Stuck Caravan Door '96

Can anyone tell me how to "force" open the sliding door without damaging anything (door panel, etc)? The only idea I have right now is to remove the interior panel, and drill (dremel) out the latch from the inside, but I really can't say for sure if the latch has malfunctioned, or if this still *could* be a problem with the gas door locking mechanisim...Any/ALL help is greatly appreiciated, because we would love to use this door again this spring/summer! :-)

Geoff

To my knowledge, the gas door and the sliding doors have nothing in common. If you can get the sliding door panel off, it will make things easy to unlock the door. Take the panel off and lubricate the latch assembly with penetrating fluid a couple of times while trying to open the door. It should loosen up. If not, with a screw driver unlock it from the inside of the panel by moving the latch lever up or down. If you move the door handle, you will see which way the lever moves. Don't dremel it yet. Let the penetrating fluid work.
All the best.

Hi Geoff,

Boy... your problem sure sounds familiar. :eek7:

I bought a 96 caravan from a private partie a couple of weeks ago. Out of the blue I had the driver sliding door completely stuck. Could not open it from the inside or outside. (recognize that?)

It was peculiar that the door was not flushed with the body, instead was about an 1/8" IN. A friend took the door panel off and took a look at it. Everything was on place. Rods were on place and nothing look obviously wrong. He finally decided that the problem was on the back latch. After a while he recommended that I take the carvan to the dealer. He thought some other garage may have problems fixing it. (My friend is a mechanic)

I took the caravan to the Dealer and $355.00 Dlls later the problem was solved. What they told me was that the back latch was frozen and that only cutting the latch manually would allow them to open the door.

After I gave them the go, they did exactly that. Doing the job apparently from the inside. Looking back at the parts they took out. It is obvious that they cut out the rivets that hold the latch together. They disasemble it, Open the door, and installed a new one.

I have no idea how hard the job was but I can tell you that I took the vehicle at 8:00 am diagnosis was given at 10:00 am and they called at 4:30pm to tell me that the car was ready.

By the way... I found 2 other adds on the web describing this precise problem.
So is not uncomon I asked the dealer if this qualified as a safety issue or a recall but NO! I had to pay my bill :sly:

I hope you are more mechanically inclined than I am and that you can take care of the problem without having to pay big bucks. If you end up buying the part. Let me know how much was it. Also, if you manage to convince the dealer to fix it for free Let me know

I hope this is of some help to you.
Good Luck

--Blanca :smile:

Blanca,
Thanks for sharing your experience. I had pretty much decided that I would have to tear into the door latch from the inside. I'm not looking forward to it because it is a very small space, and near impossible to see what you are doing, but I'm pretty good with a dremel tool. If I can get the back popped off the latch, I should be able to handle the rest.
Thanks again,
Geoff

I used my dremel on it...

On my 92 Plymouth voyager the rear latch also seized up. I removed the inside panel and sprayed down good with wd-40 and was able to grab the rod that extends from the door handle to the rear latch and free it up.

So I took my dremel and cut a little access hole in the door panel to access the rod. Now when it sticks (occasionally) I don't have to remove the door panel again.

And my money stays in the mattress.

Wayne

Read thread "ANOTHER stuck sliding door" dated 16 Mar 04