drivers won't open from inside or out ! help!! ( 98 camry)

[catlover7731]

My 98 camry will not open from the drivers side. the other doors open with my key and the control. Nothing will open this door. the little orange switch on the side of the door that manually opens and closes it, will not move to its full position. It is hard to push after a certain area. My husband is climbing over the passenger seat to get into the car so he can get to work, and he can drive me where I need to go. Any one have any idea what this can be?? and how to open the door? thanks so much .catlover

[cykaaro]

From my experience, there is a good chance there's something wrong with either the outside door handle, [which mine is starting to do. when it acts up, I have to roll down the window, pull the outside door handle slightly open, then it will unlock.] or as well could be door latch itself. Either one the only way I know to fix it is to remove the door panel to get into the mechanisms and troubleshoot where the issue is. The problem becomes if you can't remove the door panel to do so. If it's anything like my gen3, then I don't know if you can access all the screws to remove the panel from the inside. If you can get it off with the door closed, then you should be able to get in and manual open the door mechanism, and then go from there what the issue is.

Good luck!

[djb2]

My experience is with a Gen 3, so it might not apply.

When we had this problem it was soon after swapping a replacement door into place. The door closed and opened fine, so I had someone else swap the interior door handle and panel from the original door to match the interior.

A few days later the door would not open. It the interior lock rocker still moved, but both interior and exterior handle felt disconnected.

Because it looked as if I would have to butcher the door panel, I avoiding working on the door. But once I started working on the door I noticed that the interior handle pushrods had come loose. The retainers holding them in place had never been snapped on, and they had dropped out and jammed against each other. The lock rocker was still moving as if connected, but it blocked the full range of motion so the door was never unlocking.

Even after freeing the pushrods, it took a few lock-unlock cycles before the outside door handle started working. Of course once I could open the door it was easy to remove the door panel, correctly attach the pushrods, and test it extensively with the door panel left off.

Bottom line: it's worth checking the inside pushrods before cutting apart the door panels. Perhaps even disconnecting the lock pushrod to see that it's not limiting the unlock throw, and using a needlenose pliers to move the pushrods further than the levers do.

[Kep]

^+1 djb2 has a good idea. You can remove the inside door handle (Do some searches on how to remove the bezel around the handle, it is pretty delecate.) and get access to the latch control. I find that vice-grip style long nose pliers work real well to hold onto the rod(s?). You may be able to get the latch released after which you can remove the panel to work on the inards.

Luck,
Kep

[cykaaro]

Originally Posted by djb2

My experience is with a Gen 3, so it might not apply.

When we had this problem it was soon after swapping a replacement door into place. The door closed and opened fine, so I had someone else swap the interior door handle and panel from the original door to match the interior.

Not to get off topic, but need to ask. How hard is it to line up a door on the camry when replacing? Have one to do myself, and been putting it off. When I did the doors on my jeep XJ, they were a real bitch to line up correctly.

[djb2]

Originally Posted by cykaaro

Not to get off topic, but need to ask. How hard is it to line up a door on the camry when replacing? Have one to do myself, and been putting it off. When I did the doors on my jeep XJ, they were a real bitch to line up correctly.

Is your hinge bent? On the GF's car, two doors had damaged panels and the third had bent hinges. The bent hinges were the real problem -- she could ignore dented door panels, but not a door that barely closed and threatened to not open.

The doors with good hinges were trivial to swap. The electrical connections unplug from behind the kick panel or B pillar trim, and then it's just unscrewing the door brake and four bolts from hinge to door.
There is no freedom of motion between the hinge and door frame, and the replacement doors closed perfectly with no alignment needed.

Replacing the door with bent hinges was much more of a problem. I ended up removing the fender, although in retrospect there might have been enough access room if I had unbolted the new hinges from the door, mounted them to the body, and then bolted the door to the hinges. Once the door is mounted the fender and door block the hinge bolts so there is way to adjust the position. But removing the fender was such a PITA that it would have been faster to mount/unmount the door a few times to be adjust the hinges. As it is, I still didn't get the door aligned exactly right.

[cykaaro]

Thanks, that's good to know. No issues with my hinges at all. My rear driver side has a nice rust hole in the bottom, only rust spot problem on the body actually, so have a replacement door to switch out. [just have to switch out the glass since mine's tinted] Got the same colour so I won't have to worry about painting it or the like.

Been lucky so far with all my window regulators. Only had the drivers door go. Clip at the bottom snapped so had to replace it. Waiting for my master switch to give me issues, but so far so good.

[djb2]

Oh, the rear doors are easier than the front. You don't have to swap the lock cylinder, and with the front door open you can unbolt/re-bolt the rear door with it closed and latched. Disconnect the door brake and electrical harness first, unbolt, and then just unlatch to carry it away.

It took me a little time to figure out how to angle the window glass to remove it. It might have been easier if I had removed the rubber side seal. Remove and install the glass while the door is on the car. I didn't swap the quarter panel glass so I can't help there. The manual shows loosening the frame, peeling back the rubber seal and popping it out.

Camry window glass comes in two different colors, green and bronze. It's a subtle difference, but worth swapping.

While you are there you might want to pull and save the outside door handle and regulator.
We got "lucky" -- the driver's door was damaged just a week after the regulator failed. We fixed both with a used replacement door. Although I had just replaced the mirrors after years of being loose, and with the time pressure left the good mirrors behind with the bad doors. (And later found the door lock motor was burnt out... another part to buy and swap.) I did remember to get the old door handles with correct lock cylinders -- I had just installed the replacement handles a few months ago.

[cykaaro]

I pulled out all my door windows when I tinted them so that won't be a problem. [originally they were the bronze colour] The rear quarter windows are actually fairly easy to do. Just once you get the stuff you need to undo and the rubber back, just slowly work it out. With the tint it works far better than trying to do it while still in place, plus you can properly clean the crap off of it.

There's nothing wrong with my existing door other than the nice gaping hole at the bottom rear corner. [it's all the way through the outside of the door and nicely working it self through the other side] so no worry about parts for the replacement. Plus I got the entire door for $50. The inside panel was in bad shape, so just ditched that, but mine is still in great shape, so no worries there. So it now gives me extra glass, window regulator, door handle etc. if I ever need for that door. My passenger front door mirror has to be replaced at some point, but no rush on that. Some ass clipped it the first week I had the camry and cracked the case. Other than that it works fine, so for now haven't worried about it, but it bothers me enough I'll change it at some point. Will just have to redo the LED turn signal lights I put into it is all.

[mp60643]

Oddly enough, this has just happened to me today. The exterior handle stopped working a couple weeks ago. I bought a replacement and haven't put it in. Then today the inside lever stopped working - with the door shut. I will try and operate the door after removing the inside lever. If this doesn't work - does anyone know if I can open the door by trying to get at it from the outside lever? Since I have a replacement, I don't mind destroying the existing one if there is a chance I can get the door open and not have to destroy the inside panel.

Thanks

[new echo owner]

You might have a door lock lever in the door latch that got stuck between lock and unlock, that is why you cannot open the door either from the inside or the outside. Sometimes, you can get it to open by playing around with the lock button or the lock cylinder.

You might have to replace the door latch to fix the problem.

N.E.O.