Driver Door Not Unlatching

[Chris Smith 8]

I have been having trouble with the driver door on my 03 Trac. It is intermittent but getting worse. When i pull up on the outer handle, the door does not unlatch / open. The door opens fine from the inside. It is a pain to reach in from the back door and pull the release on the front door to open it.



The locks seem to work fine and if I close the locking mechanism on the side of the door with any object (simulating latching to the Nader pin), the mechanism seems to open fine when the door handle is operated. When I close the door, it wont reopen. It does feel that the opening process from either outside or inside is rough / tight. Is there an alignment I can perform or what can anyone suggest?

 

[Mark K 2]

You might have a broken plastic rod connecting clip inside the door. DOT safety regulations require that doors and door hardware fit within close tolerances. Any change in that may affect door operation.

 

[swshawaii]

Ditto. Only way to diagnose and repair is to remove the panel. Yellow folding clip in second pic is Dorman 703-242, See link below:

 

[Shawn Alexander 2]

The plastic latch rod clip mentioned above is adjustable. You can open it, pop out the latch rod and then reinsert the latch rod in a different position. I just did mine tonight. I inserted the rod while pushing the outside handle down and also gently pushing the plastic clip down a little. This ensures maximum travel when you do open from outside.