My 1995 corolla door would not close. I looked and discovered that the 3 screws holding the door lock mechanism in place were gone. I went to the hardware and bought 3 new screws and installed them. The door shut and now it will not open at all. It was opening intermittently, so I bought shorter screws and put them in and now it will not open at all. The screws are flush with the door. The door is not stuck, you can feel that it is locked, so forcing it will not work. Climbing in and out over the passenger seat is quickly losing it’s appeal. Monday I am taking the door apart from the inside. Anyone got any ideas what could be wrong?
The screws that hold the door latch in place in the door are usually special ones made just for that purpose. The latch must be correctly positioned to work properly…With the door closed, you will find it impossible to remove the interior door panel…
A trip to your local body-shop might be in order before you resort to destructive force…
The door will open when you pull on the inside door handle? Yes, no, sometimes?
The interior latch will not work at all. I looked at the positioning of the lock when it would open and there is no way to position it differently. With the screws in place it will not move in any direction. It does not move at all.
I called several body shops. They said that the only thing they could to was try to remove the door panels from the inside with the door shut and that, yes, this might ruin the door panels. Does not sound like there is much choice.
What actually opens the latch is a rod that goes from the release handle, through the lock, to the door latch. These rods are held in position by plastic clips. If the rod to the latch has become disconnected, then removing the interior panel is the only choice…Sometimes removing the seat first helps…If it’s a lock problem, then perhaps a Slim-Jim artist can help…
I second the slim jim artist idea. The inside latch mechanism is the problem and you’ll have to get the door opened and then remove the interior panel to find and fix the problem. You might even find it is cheaper to break the window glass and then find a way to jimmy the lock to open the door. Windows are not hard or expensive to replace.