Let's see if anyone else has had this problem.
Lately I've noticed that when opening the door from the inside, the door handle wants to hit on the armrest, not allowing the handle to fully cycle. This in turn will not let the door latch pop open.
With 190,000 miles and god knows how many times the door has been opened/closed, I am positive that the inner workings of my door are worn. I'm guessing there is a spring somewhere that has lost its "springy-ness". There is a spring on the handle itself, then it appears there is a long rod that goes over and makes the latch open.
Anyone else experienced this problem? If so how did you fix it? I plan to dig into it further this weekend and also work on replacing the door lock actuator.
Looks like I will need to drill out the old rivet to remove the actuator and rivet the new one into place.
On my '83 the interior door handle has a bolt that allows it to be removed with the door panel still on the door. I cannot remember if the 87-88 have the same configuration. Anyhow, there is a nut that the bolt goes into is welded to a hinge mechanism that is bolted onto the door. This nut started to break the spot welds and kind of did what you are describing. I took the handle off, removed the door panel, tapped the nut back into place, welded, and then chased the threads with a tap. Fixed the problem.
Darren
I pulled the door panel on my Sport, loosened the bolt that holds the latch (lever assembly) to the door, and pulled the assembly as far forward as possible. Also, check the plastic pieces that the rods all fasten into.
Thanks for the pointers guys.
Darren mine does exactly as you described. If I tighten that bolt all the way, it won't let the door open. If I back it off and it allows the armrest to move, it will open. Maybe the nut has broken loose or something.
Vin I will try that. I was actually looking at it and thinking of doing something like that. I am working today until 2:00 but plan to dig into it later this afternoon.
Let me know what happens. You can also elongate the hole that the bolt goes through a bit and it'll give you a little more adjustment. Just takes a couple of minutes.
I did work on this Saturday afternoon some. I loosened the bolt and it did move forward a tad. I have yet to get the door panel back on to test it because I have been on a wild goose chase trying to find a rivet big enough to hold my door actuator in place.
I think I've decided to go with a 1/4 carriage bolt with a lock washer on it. That way if it goes out again, I can change it easier than drilling out a rivet. I was mad at myself because when I was drilling out the original rivet, the bit slipped and caused a scratch. At least its on the inside of the doorjamb and not noticable normally, but it still erks me to no end when I scratch the paint.
Got the door back together. Ended up using the 1/4" bolt as described above to hold in the new(to me) actuator.
I ended up getting a file and elongating the hole on the door handle mounting surface. This allowed me to move the whole thing forward just enough for everything to work fine now.