1994 J30 Driver side door seized

[jostell13]

Subject sums it up. The door has been acting finicky for a few months now, here and there only able to open from inside, then only outside, and finally, not at all. The door lock won't fully disengage, any attempt (by any means: key fob, unlock button, key in door from outside, toggling from inside) results in the actuator attempting to unlock it, and jamming, then re-locking it. I can't remove the inside panel because the door is shut.

I've fished around a bit by rolling the window down and pulling the top of the inside panel towards in the inside of the car, but can't seem to make anything happen.

Need to get car inspected soon, this only adds the reasons i got the R on there last friday...

Any and all help would be appreciated!

[J30tnoob]

Search around on here a little. There is a discussion about it somewhere. I think you have to use a pry bar while turning the key. Not sure though

[J30tnoob]

Realized I had nothing to do so I found it for you. It was in the DIY by driverdriver

" from J30diy

If you are having problems with the acctuator (sp?) and your driver side front door locking, you might want to try this:
Take a small cro-bar and use it to GENTLY pry open WHILE using the key (most likely the master key) to unlock the door. My family's J30 front driver side door was out of alignment and this worked. Be sure to use a cloth to reduce scratching paint. After you are able to open the door, you should lubricate the door hinges, locks, etc. REMEMBER to be gentle and patient.

Best of luck!"


You might want to go check out the DIY. Lots of goods info in there

[jostell13]

I did extensively search and found a couple related posts, but nothing very specific, mostly along the lines of see what you can see and then pull on it. Tonight I took off the passenger side panel to figure out what's going on and thought I may have a solution, but nada

I ended up making a vertical rip in the drivers side panel right next to the pillar to gain some access, but I'm convinced my problem lies in a jammed linkage inside one of the white plastic casings, so there is nearly nothing I can do for it. I've greased everything in sight in there, now it's a waiting game until I learn something, magic happens, or I break down and take it to the dealer

[driverdriver]

Unfortunatly, other then taking the door apart from the inside to see what has seized there is no other way to fix this issue.

[jostell13]

Long overdue update:

Fixed this problem about a year ago. The actuator had in fact seized. My last ditch effort was to pry the inside panel far enough off at the top to create a gap where the window rolls down. With the window down, a sawed off golf club grip and a hammer, I was able to place the end of the club handle against the plastic casing around the actuator and then hit the other end with the hammer to break apart the piece. Took a while to smash everything, but eventually the part fell away from the bolts and the door opened. From there I just needed to identify the part, and replace it (~60 bucks). The dealer quoted 1000 dollars to fix this, and after a few $150 dollar hours, they probably would have done the same thing I did.

[jester4666]

yeah, long overdue update. lol.


had the same issue with my car. had a friend cut open the door, destroy the mechanism, then replaced the whole door ($35).

[jostell13]

jester, are you looking for a parts car by any chance? Mine is gonna be junked in a few months and i'd like to get a little cash for it from someone who will put it to some use.

[jester4666]

i have no room to put a parts car, unfortunately.