Can't open door...Help

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bricud

bricud

Cuda's Cuda
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Black River Falls, WI 54615
I recently bought a "69 Barracuda for restoration and one of the first hurtles is to try to get the driver's door open. I have not had it open yet. The car has been sitting for some time so I suspected to find things stuck from rust. I read through lots of threads on this and so far I have removed both driver's and passenger door skin, soaked the mechanism in the door by spraying pb blaster from the inside of the door and through the opening between the door and rear qtr. panel. It has been soaking for a week with periodic re spraying.

I have tried to push the outside button (I can see the mechanism levers moving as it does on the pass. door) and hold it and push, pry, kick, swear, lift and beat with a mini sledgehammer. No help. The door seems hopelessly stuck. I tried prying in different spots on the door, manually work the levers from inside the door, remove the lock rod and make sure it is in the unlocked position, and so on....

One difference I noticed is that on the passenger door (works fine) the only time you can lock the door is when it is shut or you manually rotate the catch. On the stuck door it acts like the door is open as it won't go the locked position. Not sure if that means anything.

A friend of mine offered me the jaws of life to open the door and I am considering it but is there some way to unstick it or hit something from the inside to help things along? Thanks.
 
My grandson just got ours open.
He'd been at it 3 weeks. He's 14.
He's got the latches on the bench, cleaning a lubing them up, window regs next.
Good luck .
 
can you see the torx bit where you can back the striker bolt out? Im not sure if tit is Torx but it is on my 70 dart, or you could undo the hinges and remove the door at the a pillar. i wouldnt hack the door sheet metal too much if I didnt have to.
 
Dartswinger70 said:
can you see the torx bit where you can back the striker bolt out? Im not sure if tit is Torx but it is on my 70 dart, or you could undo the hinges and remove the door at the a pillar. i wouldnt hack the door sheet metal too much if I didnt have to.
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I took off the rear seat skin on the pass side to see the inside of the striker bolt but you can only see the threads of the bolt. The striker is removed with the door open and an allen wrench. I was hoping....
 
Have someone hold the button/handle while you plant both feet into the inside panel
 
My 2c worth..

If you can get at the back side of the door striker bolt, use a dremel tool with a flex shaft and a cutting wheel to cut off the end of the bolt thats exposed. Make sure its cut flush to the sheet metal. use a center punch if you can to mark the center of the bolt, then , use a very small drill bit in the dremel tool and drill a hole in the bolt. Start with the smallest bit and work up to the largest bit the shaft will accept. 1/4 I think. Then you should have a big enough hole to use a diamond tipped dremel grinding bit. Use this bit to grind out the rest of the bolt. Striker bolt will fall out and door can be opened. I've done something similar. Long , tedious time consuming process but at least the door frame and door jamb sheetmetal stay intact and undamaged. By the way, keep bits cool with lubricant of some sort, WD -40 if nothing else.

This is a desperation , shot in the dark procedure at best but.. better than no option at all.
 
I'd be pretty careful how you push and pry. You can damage the door. If the car in your avatar is what your working on and it's a vert. I believe the doors are vert specific. Passenger door on my sons 69 was stuck. Same thing. Push the button pull on the door etc. I did what you did. AeroKroil, PBS blaster etc got hands in there and worked the **** out of everything. After about 2 weeks it finally opened. Car is in the shop now for its restoration. I plan on pulling those latches, and soaking and degreasing them. Then relubing them with Aeroshell 7 synthetic grease. The striker plates on the door jambs have a tendency to crack.

If you just cannot get it free, You may want to concider cutting loose the latch pin from inside the quarter panel, then remove the door hinges to get the door off. Then you can remove the latch from the door and free it up on the workbench. Dynamic renovations makes nice striker plate repair kits for this spot.
 
AAndrews said:
My 2c worth..

If you can get at the back side of the door striker bolt, use a dremel tool with a flex shaft and a cutting wheel to cut off the end of the bolt thats exposed. Make sure its cut flush to the sheet metal. use a center punch if you can to mark the center of the bolt, then , use a very small drill bit in the dremel tool and drill a hole in the bolt. Start with the smallest bit and work up to the largest bit the shaft will accept. 1/4 I think. Then you should have a big enough hole to use a diamond tipped dremel grinding bit. Use this bit to grind out the rest of the bolt. Striker bolt will fall out and door can be opened. I've done something similar. Long , tedious time consuming process but at least the door frame and door jamb sheetmetal stay intact and undamaged. By the way, keep bits cool with lubricant of some sort, WD -40 if nothing else.

