Door stuck shut

[Engy]

My passenger side door has been stuck shut for months now. The latch mechanism has some broken parts and the door won't open, and I can't access the mechanism without having the door open because of some great design work by some smart engineers  :rofl:

 

I lost patience with it today and took off the fender and undid the hinges and just tried to pull it off, all that did was bend part of the rear window trim so it won't go down  :sneaky:

 

Has anyone done something like this before? is there an easier way or should I just pull harder?

[Eagle_Adam]

take out the seat, remove the door panel, disconnect the rods that connect to the latch and unbolt the latch? 

[Engy]

The bolts that hold the latch on are only accessible when the door is open, that's the great engineering I was talking about  :rofl: The seat and door panel have been off for quite some time now too, I call it stage 3 weight reduction B)

[Eagle_Adam]

cut the lock mech open after finding a new one? 

[Engy]

I was offered one awhile ago but I can't get any of the powertools to fit in the space without butchering my door. I've tried pretty much everything short of blowing it up, all the spring inside the mech broke off or something.

[Eagle_Adam]

call a lock smith? 

[Engy]

Would this be something they could do? It's not the locking mechanism it's the internal parts of the latch, example of what I found awhile ago is that there is this little orange plastic loop that pops up when you pull the handle on a working door but on the broken one it only pops up a little bit and when forced up there is no resistance. I don't know much about the latch mechanisms.

[Tristin]

As a last resort you may have to cut some of the door out. I wouldnt be too worried if you have a door panel. It wouldnt be the best route, but could save you from having a permanently shut door. 

 

As Adam mentioned, I was explain myself to a locksmith. Sometimes they have some weird flexy tools to get in and around that they may be able to pop the door open. 

[nismosilvia]

There's no way to stick a flat head between the door and lock mech. Teeth from the outside?

[Engy]

I tried getting at it with a screwdriver, crowbars, and I even attempted using a sawzall(Bad idea). I'm going to try just getting at it with an angle grinder tomorrow and if that doesn't work see if a lock smith can do anything. If worse comes to worst then I'll just look for a new door and cut up this one to get it off, but hopefully it won't come to that!

 

Thanks for the help guys :thumbup: