BAY68_347

Hey everyone,
I have had a long time problem with the passenger door latch... Basically you had to pull it up once, lower it and pull it up again to open the door. If you are familiar with the outside of the latch, you know there are three screws that should hold it in place. Mine was missing the lower two screws so I thought maybe if I put screws in the lower two spots, it would solve my problems. Nope, instead, I got the door stuck closed and had to remove the inner panel, get my arm in there and trip the latch. Now, the door will only open if I do just that... manually stick my hand in there and trip the latch. I have determined that it seems to be the very last "connection", where a part slides down and hits a little tiny lever to open the latch, but in my case, just slides right over that little part and skips, failing to open the door.

I have never taken my latch out, so I am afraid to do so if it is difficult to get everything back in working order. But if the little lever is shot, as seems to be the case, I obviously need to do something to get it fixed. So do I need to replace the whole latch mechanism or should I take the latch out and somehow rebuild it? I couldnt feel any screws that were loose or anything in there, it seems like everything is riveted together, leading me to think that the latch is just worn out and needs to be replaced. If that is the case, are there special tools that are required? Or does anyone know of any good tech site that can walk me through the process, preferably with pics. I wasnt able to find very many good diagrams in the shop manual. Bummer.

I am such an idiot. Now I cant really take my wife out on a "Mothers Day cruise" tonight. Damn. Thanks for your help, fellas (& ladies, if you're out there!)
Cheers.

The Ultimate Ford Info Guy

wrong illustration

The Ultimate Ford Info Guy

It's not too bad but can be hard on the skin reaching into to do up the rod keepers ;(

what ever you do don't clean off all the crud in the latch mechanism or the lock plunger will never stay up.

Tomrob77

i have had the same problem on mine, It hasnt not opened recently but when it does, I put the lock in the down(locked) position and open up the handle on the inside a few time up and down, the open the lock and it usually works fine.

BAY68_347

Thanks guys,
I appreciate your help.
I took the latch out yesterday and tried to salvage it. It's done, too worn and loose to make it work. I'll be picking up a new one tomorrow and getting it in there, hopefully without any trouble fitting. I suppose there is a certain type of grease that I should bathe the latch in... I'll figure it out. Thanks again.


Oh and in case anyone is reading this thread down the road, a helpful tip I got to remove the little clips on the rods, I used a small 1/8" flat screwdriver to pop the clips free. Made it painless and quick.

Also I took a small digital camera and stuck it in there, took a bunch of photos and spent some time getting familiar with them on my computer so I had a better idea of what I was feeling when I had my arm buried in there, trying to find what I was looking for.