99 R/T 10
Enthusiast
Just curious as to what happen to the guys hoping into their cars like Bo and Luke Duke. I tried to open the original message, but comes up blank(broke?). Anyway, did you guys get the doors fixed?
Mike
Mike
Help! My door lock mechanism is stuck! What to do?
- Thread starter 99 R/T 10
- Start date
Tomer
Enthusiast
96 RT/10 (artist formerly knowen as Wilddude...)
I thought you had a door that would not open? How did you resolve that one?
Tomer
I thought you had a door that would not open? How did you resolve that one?
Tomer
OP
OP
99 R/T 10
Enthusiast
Hey Tom,
same way these poor individuals are going to fix their doors. They will have to take out the seat and then tear out the door panel, (slight damage, but fixable). They will have to use a screw driver, (or some other tool) to get the release latch to actuate to get the door open. Was absolutely no fun and took me about 3 days to accomplish. Hey, are we stil getting together on the 28th?
Mike
same way these poor individuals are going to fix their doors. They will have to take out the seat and then tear out the door panel, (slight damage, but fixable). They will have to use a screw driver, (or some other tool) to get the release latch to actuate to get the door open. Was absolutely no fun and took me about 3 days to accomplish. Hey, are we stil getting together on the 28th?
Mike
Flyng Low
VCA Member
HOW-TO OPEN A 94 VIPER DOOR THAT IS LOCKED/JAMMED CLOSED
Shortly after buying my red '94 Viper (used), I read on the Viper Forum about the convenience of remote door poppers. I also read about problems users had had when they locked the doors manually with the toggle below the inside handles, then (without unlocking) tried to open the door with the popper. After that, the door would not open by any combination of lock position, door handles or poppers. The mirror lights were also on all the time.
The "Help Please" letters were numerous, but no one ever gave an answer on how to get the stuck door back open. That was not important to me until I installed poppers in both doors, then later loaned my Viper to a friend who locked the doors and tried to open the door with the popper. As predicted, the door was now jammed closed and the mirror lights were on. If this happens to you, for this or any reason, here is how you get the door back open. The illustrations are for the passenger door, but just mirror-image them for the driver's door.
PROTECTION: To avoid this problem, I recommend that all owners who have installed door poppers remove the door locking linkage bar to prevent this from happening. I'll have a few photos on this procedure at the end of the paper. But if you didn't and your door is jammed closed, here is the procedure.
DIDN'T WORK: First, these are the things that did not work for me.
a. Despite some kind suggestions from other owners (of newer Vipers?) on the Forum, this was not an alarm problem for my '94 Viper. So disconnecting the battery has no effect.
b. You can slide the black door handle surround toward the rear of the car and remove it. Then take out the rear screw and position the panel so you can remove the rear handle screw. This will allow the door handle mechanism to slide forward and overextend both the locking and opening bars. Unfortunately, this did not open my door.
c. You can carefully work with a small screwdriver and get all five rear screws on the upper door post. Don't bother! The plastic cover panel will not remove because of the two inner bolts, which you can't get to with the door closed. Therefore you cannot get to the three screws at the top rear of the door, and can therefore never fully release the inner door panel.
d. Pulling out the plastic slot cover for the side curtains does not give you access to the inner door. No help!
e. Shooting WD-40 through the door crack into the latched door lock did not help. But don't despair - I got in with the following procedure:
PROCEEDURE FOR OPENING A DOOR THAT IS LOCKED/JAMMED CLOSED AND WON'T OPEN:
1. Open the door on your car that does work so you can use it as a reference to what you are doing by feel to the other door in the following procedure. Take off the inner panel of the good door:
a. Remove two screws in door pull cup.
b. Slide door handle surround to rear to disengage tabs and pull out and off.
c. Remove two screws on handle panel and remove.
d. Remove five screws from back of door post and remove panel.
e. Pry locking tabs open and pull upward on upper seatbelt anchor cover. Use 1/4" alan wrench to remove upper anchor bolt. Remove two bolts and screw inside rear upper door. and slide upper cover up and forward to remove.
f. Remove the three screws and small metal bracket from top rear of door.
g. Remove screw from rear of middle-door seatbelt slot. If there is another screw under that in the door panel, remove that also.
h. Remove two forward screws and four lower screws around carpeted panel.
i. Put a towel on the ground and pull the inner door panel away at the bottom to separate two plastic probes, then raise up to clear top of door.
j. Holding the panel, unwrap the foam around the wire going to the center of the panel (tweeter wire) and unlatch the tab and disconnect. Lower the panel face down onto the towel.
FIGURE: 1DoorExposed
Now we get as close to this as we can with the closed door:
2. Remove the seat to give you better access to the inside door:
a. Sit in the seat and use a small screwdriver to pop the wire off the front lower lip to release the seat lower bucket. Get out of car and remove lower bucket.
b. Take out four bolts to disconnect from seat tracks and lift seat up and out.
3. Remove two screws from door pull cup. Carefully pry cup up and remove.
4. Remove three screws from below carpeted panel. Pull door panel bottom rear away from the door to pop the two rear plastic probes.
5. (Optional to get more room) Insert your hand through the door cup hole with a small flat screwdriver and, with your other hand reaching in from the bottom to help, pop off the rear three "reverse nuts" to separate the rear half of the carpeted section from the upper door. This may not be necessary, but it will relieve the strain on the (expensive) door panel and result in fewer scrapes on your arm.
6. On the good door, use a 15mm socket and ratchet wrench to remove the lower bolt on the seatbelt reel, then do the same on the locked door.
7. On the good door, use a 10mm socket and ratchet wrench to remove the upper four bolts on the seatbelt reel, then pull out the reel. Disengage the tab on the wire socket and remove the attached wire cable to allow the reel to rest on the ground. Then do the same on the locked door by feel.
FIGURE: 2LatchTool
8. Now you need to make a tool to open the door latch from the inside. Don't bother trying to manually actuate any of the rods or tabs to open the latch - it won't work. See the above picture. Take an old screwdriver or scrap rod or metal about 1/4" wide. Bend the end 3/8" up slightly. Then about 4" from the
end, wrap the tool around in a handle shape.
FIGURE: 3ToolUnder
9. Now take the tool and practice on the good door. Use a screw driver in the outer latch to push outward and close the latch with the door open. The above picture shows the latch removed and inverted to show the small tab you are going to push upward. This is for illustration -- you don't need to remove your latch. Look at the picture below to see the position of the tool when the latch is installed and try it on your good door until you find the right tab and tool position. It is in the trough between the latch and the inner door frame. You are inserting the angled tool under one tab, then straightening the tool so the inclined tip is raised to strike the proper tab. Push upward and the latch will be opened and the door will pop open. It doesn't matter if it is locked, moving this tab will open the good door. Relatch the good door and use the tool to open it again until you have the feel of it. Feel the position relationship between your tool and the latch so you can do it blind.
FIGURE: 4ToolPosit (shown for driver’s door)
10. Now do the same by feel on the locked door. Click! It's open and you're in! Remove the door post cover and forward screws (see step 1) to fully remove the formally-locked door inner panel. Reattach the lower carpeted panel back to the upper panel.
NOW THE FIX:
11. The silver rod going to the red retainer on the latch is the door handle pull. Note that the other silver rod you will see attached to your latch toward the bottom is not there. This other rod, with the cloth sleeve around it, is the door lock rod. It should be removed when you install a popper in the door to avoid a known problem that can occur when you attempt to open with the popper a door that has been manually locked. This can jam the door latch so you cannot open the door by any means. The door must be disassembled in the closed position to gain access to the inner latch mechanism. To avoid this, just remove the door lock rod and wire the door lock tab to the unlock position. Remove the latch by taking out three star screws in the outside doorjamb. Then safety wire the tab in the open position as shown in the following picture, by going around the socket tower. This will keep the lever from being flipped by a bump into the lock position.
PHOTO: 5LatchWire
6. Remove the door handle mechanism and put a small screw in the back of the door lock rocker switch to fix it in the locked position (no red showing). In the picture below, the screwdriver points to the small screw I used in mine. I also put the cloth sleeve that came on the locking bar on the door handle bar as an additional rattle prevention.
PHOTO: 6LatchScrew
Hope this helps other new folks, Sincerely, Flying Low
Shortly after buying my red '94 Viper (used), I read on the Viper Forum about the convenience of remote door poppers. I also read about problems users had had when they locked the doors manually with the toggle below the inside handles, then (without unlocking) tried to open the door with the popper. After that, the door would not open by any combination of lock position, door handles or poppers. The mirror lights were also on all the time.
The "Help Please" letters were numerous, but no one ever gave an answer on how to get the stuck door back open. That was not important to me until I installed poppers in both doors, then later loaned my Viper to a friend who locked the doors and tried to open the door with the popper. As predicted, the door was now jammed closed and the mirror lights were on. If this happens to you, for this or any reason, here is how you get the door back open. The illustrations are for the passenger door, but just mirror-image them for the driver's door.
PROTECTION: To avoid this problem, I recommend that all owners who have installed door poppers remove the door locking linkage bar to prevent this from happening. I'll have a few photos on this procedure at the end of the paper. But if you didn't and your door is jammed closed, here is the procedure.
DIDN'T WORK: First, these are the things that did not work for me.
a. Despite some kind suggestions from other owners (of newer Vipers?) on the Forum, this was not an alarm problem for my '94 Viper. So disconnecting the battery has no effect.
b. You can slide the black door handle surround toward the rear of the car and remove it. Then take out the rear screw and position the panel so you can remove the rear handle screw. This will allow the door handle mechanism to slide forward and overextend both the locking and opening bars. Unfortunately, this did not open my door.
c. You can carefully work with a small screwdriver and get all five rear screws on the upper door post. Don't bother! The plastic cover panel will not remove because of the two inner bolts, which you can't get to with the door closed. Therefore you cannot get to the three screws at the top rear of the door, and can therefore never fully release the inner door panel.
d. Pulling out the plastic slot cover for the side curtains does not give you access to the inner door. No help!
e. Shooting WD-40 through the door crack into the latched door lock did not help. But don't despair - I got in with the following procedure:
PROCEEDURE FOR OPENING A DOOR THAT IS LOCKED/JAMMED CLOSED AND WON'T OPEN:
1. Open the door on your car that does work so you can use it as a reference to what you are doing by feel to the other door in the following procedure. Take off the inner panel of the good door:
a. Remove two screws in door pull cup.
b. Slide door handle surround to rear to disengage tabs and pull out and off.
c. Remove two screws on handle panel and remove.
d. Remove five screws from back of door post and remove panel.
e. Pry locking tabs open and pull upward on upper seatbelt anchor cover. Use 1/4" alan wrench to remove upper anchor bolt. Remove two bolts and screw inside rear upper door. and slide upper cover up and forward to remove.
f. Remove the three screws and small metal bracket from top rear of door.
g. Remove screw from rear of middle-door seatbelt slot. If there is another screw under that in the door panel, remove that also.
h. Remove two forward screws and four lower screws around carpeted panel.
i. Put a towel on the ground and pull the inner door panel away at the bottom to separate two plastic probes, then raise up to clear top of door.
j. Holding the panel, unwrap the foam around the wire going to the center of the panel (tweeter wire) and unlatch the tab and disconnect. Lower the panel face down onto the towel.
You must be registered for see images
FIGURE: 1DoorExposed
Now we get as close to this as we can with the closed door:
2. Remove the seat to give you better access to the inside door:
a. Sit in the seat and use a small screwdriver to pop the wire off the front lower lip to release the seat lower bucket. Get out of car and remove lower bucket.
b. Take out four bolts to disconnect from seat tracks and lift seat up and out.
3. Remove two screws from door pull cup. Carefully pry cup up and remove.
4. Remove three screws from below carpeted panel. Pull door panel bottom rear away from the door to pop the two rear plastic probes.
5. (Optional to get more room) Insert your hand through the door cup hole with a small flat screwdriver and, with your other hand reaching in from the bottom to help, pop off the rear three "reverse nuts" to separate the rear half of the carpeted section from the upper door. This may not be necessary, but it will relieve the strain on the (expensive) door panel and result in fewer scrapes on your arm.
6. On the good door, use a 15mm socket and ratchet wrench to remove the lower bolt on the seatbelt reel, then do the same on the locked door.
7. On the good door, use a 10mm socket and ratchet wrench to remove the upper four bolts on the seatbelt reel, then pull out the reel. Disengage the tab on the wire socket and remove the attached wire cable to allow the reel to rest on the ground. Then do the same on the locked door by feel.
You must be registered for see images
FIGURE: 2LatchTool
8. Now you need to make a tool to open the door latch from the inside. Don't bother trying to manually actuate any of the rods or tabs to open the latch - it won't work. See the above picture. Take an old screwdriver or scrap rod or metal about 1/4" wide. Bend the end 3/8" up slightly. Then about 4" from the
end, wrap the tool around in a handle shape.
You must be registered for see images
FIGURE: 3ToolUnder
9. Now take the tool and practice on the good door. Use a screw driver in the outer latch to push outward and close the latch with the door open. The above picture shows the latch removed and inverted to show the small tab you are going to push upward. This is for illustration -- you don't need to remove your latch. Look at the picture below to see the position of the tool when the latch is installed and try it on your good door until you find the right tab and tool position. It is in the trough between the latch and the inner door frame. You are inserting the angled tool under one tab, then straightening the tool so the inclined tip is raised to strike the proper tab. Push upward and the latch will be opened and the door will pop open. It doesn't matter if it is locked, moving this tab will open the good door. Relatch the good door and use the tool to open it again until you have the feel of it. Feel the position relationship between your tool and the latch so you can do it blind.
