Parked the car and opened the door to get out. Or I should say... tried to open the door to get out. Pulled the door opener and nothing happened. Lowered the window and tried the outside pull... nothing.

Jiggled the inside door handle a bit. Eventually the door opened. Thought I was going to have to climb over to the passenger side.

Tried opening and closing the door a few times. Worked every time.

Got home... again the door would not open. Played around and it opened.

Any ideas re: what isn't working?

Battery?

Thanks,

Jack

 

It is a mechanical linkage between both the inside and outside door handles and the lock mechanism.

Sounds like something inside the door is loose.

 

Thinking about this...

When I try to open the door (unsuccessfully), the window does not dip to allow it to clear the top. Nothing happens. That seems to indicate an electrical issue.

I'm going to check the battery.

Does this make sense?

Thanks,

Jack

 

If the window doesn't dip, or is intermittent then the microswitch in the latch would be my first thought.

 

The window does not dip because the latch has not been activated. It's a mechanical linkage between the handles and the latch. There is absolutely no electrical issue that I can think of that will prevent the mechanical linkage from working, but I've been wrong before. Looking forward to you finding the cause and reporting back.

 

I checked the battery this morning. 12.18 volts first thing. Turned the lights on for two minutes and read 12.02 volts. Low readings, but not dead. The battery is a Jag labeled battery that has been in the car since I bought it 5 years ago. Not sure how long it has been in the car.

Just replaced it. Door works fine. I think it was low battery voltage.

This morning the door failed to operate when the car was off. I started the car so I could get it running on alternator. The door worked. I believe that was the tipoff.

Thank you,

Jack

 

The doors lock by a solenoid after you drive off. The handle has to trigger a micro switch for the solenoid to unlatch. In theory the doors are supposed to unlatch by the solenoid as soon as power is lost. In general if you are in an accident and the inertia switch trips shutting off all electrical the doors automatically unlatch allowing you to open them.
I think you either have a bad micro switch or a solenoid that is sticking when it is signaled to unlatch. A stronger battery may help in the short term but I am not sure it is the solution.

 

Vern, I guess time will tell. If it fails again, I'll report back.

Thanks.

Jack

 

So you can see just what you are dealing with inside the door I have attached a parts blow up. It shows the electric cable heading into the door latch mechanism.
As a thought you might want to spray some silicone lube into the latch mechanism and cycle it with the key fob. Locking and unlocking with the solenoid may free it up.

 

I'm having the exact same issues. Have you made any headway?