94 Taurus Wagon Door Frozen

[seasonalskier2006]

Ok so i was up at college car was working perfect, shut the passanger door drove back home, then my girlfriend went to open it and the little sucker wouldnt unlock, its the wierdest thing, never heard of this before, i have searched everywhere no clues. The mechanical lock is frozen or something, it isnt the power locks i tried to pull the lock up with a slim-jim. and actually bent the darn thing. I dunno what else to do, the door is locked shut so i cant get to ANYTHING!! PLEASE HELP!! I am losing hair and my sanity!!!!!

Thanks!!!

[Huney1]

That's not a good thing. If you horse on it and accidentially break a window they cost a lot to replace, unless you can find one in a salvage yard. Well, since you are mobile, call a lock smith and go see 'em and find out what they say 'cause I'm totally stumped on this one. Maybe take the door panel off and have a look see which is probably what a lock smith will do. OH-OH! I understand now, the door is locked so you can't open it to get the panel off. Will the window go down or is that frozen also?
Anxious to hear what the lock smith says.

[seasonalskier2006]

Well locksmith will do me no good . The problem isnt with the key and that is what they only deal with, i called earlier. The window isnt frozen i can move that easily, i can pull the door handles too, its like it froze in the locked position and i cant get it unstuck!! Someone please help me!!! <-I am actually doing this!!!! I dont want to have to pay big bucks to fix the darn thing but its like no one on the planet knows what the heck is going on!! Even guesses would be nice!

Thanks again,
Ken

[mike sliger]

put the key in lock and turn to unlock door and at same time try opening door. allso check and see if left door lock is turning as far as right door lock if its not you need to get it to turn. some times the rod is pushed down to far and gos over center. if this works then remove door panel and repair

[seasonalskier2006]

ok so i fixed the problem, and for all you guys(and gals) who were wondering what was wrong or had this happen here is what i did:
(sit back and enjoyopcorn

First i took the door panel and wedged it back as far as i could without breaking it (the door is locked shut), then i rigged a coat hanger to pull on the locking mechanism that controls the lock so i pull it up, i took off the glass trim piece on the bottom of the window hole, then i took a can of WD40 and waged war on it, i sprayed the mechanism for 10-12 sec then 5 min later 10-12 sec again. then i used the coat hanger and pulled up and down to start to losen the lock, after a while i tried to turn the key as hard as i could and then pulled up the door handle and it poped open.

From there i took off the door panel. With the door panel off i pulled off the insulation and the water gaurd so i could better acess the mechanism, i sprayed more WD40 on it and kept opening and closing the door, each time i had to use the key turned and door handle method. So after a while of this i checked the actuator for the power locks, it shuddered when i pushed it but it never pushed the lever up, so i pulled it up by hand, and it shot back down. Faulty actuator, but this wasnt the only problem, i found a large chip of rust from something that came out the door that i noticed before was lodged in the locking mechanism.

So what happened is a piece of rust jammed the lock and all the extra force on the already old and worn actuator just was too much for the old thing, causing it to completly freeze up. Thanks for your help guys! and i hope my article will help you guys, and this isnt just a taurus thing, this applies to ALL cars with power doors mind ya!! Thanks again guys!

Ken

[shorod]

Great information and explanation. Thank you for taking the time to post your fix!

-Rod