2009 Rogue - Doors won't open

[Rockhoundrob]

Daughter's 2009 Rougue doors will not open from the outside.

I did internet research and it is not frozen doors and I seriously cannot believe it is the cable ball that popped out since all doors will not open from the outside.
It is about 15 degrees outside.

After banging on the rear door handle a few times the rear passenger door opened.
Now the rear door opens, you can hear a click when you pull the rear handles, but there is no click when opening the front door handles.

When my daughter pushes the remote button to unlock, you can hear all doors click.
However, once inside... all doors open from the inside handles.

Could it be the actuator? I am surprised ALL 4 would go bad at the same time.
Or maybe it is just so cold, the actuators only open 1/2 way?

Any suggestions?

[macgiver]

15 degrees , car is outside ? Can car be put in garage to verify it's most very likely the actuators actuate like molasses in 15 degrees ? Also IF always outside , the temps probly way lower than 15 in the wee morning hours. Pulling a door panel ,like L rear ( not used much ) , is what you need to look at what is the DIFFERENCE between inside vs outside " mechanical action " - since inside seems unaffected ?

[VStar650CL]

15 degrees , car is outside ? Can car be put in garage to verify it's most very likely the actuators actuate like molasses in 15 degrees ? Also IF always outside , the temps probly way lower than 15 in the wee morning hours. Pulling a door panel ,like L rear ( not used much ) , is what you need to look at what is the DIFFERENCE between inside vs outside " mechanical action " - since inside seems unaffected ?

Yep, probably the rollover cam levers for the outside releases are frozen solid, maybe the cables too. It only takes a little bit of moisture in there to disable the releases. We see it when there's a freeze following either a heavy rain or heavy meltoff, usually on older cars. The only thing you can do is warm it up enough to get the doors open, then pop the inside door trim and douse everything in WD40 or high-vis silicone to chase the moisture and keep it out.

[Rockhoundrob]

OK, a few questions...

1) Replacing the actuators will not help? I was thinking just do the driver door since that is the most important one. And also spray WD-40 on the levers inside the door, or any other moving parts.
What about penetrating oil?

2) I can remove the door panel (I have done several cars over the years). So the bottom line: is the actuator easy to see when you remove the panel?
Or can I easily see the cam levers or other links/swivel that need to be sprayed?

3) When I spray in there, it wont hurt if I spray the actuators too? Is there such a thing as spraying too much?

Thanks for the help. I am starting to believe it is more mechanical than electrical.

[Rockhoundrob]

OK, I found a diagram of the door.
Do I spray on the area that is circled in red?

I can see why the inside handle works fine, but NONE of the outside handles will open the door and the area that I circled in red seems to be the only area that would affect the lock mechanism by the outside handles.

[macgiver]

yeah , your " On IT " , and removing at least ONE door panel like driver's side ( cause it's important ) , NOW your going with VStar's thinking too and you will ' work ' ALL mechanisms like inside handle , outside handle , lock-unlock whatever , and you'll see , per the diagram too , you'll see EXACTLY WHAT , AND WHERE the mishap is happening . You'll see it " LIVE & IN COLOR ". And you may put white Lith , WD whatever , THEN you check / recheck......... don't rush to put panel back on.
Now your an expert ?....... and you hit any other doors you like to remedy the problem

p.s. If not ? Then c'mon back here now , re-post and re-define the problem for more help ?

[cmartyn]

Count yourself lucky it still works from the inside. I remember one crispy morning in my 09. The two front doors would not open from the outside. Only the passenger would open from the inside. At my age climbing into the drivers seat from the passenger seat was no easy feat. If you haven't dislodged the cable yet it may work again simply by warming them up in the garage. Still you need to lube the cables to keep the water out. Nissan had a TSB on this but it didn't work forever.

[VStar650CL]

The best stuff to use on the cables is bicycle cable lube. For the rest of the door hardware, high-viscosity silicone is best (because it persists well but doesn't clot or stink like WD40 or CRC). The frozen moisture usually affects the several cam mechanisms inside the lock, so the best method is to pop the lock mechanism loose from the door so you can spray down inside it and soak the whole works. It's one of those jobs that will probably never need repetition if done thoroughly the first time.

[Rockhoundrob]

Ok thank you everyone!

I'll take care of the driver side first when ever it warms up.
WAY to cold for me to try anything.

[Rockhoundrob]

Thanks again guys for the help. The cable going to the outside handle came loose, but it was stuck behind the latch where the ball is supposed to go. ( it did not come lose and fall into the door).
I lubricated the cables with silicone spray on all 3 cable ends.

Now 2 questions..

1) When I took the door handle out, there were wires going into the handle. Is this simply an antenna?
If for some reason the wires break or the unit in the handle goes bad, Can I replace this with a handle from the junkyard? ( in other words, no compatibilty issues?)

2) if the cable comes out again say within a few months, what is the problem? Is the cable getting stuck and popping out or...Is the handle is getting worn to the point that the ball is just too loose?
Just want to know so I can just get a new cable/latch set or will just getting a new handle stop it from coming loose again?

[cmartyn]

1 yes. I put a junkyard handle on. The wires are electrics for the lock actuator.

2. Water dripping into the cable ends and freezing is the normal cause for this behaviour. I would try cable grease instead of silicone.

[VStar650CL]

2. Water dripping into the cable ends and freezing is the normal cause for this behaviour. I would try cable grease instead of silicone.

Yep, +1. As I mentioned above, cable lube or bicycle chain lube is best on the cables, including the balls and other cable terminations. Silicone is best inside the actuator and lock assembly (and anyplace else where accumulated "gunk" could cause issues).

[Rockhoundrob]

I looked on Amazon for cable lubricant.
Looks like there are grease and oil lubricant.

Which is better for putting on the ends of the cable and the ball ends?
I am tempted to use the oil on the cable that goes into the sleeve and use the grease on the ball ends.

[cmartyn]

Well, Check to make sure the inner cables don't have a jacket. Some cables have a plastic jacket and if you hit em with a lube that will get.messed up and the cables will bind. On my 09 there were just regular cables so I used silicon cable lube. And I coated the exposed part of the cable with white lithium. Lasted for 2 years. Soo.. just my experience. There was a tsb for this. The first time it happened I took it to the dealer and it was fine for years. Till it wasn't. I would look up that TSB cause it worked for a while.

[casperfun]

My door wouldn’t open nearly a decade ago. Took it to the dealer and they wanted to charge $600 for an actuator without even opening it up or charging a diagnostic fee….cough, cough.

So I took it home, opened up and saw that the plastic ball broke loose. So I just take that jumbled wires and wrapped it around where the ball goes. My door been working for nearly 13 yrs now. Heck, it might be ugly in there but you can’t tell the difference from the outside.