1996 Grand Caravan.Driver side sliding door stuck shut

[jaca89]

There's a sticker on the sliding door window that says,"Door will not open when gas cap cover is open".Is there a device or something that tells the door not to open?(switch that gas cap cover tells the door not to open or something?)When I press the remote button or push the lock button down.All the locks go up and down.Thanks

[KManiac]

As you may have noticed, the gas cap is directly behind the driver's side rear sliding door. If the door was able to slide open with the gas cap open, the door would impact the gas cap cover. I am not an expert on this, but the gas cap cover is very close to the sliding door latch mechanism. Opening the gas cap cover mostly likely pulls a mechanical rod that locks the door latch closed. This will have no effect on the power lock mechanism.

[jaca89]

There is a spot on the gas cover on the inside of the hinge with a high spot that when you close the door it pushes in on something.

[jaca89]

There is a spot on the gas cover on the inside of the hinge with a high spot that when you close the door it pushes in on something.It is coverd with a soft rubber.

[mcamp]

Had the same problem. My spouse claimed responsibility after slamming the door too hard. What happened as described (sort of ) in other posts was the the bar mechanism that connects to the fuel door got bent and the door becomes stuck. It won't open from pulling on the handle and door lock actuators actually work. right? Well what I did was pull the panel off the interior of the door (or not) and I took out the middle seats or bench seat ( i needed the room) Grab and push in the release button on the door as if to open it and give it a swift kick towards the rear of the door. You may have to give it a couple of kicks. That popped my door open. I promptly closed it again and lo and behold it got stuck again. Another kick opened it and then I removed from the door two bolts (might be screws) that hold in the bar for the fuel door latch. You'll find these on the back end of the door. It's a safety feature that prevents you from trying to open the door while fueling. I activated the child lock that prevented opening from the inside and that seemed to work fine for my wife and kids. Good Luck!

[jaca89]

With all the research I've done This makes the most sense.I'll try this.I'll let you know what happens.This also explains why when I try to open it .The door just slightly opens.Thanks.

[jaca89]

Well it worked.I did what you said,lightly kicked the door at the back(door hinge) twice and it opened.On the inside of the body I took out the safty latch for now.Now I'll do so more research to try to fixed if I can to work right.Thanks for your help.Thanks for all the other post too!I have The Haynes repair manual (didn't show or say anything about safety gas lock).Book covers Voyager,Town&Country.1996 thru 2002.Need help ask.