01 T&C power sliding door

[drolds69]

I've looked through the past two years post and could find nothing related to this problem.

I purchased a 2001 Town and Country with power sliding doors this past summer. This week, the drivers side door decided to lock up. When I mean lock up, it doesn't budge automatic or or manual. Luckily, it did it while it was closed. When I try to activated the door, I can hear a faint single click, but that's about it. There was a sign of a problem a few weeks ago when the motor decided to run and not shut off on a short 2 mile trip. The door went back to working fine after that incident. I assume if I can get the door panel off, I can disconnect cable from the door motor, and it will free up.

Any advice as to how the door panels comes off, the difficulty/expense of replacing the motor, and if I can potentially take the moter out and use the door in manual mode?

[drolds69]

I spoke with the dealer service dept last week about getting the van in to be looked at. Prior to placing the call, I removed the door panel. I had a theory that if I removed the drive cable from the door motor, it might free up the door to operate. Well, tried it and it didn't work. Nor did the door motor operate now that it was free from the door mechanism. The dealer was booked up before Christmas, so I was unable to get it in prior to our trip. The service desk attendant said he had a similar problem with is 2000 T&C, and he ended up prying the door open. He said it bent the retainer for the gas door, but evidently has worked fine since. He said his was a non-power door model, but had the same issue I was dealing with. Do you think it's worth a try to pry the door open?

[Spit]

Do you think it's tied up mechanically? Like stuck a roller/bearing?
Have you tired to spray any WD 40 onto the upper & lower tracks and rollers? you should be able to get to some of this from the outside and possibly more from the inside with the door panel and upper trim off.
I would try lubrication before prying too hard on anything. You can always pry later if it doesn't work You might even try to get some WD into the latching mechanism in case that is where your problem lies.

Chuck

[1thunder]

does the unlock button move freely i seen some with this problem and managed to manualy unlock the door with the trim panel off had to replace the latch to fix the problem