Chad B

2003Z...pressed the power unlock button inside the car but only the driver side door lock unlocked. The passenger door lock is half way between locked and unlocked. It will move fully to the locked position but when I attempt to unlock it again it sticks between the locked and the unlocked position. It looks like when you're trying to unlock the passenger door and the passenger grabs the handle at the same time. Except this time it wont correct itself. Mechanic thinks he needs to remove the passenger seat so that he can get at and remove the door panel with the door in the closed position. Is there another, less painful way to get the door open?

Mike@Blackline

iTrader: (37)

I had this on one of my Zs. Id hit unlock and it'd get stuck halfway (more or less locked because i still couldnt open). I'd hit lock again, then unlock once again and it'd open.

This was due to taking the door apart and putting it back together wrong, but sounds like you have a similar problem. I suggest you do the relatively simple task of taking the door apart and observing the internal components as you lock/unlock with your remote.

lbz

iTrader: (14)

OP states the door won't unlock so taking the door apart to observe the mechanics is not an option. I don't think that taking the p-side seat out will help either.

I had a similar problem and figured out that it was due to a loose connector pair in the electrical harness that runs between the door and the interior. I had pulled some speaker wires through the harness and managed to damage one of the connector pairs.

I took it to a dealer and they said they could only tear apart the door panel to get in there and that I would have to pay for a new door panel. They thought that maybe the lock actuator in the bottom of the door had gone bad.

One day I hit a series of small bumps in the road and it started working fine. That's when I realized it was something loose in the wiring.

Chad B

Mechanic says the door can't be slim jimmed...is this the case? I find it hard to believe there is no way to unlock my passenger door without punching a hole through the door panel. I see no way of removing the door panel while the door is in the closed position. Please tell me there is a way to unlock the door without destroying the door panel!

donut_ballz

iTrader: (10)

How about manually unlocking the door? Are you unable to push the lock to the unlock position? If so, something might be obstructing the way.

3-fifty-WeEe

i have the same issue.... unplug the electrical and pry the heck out of the lock it will eventually come loose....bad door lock

cairo7

Has anyone found a solution to this yet, this just started happening to me as well

wahooo12345

I have the same issue too. Please help

travlee

iTrader: (8)

actuator prob dead, and holy dead thread bump

fatjoe

Finally after cutting the door panel almost a year ago and thinking that I fix this problem with WD40, I didn't. So now that I have to get the car inspected here in Germany, they don't play with you driving around without a door panel.
Today I figured it out. You have to get the door panel off. As stated before, I cut my off last year and have been driving around with it like that all this time.

With the plastic cover of the door panel off, you will need to take off the metal cover inside of that. This will mean that you will have to also unscrew the window regulator to get that panel off. After that, with a flashlight, look inside the door towards the back of door and you will see the door lock regulator with a small blue washer on top of it and a small rod going into it. Pull the washer and rod up and you should be able to work the door unlock switch to get the door open.

Once the door is open, remove the 3 hex screws where the door latches to the car. This will remove the lock regulator. You don't have to remove it from the door, just move it down until the rod is no longer inside the blue washer.

Now you need to take off the door handle. Move up from where the hex screws where and you will see 2 rubber grommets. remove them and you will see 2 10mm screws. Be very very very careful when removing these 2. If you drop them inside the door, they will fall and slide inside the door's protective beam and be lost for ever. After removing them, ease the door handle off.

On the inside of the door handle you will see 2 springs. The larger wound spring will be really lose. The seat that holds the tension on the spring is plastic and is prone to failure. Using a flat tip screw driver, you need to run the spring around so that it has tension again.

Now put the handle and regulator on and check you work.

I am not all that great at doing a write-up, but this is what I know worked for me. I you know how to take the door handle off without going through all of that, it might be best to go that way.

Good luck.

Gary Schmitz

mr. sparco

iTrader: (13)

TangoAlphaZulu

Another voice on the resurrected thread here. The passenger door on the g/f's car has suffered the same fate. Closed, locked and unable to open it. fatjoe posted a solution above that required cutting the door panel apart. Is this the one solution?

Should I start a new thread, or is continuing an old thread preferable?

Thanks,
Jeff

caschera91

caschera91

Mark Sanders

Gonna bring this thread back to life again lol. So I just had this happen to me and after an hour of trying to Google solutions I tried what was said in post #11 of this thread and it worked. I held the passenger lock in the lock position for 5 seconds and then in the unlock for 5 seconds. It works fine now. I hope it helps more people since these seems to be a pretty common problem! Thank you Gary Schmitz for the simple solution! I don't believe your post got enough credit!

68Dreday

You are the man bruh!! Just lube it when does open!! And you good!

Treken

So, I hate to revive and old thread, but I ran into the same problem after installing new door handles on both sides.
The driver door would not open from inside or outside door handle, and the lock was halfway stuck between locked and unlocked and was impossible to open, or so I thought.
After doing some digging around, I found a youtube video explaining how you can unroll the window all the way, and using a clothing hanger, I was able to fish the locking rod up, and open the door from the inside.
Then, I was able to remove and properly connect the rod to the new exterior door handle. Now, I have 2 perfectly working door handles
NO NEED to cut your door panel apart and replace it if the door gets stuck shut!!!
Here is the link to the video: I hope this helps people that were in my same position!

jv350z

iTrader: (6)

^Saved me here. thanks!

350zdoublers

didn't expect this to work but it did the job, thanks!