This is a desperation , shot in the dark procedure at best but.. better than no option at all.
Click to expand...
I like this idea assuming the door doesn't magically pop open (though I hope it does). Least invasive though I may need to be a contortionist to get the tools at the end of the bolt. Assuming I don't get it open in the next week, I'll be buying the dremmel tools I need...
 
moparmat2000 said:
I'd be pretty careful how you push and pry. You can damage the door. If the car in your avatar is what your working on and it's a vert. I believe the doors are vert specific. Passenger door on my sons 69 was stuck. Same thing. Push the button pull on the door etc. I did what you did. AeroKroil, PBS blaster etc got hands in there and worked the **** out of everything. After about 2 weeks it finally opened. Car is in the shop now for its restoration. I plan on pulling those latches, and soaking and degreasing them. Then relubing them with Aeroshell 7 synthetic grease. The striker plates on the door jambs have a tendency to crack.

If you just cannot get it free, You may want to concider cutting loose the latch pin from inside the quarter panel, then remove the door hinges to get the door off. Then you can remove the latch from the door and free it up on the workbench. Dynamic renovations makes nice striker plate repair kits for this spot.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the info. The more resources I can find the better.
 
bricud said:
I like this idea assuming the door doesn't magically pop open (though I hope it does). Least invasive though I may need to be a contortionist to get the tools at the end of the bolt. Assuming I don't get it open in the next week, I'll be buying the dremmel tools I need...
Click to expand...


Get the whole Dremel kit that includes all the bits and the flex shaft. This will assist greatly in accessing the bolt. Plus, you'll find numerous uses for the kit anyway. Hope it works for you, it did for me.

Isn't hotrodding great???

Cheers!!
 
69FBCuda said:
Have someone hold the button/handle while you plant both feet into the inside panel
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It might come down to this but its the last thing I would try. You dont want to buckle or warp the door if you can help it. Make sure you can get another door before you try this.
 
I'd start by getting all the linkage moving like it should....outside handle and linkage, inside release lever and linkage, lock knob rod and linkage. If all that moves like it should, I probably would go through the door panel opening with the glass all the way up, and hit that latch with a propane/butane torch. Heat along with a swift kick from the inside, might pop that latch loose. Just be careful with where you kick. You don't want to bend the inside of the door shell.
 
Try heat, get lube in and physically reach in and move the levers. I'm guessing you have triple checked the lock has actually released. Keep working it and let the lube work in, BE Patient.
 
Always start with the simplest thing, did you try pushing the button in ?
Just kidding
 
My 76 dart was the same.
Used a big pry bar to get passenger side open, then battled with drivers door.a couple days of soaking. Then suddenly it opened.like nothing was jammed. I wonder if a gentle rattling with an air hammer would loosen latch? I did say gentle. I was ready to cut latch up inside of door
 
Ok a silly question, but the opposite, would the latches cause the door to "close hard" I keep thinking there is a striker alignment issue with my car but id I get it to where it closes easier, the door is low on the striker side and the body lines dont line up. I am thinking this "soaking process" may be in order with the latch.
 
Well if you have the door card off, you can now have a basic understanding how the things work. Get a helper and a good light and look into latch area, pull up and down on the door lock knob that operates the latch, where does it attach. Have a helper push the button on the door handle what does it do...take your door key, operate the lock does it go full cycle. I have seen the cylinder lock arm loose, causing a lock position no matter how you turn the key. And try the inside door handle is it binding does reach its full travel? I have had someone push on the outside of the door while trying the above and it seemed to let pressure off the latch. There are areas on the latch you can push and pull to make it operate without using the door handles......
 
4spdragtop said:
I bet it's the linkage that runs from the handle down to the latch. Post pics of inside
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Here are pics of the latch. The first is with no button or inside handle pulled. At rest. The second is with the door latch pulled. The third is with the outside button pushed. I also manually moved the two levers up as far as they would go but no help.

door latch rest.jpg


door latch handle pulled.jpg


door latch button in1.jpg
 
HMMM.. After seeing these pics of that latch assembly it does not look all that rusty/corroded to me. I'm thinking something else is causing the problem.
 
Dartswinger70 said:
Ok a silly question, but the opposite, would the latches cause the door to "close hard" I keep thinking there is a striker alignment issue with my car but id I get it to where it closes easier, the door is low on the striker side and the body lines dont line up. I am thinking this "soaking process" may be in order with the latch.
Click to expand...
If the door is hanging low, it's either adjusted too low, or the hinges are worn out. My guess is the hinges are worn out. Open the door and try to lift it from the back end. If it lifts up and you can see slop in the lower hinge, then thats your problem. You can buy a new lower replacement hinge, and just buy a Dorman kit to put new bushings in the upper. Either way the door smacking the striker pin will eventually crack the striker out of the jamb.
 
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