Door lock jammed

[maq]

Hi,

My 93 Q45's driver door is not opening. When trying to open the lock from the power switch, it gives a rattling sound from the solenoid, but opening the door handle doesn't work. I cannot even open the side leather panel to reach the lock mechanism.

Any ideas?

[Albiebear]

I don't know if you fixed it, but here is what I had to do with my 94 Q.
Unbolt the inside door panel (although the door is closed and you cannot remove the panel). The panel will move up enough (with careful force)to unlatch at the top of the door (this is to give you enough room to get tooling down to the latch mechanism). You can then roll down the window and get a screwdriver to the latch mechanism inside the door. This is the mechanism at the far end of the door which latches to the striker plate. I had to then break open the plastic cover on the door locking mechanism, get to the locking lever inside (which had failed locked) and slide it to unlock the door. When I finally got the latch mechanism out, I found that there is a pin inside the mechanism that the locking lever rotates around. This pin had failed. While I was at it, I replaced the passenger latch mechanism as well. I found it too had failed. The symptom is the auto lock actuator won't lock but sounds like a machine gun for a second.

Whatever you do, don't damage the leather inside panel....they are expensive. The door lock/latch mechanism is about $50 per piece.

[TWX]

I ended up fixing a friend's '94 Q45 today with this information, and pulling the bolts out and prying the leather-covered interior panel up ended up being how I gained access. I disconnected the interior door lock control at the pivot point instead of down in the door and I was able to wiggle it back and forth repeatedly very quickly to finally get the door to unlock and open. I couldn't tell if it was working or not by sound, I ended up having to try the handle as I went along. I was very nicely amazed when it just opened for me after messing with it that way.

After it popped I just carefully put the panel back enough that I could open it, I rolled the window back up, took the panel off correctly (you'll have to unhook the trunk and gas cover switch wires as well as the courtesy lamp), peeled the now somewhat torn plastic liner back, popped the linkages out, unhooked the power door lock cable, took the four screws out (three for the striker latch, one for the power door lock solenoid), and pulled the thing out. I switched the power module on the bench and moved the plastic retainer clips from the bad mechanism to the good, and then reassembled.

Getting the key-to-mechanism linkage apart and back together is a pain, as it's hiding behind the window track. Also, be sure to use a LARGE #3 type screwdriver on all of the non-hex-headed screws so that you don't strip them out.

I did tear one piece of interior-style trim, the little thin thing along the trailing edge of the door that isn't visible when the door is shut. I'm annoyed, but it's not a big deal compared to the main panel. While you have the door panel off you might want to check the tabs that hold the topmost leather piece to make sure that they're all still holding to the backing from behind. Most of the ones on this car had come loose in the process of trying to get into the door.

I also ended up bending the linkage that went from the interior manual door lock switch to the mechanism. I carefully bent it back and tested it as I went to make sure that it was lined up right.

The part number that I used was 80503 89910 for the driver's side. I don't know how long that will remain current, $52.86 before tax.