What's Inside: Door Lock & Latch

[usury]

Prelude
Have you ever taken anything apart and wished you had taken better notes or photos? I have.

This post is part of a continuing series of posts that detail the internal construction of various things. This is not intended to be step-by-step instructions for repair/removal/disassembly/etc. Rather, I hope this post (and future posts) can serve as a reference for people who would like visual clues in making their own repairs.



See Also...
What's Inside: Door Handles
Window Channel Tab and Door Skin Crack



Left Side (Driver's US) Door
I never had the door latch mechanism apart (I'm the second owner since 1999). I believe this was the first time any of the door latch/handle stuff was apart since Germany.

Driver's Door Lock/Latch

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Door Lock Motor
Behind the door lock motor is another black plate that probably makes "slim-jim" style door lock attacks slightly more difficult. I don't have separate photos of its removal, though it is straight forward.

The ball end of the nylon rod (that connects the power lock motor to the door latch mechanism) has a small clip that helps keep the ball end secured on its ball. That clip is known to fail and break away, which has happened here. If the nylon rod falls off its ball, the lock/unlock functionality also fails, naturally.

This nylon rod does not have distinct left/right part numbers.
left or right pn: 944-537-511-00-M100

Door Lock Motor 01

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Door Lock Motor 02

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Door Latch Block

Door Latch Block

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Aft Window Channel
It should not be possible to remove the aft window channel quite so easily. The part circled in green is supposed to stay attached to the door. It is held on with two spot welds, both of which had failed on mine. For better photos of that part, and more information, see Window Channel Tab and Door Skin Crack.

There is a fastener that secures the black window channel to the part circled in green (and another one at the bottom of the channel, not shown). It may be possible to remove that fastener without removing the window. But removing the window is easy. Consider avoiding the hassle and just get it out of the way.

Aft Window Channel

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Door Interior 01
The (very dirty) nylon part circled in purple has a separate left/right part number. I'm not sure which is which.
477-837-505-A-OEM
477-837-506-A-OEM

The black plastic part circled in orange is called the "Door Latch Socket". It does not have distinct left/right part numbers.
Left or Right pn: 999-168-004-40-OEM

Door Interior 01

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Door Interior 02
A slightly different perspective.

Door Interior 02

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Door Handle Removal

Door Handle Removal

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Interior Door Pull

Interior Door Pull

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Complete Door Latch and Handle, Exploded

Complete Door Latch and Handle, Exploded

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[danmartinic]

My door handle is not "springing back" very well these days... often sticks in open position & have to nudge it back.

Is there a simple lubrication or cleaning fix? Is it tricky to remove the handle?

[danmartinic]

I imagine I can get to this spring and lubricate it?

Do I have to remove the door panel to get to this or is there a way from the outside?

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[Seagrams]

I imagine I can get to this spring and lubricate it?

Do I have to remove the door panel to get to this or is there a way from the outside?



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You can easily get to that mechanism without removing the door card. There is a screw on the side of the door in alignment with the door handle that holds it in place, after removing that you can slide the handle either forwards or backwards (I forget) and pull the handle outwards (it will look like the picture usury posted titled "Door Handle Removal").

I spray cleaning solvent and lithium grease this way every once in awhile to keep the handles easy to open.

[danmartinic]

Just what I wanted to hear... thank you!

[notny41]

@usury I have a few questions for you:

1. Do you need to pull the door card to get the latch mechanism held on by the two allen bolts out? I want to deep clean mine.

2. If you have the door card removed, can you also attach the two plastic linkage connectors more easily than doing it by prying on the outside hole in the door trying to snap them on? all of the instructions i’ve read say to do the pry-with-a-screwdriver method. I feel like I am destroying the door sheet metal when I’m doing that. (see picture below)

3. If after adjusting the little plastic ball joint connector you seem to be running out of threads and still need more extension, could a person bend that linkage rod to extend it a little?

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[notny41]

got the door panel off and discovered the same thing on my aft window channel. at first i saw the hole in the door and thought i was missing a screw there or something.


Here’s the little hole (you can see the little silver piece hiding back there behind the hole):

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and here’s what it looks like more from the top of the door:

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I wonder if a person could drill it out and pop-rivet it back into place?

[notny41]

my latch mech was just absolutely disgusting. all the dark stuff is dried, dirt-filled, sticky grease.

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[notny41]

after letting it soak in berrymans and scrubbing a couple times:

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I ended up just tossing the toothbrush i was using to scrub this thing because it was just black and greasy…

[usury]

Looks like you made a lot of fantastic progress!

You'll find the door latch works so much more smoothly after cleaning and applying fresh lubricant. The door handle trigger ought to be effortless, and the door itself should latch with a satisfying click.

You mentioned running out of threads when adjusting the trigger throw. It's possible the metal arm attached to the door handle got distorted over the years. In that case, gently straightening it ought to be fine.

Riveting the broken spot weld might work. As long as there is clearance between the back side of the rivet and the glass as it moves up and down, you'll probably be fine. Make certain the other spot weld is still intact, though. Whatever stress caused the first spot weld to fail has been handled exclusively by the second spot weld. If there's room to rivet the other spot weld, too, that's a good idea.

Or find a buddy with a 110V MIG welder, flux core is just fine. It needs a couple zaps and it's good for another couple decades.