91 SE door won't open

[Jay eS Iye]

for some reason the driver's side door on my girlfriend's 91 SE doesn't open alot. you can open it from the inside fine, but from teh outside it doesn't always want to work, esp when its cold she says. to me it looks like the outer doorhandle just isn't engaging the lock mechinism right; if the panel on the door is removed and you can see the components of the doorhandle you you pull on the inside part of it it will open, if that makes any sense. lemme know what i can do to fix this

[blknyt07]

Does everything look in tact on the door system when the handle cover is removed? I had a door break on me once and i could only open it from the inside. I went to the junkyard and found a grand prix door that had the same lever and system with it. It cost me like 5 bucks and i was able to put it on myself. If she really can't get it fixed, you might wanna considering doing that. It worked for me when i had a 93. I had a broken piece off of that little hammer that is connected to the rods. You should know what im talkin about if you can see it. Reply back and tell me what you think.

[blknyt07]

Ya, that sounds exactly like what mine did before it broke. I betcha that hammers wore down or something, you'll probably have to replace it. It's not hard to find a 91 GP in a junkyard, it will probably save you a 100 or 2 in cash, including shop work. I was able to remove the lock and hammer and put the new one in myself, takes like 20 min. ?'s let me know

[Jay eS Iye]

did your door break or the handle? b/c i had to go buy her a new handle b/c when it first starting acting up i broke the handle off, so the handle itself is brand new.

one thing i did do, where the end of the handle meets the little bar that goes into the door that actually engages and opens it, there is a little circular clip that that can moved up or down b/c the bar is threaded at the end. when i turned it all the way up, the door started opening again, now it doesn't. here is a picture to help show what i'm talking about (had to use paint b/c she's 3 hours away right now)



could i do anything tot hat to make it work?

[blknyt07]

That little square block ended up crackin and breaking off of the end of the handle on my door. While it was cracke i was still able to open the door till it broke completely off. Have you checked to make sure that the bolt hasn't been stripped because of the tighter adjustment? That sounds like it could have been stripped off if it worked for a little while and then all of a sudden quit. Check grooves on both sides of rod and if not, see what it looks like down in where that rod opens and closes the latch. It sounds like everything north of the hammer is okay if you have a new handle. Make sure that the rod cannot wiggle or sway too much, it's meant to stay on track, if there's a lot of play, it won't line up right

[Jay eS Iye]

well i know if i pull on the handle as if to open it, and then slightly pull out on the bar it engages it, so i'm guessing its something inside the door itself. maybe its full of grease or something? i don't know, but i don't want to have to get a whole new door, esp since she's trading it in soon.

any mroe help would rock

[kilroypr]

blknyt07 is pointing you in the right direction. I do not think it inside the door the problem. If that were the case it would always open or not. If you loolk closely the pins on the rods have threads so they can be adjusted. If the small bracket you ciicled on the pic is not broken then just adjust(disadjust) the pin until the handle works again.
It happend to me on a 93 Z-34 and this worked until the handle broke completly. So if you got the part from the scrap yard better install it, if not, then adjust the pins until you find the handle.

[Jay eS Iye]

yeah the rod that has threads that i have the arrow pointed to is adjusted all the way tothe top. and for a while that helped it and it opened. but now its not opening again. and for some reason the cold is still affecting it more, when its cold it doesn't want to open and barely ever does, unless you open it from the inside and then it works flawlessly. i'ms till stumped, any more ideas? pics would help too from manuals if you have any