEM. I bought replacement branded "NTY".

My plan is to install back my old OEM latch and check it out. It has electrical malfunction (it does not react on remote or dash button press) but it should be fine mechanically. I regret I didn't do it before but it was 4am when I finished the job :)
If it works it means that non-OEM latch is simply broken (in extremely hard way to actually prove it :/).
If the old OEM latch will not work as it used to it means I had to do some damage either to the connector or the outside door handle mechanism. Which I doubt because it looks just fine.

The issue must be also related with positioning outside door handle mechanism against the latch inside the door. The connector is bend over there in some way that affects how the latch works. I have no doubts about it looking at the latch opening failure rates.

Right now I put back the new non-OEM part. It works most of the time. Sometimes it doesn't and you have to pull the handle again. And usually if it doesn't work, pulling the handle and slightly moving/bending it (just putting some force on it in another direction) forces it to open. This makes me even more curious about it and is the only reason for assumption that something might be wrong with the door handle mechanism itself.

I just didn't put child-lock back on so in the worst case I can always use inside door handle. But so far it was not necessary.

I hope this will help anyone in the future. And will try to post back in case I will find something new. If you have any thoughts about my case I will be more than happy.
 
#11 ·
Just in case anyone is interested again :p

The conclusion is that non-OEM latch has a bit different outside door handle connector mounting point. It is a bit "softer". And from time to time, especially after installation when you can't verify visually that all is ok, the connector can partially detach from the latch. It is still connected, but pulls latch lever a bit differently (different angle) so it doesn't work as expected.

A bit detailed explanation: I tried OEM part and it worked as expected. I played with mounting door handle connected into the latch and I found out that on new non-OEM part the connector doesn't fit that well and can be easily detached. So I decided to use some zip tie to keep it in place for sure. After reinstalling non-OEM latch everything went back to normal.

The only thing that still doesn't work is a button on outside door handle. The one that locks the car once you press it. It didn't work with broken OEM part and it doesn't work now. Any idea on what might be the cause?
 
#12 ·
thank you for details, I am having a similar issue and have been losing my mind. My pass side front works from inside not the outside. I have aftermarket handle covers is that what you were saying messed it u? Any change you have pics
? '



Thanks much
I
 
#13 ·
rquinn12, I really doubt it is related to handle covers. Most probably either handle or latch is broken, so I doubt you'd be able to fix it without whole operation, removing door panel, window motor, latch itself etc. I don't have any pics, but for me manual and youtube videos were very helpful.
 
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