You must be registered for see images
FIGURE: 4ToolPosit (shown for driver’s door)
10. Now do the same by feel on the locked door. Click! It's open and you're in! Remove the door post cover and forward screws (see step 1) to fully remove the formally-locked door inner panel. Reattach the lower carpeted panel back to the upper panel.
NOW THE FIX:
11. The silver rod going to the red retainer on the latch is the door handle pull. Note that the other silver rod you will see attached to your latch toward the bottom is not there. This other rod, with the cloth sleeve around it, is the door lock rod. It should be removed when you install a popper in the door to avoid a known problem that can occur when you attempt to open with the popper a door that has been manually locked. This can jam the door latch so you cannot open the door by any means. The door must be disassembled in the closed position to gain access to the inner latch mechanism. To avoid this, just remove the door lock rod and wire the door lock tab to the unlock position. Remove the latch by taking out three star screws in the outside doorjamb. Then safety wire the tab in the open position as shown in the following picture, by going around the socket tower. This will keep the lever from being flipped by a bump into the lock position.
You must be registered for see images
PHOTO: 5LatchWire
6. Remove the door handle mechanism and put a small screw in the back of the door lock rocker switch to fix it in the locked position (no red showing). In the picture below, the screwdriver points to the small screw I used in mine. I also put the cloth sleeve that came on the locking bar on the door handle bar as an additional rattle prevention.
You must be registered for see images
PHOTO: 6LatchScrew
Hope this helps other new folks, Sincerely, Flying Low
You must be registered for see images
OP
OP
99 R/T 10
Enthusiast
Flyng Low,
Excellent writeup! Nice detail, The people in need will appreciate your efforts. Are the pictures going to be added later? I did not think that the popper had anythig to do with the failure, but I am going to go back to it and check it out before I install the new interior(work done by GCHDEALER). Thanks,
Mike
Excellent writeup! Nice detail, The people in need will appreciate your efforts. Are the pictures going to be added later? I did not think that the popper had anythig to do with the failure, but I am going to go back to it and check it out before I install the new interior(work done by GCHDEALER). Thanks,
Mike
Flyng Low
VCA Member
Mike, I have provided the pictures to the Forum managers. I hope they will add them to my letter, at least in the How-To section. Or if someone tells me how to do it, I'll add them.
I thought for awhile, when working with the good (open) door that the problem was maybe not popper related, but just bad lubrication. But I could actuate all the inner latch levers on the bad (locked) door and they had no effect on opening the door until I tripped it open with the "magic tab". Then I worked closely with the removed latch. I could not duplicate the problem, but it was not lubrication. I think having the latch locked when the popper pulls on the latch opener causes an internal jam. At that point the locking lever no longer goes full travel to off (until you trip the magic tab). The combination of door locked and popper to open definately jammed my door closed.
The rods are easy to take out, reduce the chance of rattles, and lighten the car. Besides they are silly on a GT/10. I've saved them in case the next owner wants to put them back in.
Curt
I thought for awhile, when working with the good (open) door that the problem was maybe not popper related, but just bad lubrication. But I could actuate all the inner latch levers on the bad (locked) door and they had no effect on opening the door until I tripped it open with the "magic tab". Then I worked closely with the removed latch. I could not duplicate the problem, but it was not lubrication. I think having the latch locked when the popper pulls on the latch opener causes an internal jam. At that point the locking lever no longer goes full travel to off (until you trip the magic tab). The combination of door locked and popper to open definately jammed my door closed.
The rods are easy to take out, reduce the chance of rattles, and lighten the car. Besides they are silly on a GT/10. I've saved them in case the next owner wants to put them back in.
Curt
Flyng Low
VCA Member
My HOW TO OPEN A LOCKED/JAMMED DOOR Procedure above has been updated with pictures. Thanks to the Forum advice on how to add pictures using the Sony www.imagestation.com website. Works great!
Sincerely, Curt
Sincerely, Curt
You must be registered for see images
OP
OP
99 R/T 10
Enthusiast
Nice Job Curt!
phiebert
Enthusiast
Thanks Curt, I'm going to my garage to start on this now...keeping my fingers crossed that it will work!
phiebert
Enthusiast
You should really add this to the Illustrated Upgrades area, that's where I looked first for the problem.
First post bringing back the dead.... Welcome to the club!
Cookieman00x
Enthusiast
Mine is stuck, anyone have the pictures with this?
What pictures do you need? Im not sure if Curt is
still with us, but when imagestation went down it
took most of his stuff with them. If you can be
more specific about the issue youre having im sure
someone will be glad to assist.
still with us, but when imagestation went down it
took most of his stuff with them. If you can be
more specific about the issue youre having im sure
someone will be glad to assist.
