Driver's door opens from inside but not from outside-WTF?

onthemove

onthemove

Member
Car
2003 FX35 AWD
Name
Michael
I installed two of those little door lock actuator replacement kits from ebay and did the pass front & driver rear. They work well. I noticed some issues inside the panels, noisy little noise makers that have been driving me nutz. I fixed the noises on all 4 doors.
The driver's door will not open from the outside. Doesn't matter if it's locked or not. It will open from the inside. I did not replace the actuator, all I did was remove the panel, tighten bolt's, tape plugs and wires to the panel, etc. and then put the panel back on.
Did this two days ago. It all seemed fine until today when I used the key in the lock to drop the windows down. Weird shit with these damn imports. They've got gremlins for sure. What am I, the fucking dukes of hazard now? Rant...rant...bitch...moan...complain...rant, shit!
There are two cables that attach to the inside handle. After detaching both of them, the one with a ball on the end sticks a little but does go in and out. The other moves in and out but not as much as it should. This is a mechanical issue for sure. Anyone out there experience this before?
 
Read over the fsm and have a clue now. Possible coincidence and the bar from the lock to locking mechanism disengaged. Hopefully I don't have to pull the glass. Seems like most issues revolve around the door lock actuators. I'll post something with photos when I've figured it out.
 
Yeah... The actuators are shit... I've gotta replace mine soon, but they're not SO bad that doors don't lock / unlock after a second try so I've been lazy... :P
 
So, you think it's the actuator that's responsible for not being able to open the door from the outside or r u just commenting on actuators?
The front passenger and rear driver sides were lazy to busted but there were no issues opening from either side. I'm 99% sure this is a mechanical issue. Most of what attaches the inside and outside handles to the lock/latch are cables BUT there is one rod which just so happens to connect the outside handle to the latch. I think a plastic retainer popped or broke and now the damn things jammed. I just hope I can do it without pulling the window. I'm going balls out dukes of hazard until next week when I will be in a better mood to deal with this kind of bullshit.
Here's a few photo's of the kit I bought. The fit could be better but it does the trick. Used 1 front and 1 rear but kit came with all 4. Taped up plugs and wires which stopped most of the remainder of the rattling that I couldn't find up until now.
DSC01329.JPG DSC01332.JPG DSC01330.JPG DSC01331.JPG
 
onthemove said:
So, you think it's the actuator that's responsible for not being able to open the door from the outside or r u just commenting on actuators?
Click to expand...
Like you said before, seems like a lot of issues revolve around the actuators...

They're probably not the thing stopping your doors from opening though... Although, I heard of someone having the clip thingy break or come loose on their actuator and I can't remember if it just kept the door locked, or if it prevented them from opening the door... I think they had to work really hard to pull off the interior panel while the door was closed... Once off, the fix was easy to see and do... It was from several years ago, so I forget all the details...
 
Rolling the window up and down I can hear a slight noise which sounds like a metal rod laying against the glass to me.
 
Nope. No metal rod in the door, just between my ears. What a funny coincidence, the driver side pulling this bullshit when it has always been perfectly fine.

Photo 2; The top cable is the one that attaches to the inside lock lever that sits right next to the inside door handle. The lower cable attaches to the inside door handle. Then there's a another cable that attaches to the outside door handle and a bar that attaches the door keyed lock. These all attach to the main latch/actuator mechanism as seen in photo 1.

If I pull with slight effort on the end of the top cable, I can open the door using the outside door handle. The bottom cable always opens the door from the inside. It's the cable that attaches the inside lock lever that's the issue. The inside door lock lever doesn't want to fully open when the cable is attached, so something's wrong with the cable or the whole damn lock is jacked up.

I got the door to open once from the outside without assistance. Fluke.

What's up with this thing? Do I need to use the spare ebay actuator to fix this? Will it fix this, or do I need a whole new unit?
DSC01384.JPG DSC01385.JPG
 
After looking this piece of shit over and pulling it all apart, it appears there's some binding going on at the cable's end where it inserts into the actuator/latch mechanism. I sprayed some wd40 down the cable shaft multiple times ( very narrow gap between cable and sheath) and pulled & pushed until it freed up. Unfortunately, it freed up what either came unwound, unhooked, unattached or just plain broke which now allows for full movement. Everything is golden, back to normal EXCEPT the fucking lock will not work with the key and the actuator will not lock/unlock. That's where the problem started and that's where it can stay. I'll install another ebay actuator. Damn the key lock. I think these actuators get lazy and go bad, some slowly and others abruptly, because the cables.

Installed actuator fix after dinner. Good to go. Figured I'd let anyone reading this know before there's a mad rush with advice on how to move forward.:rolleyes: Hahaha!
 
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Not sure how bad it got gunked up in there, but lately I've been trying to stay away from WD40... It has a tendency to gunk with age... I notice it a lot on restaurant equipment (meat slicer, walk-in fridge door "closers", etc) that whatever spray had been used in the past tends to get gunky when old and then any additional spray just lubes it for a day or so, and then degrades and becomes more gunk... So I've been scrubbing things clean (if I can reach into it to scrub it) and then applying mineral oil as the lubricant. It doesn't "stick" as it doesn't have those kind of agents, but it lubricates really well and won't gunk up... Thinking I'm gonna start using it a lot more in my FX too...
 
The gunk you speak of is dust and whatnot. Things that need lubrication should be cleaned a bit prior to applying a product like wd40 for example. Over application will make it worse. I've used other products but favor wd40.
Something caused the inside of the cable to bind, something like cheap parts, a shitty manufacturing process, poor engineering or any combination. Either way, problem solved.
 
I forgot about this thread. I ended up getting a rebuilt actuator from a shop on ebay that supposedly guarantees the unit for life if you send in your original which I did. The thing works perfectly. :D:tup::cool:
 
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