Driver door will not unlock/cannot open.

[rnacion]

Hey all,

I've been a member on this forum for a while and although I have not posted I have found it to be a great resource for my 4runner. For most issues I've had with my 4runner I've been able to find a thread on the topic until now. I've tried the search function for my problem and apologize in advance if I've overlooked a solution. Now on to my issue.

Last week my driver door lock started acting up, it did not unlock with the other doors when put into park but worked with the rocker switch, key fob (sometimes after 2 tries), the electrical power lock rocker, and the key. I found a thread on here that stated that it was likely a programming/electrical problem related to the actuator. Since I was still able to unlock the door by other means I decided I would take a look in the door over the weekend and troubleshoot the problem as indicated in other threads.

Here's the big problem, last Friday the door stopped unlocking entirely. The power lock rocker switch and key fob do not work, the key will not turn to unlock, the manual rocker will not move to the unlock position and all unlock features both manual and automatic work just fine. This leads me to believe that this is the result of a mechanical problem of some sort as I can hear the driver actuator initiating (I know this may still indicate a damaged actuator).

I am mechanically capable, and would very much like to avoid the cost of the dealership inspection to tell me I'll need to shell out an arm and a leg to fix the problem. I am pretty sure i can at least unlock the door manually if i can just get the door panel off which is currently what is holding me back. What I would like to know is if anyone has any suggestions as to how to tackle this problem. Is there a way to open this door, or remove the door panel in its current state?

I had a tow truck driver try to unlock it the old school way with a slim Jim with no success. He said that it rarely is possible with newer vehicles, and that he would normally separate the door from frame and use a rod to press the auto unlock button which in this case is useless. Has anyone had luck with a Jim being used to manually unlock their door? If so I may try another unlock service.

Thanks in advance for any guidance, and if any more information on my end is needed please let me know.

 

[oljedi11950]

OP using BrianSD suggestion & go above to goggle search bar punch n 4th gen door lock many answers hope it helps you , had to this on lexus is300 kinda of a *****

 

[rnacion]

OP using BrianSD suggestion & go above to goggle search bar punch n 4th gen door lock many answers hope it helps you , had to this on lexus is300 kinda of a *****

Thanks for the input, although I'm not sure what the term OP means. Ive reviewed a lot of the produced threads and they all seem like they would be very helpful if i could get the door open. Could I ask how you got the door of the is300 open?

 

[oljedi11950]

Man it was a ***** ! From inside managed to peel inside cover back enough to get in the armrest popped the 4 way switch open & unscrewed that off , crap , just go to is forum & do search N basic maint. sect. I'll just end up confusing you more ! It shows the whole actuator & how panel comes off sorry , I'm surprised someone in audio hasn't jumped in there used to be pics there ?

 

[oljedi11950]

Maybe Blackworksinc can chime in & tell us how dealerships do it , gotta be major hassle !!

 

[oljedi11950]

Trying to run some info down here curiously nother frozen norther alexatwork21 posted in audio about breakdown so ......

 

[BlackWorksInc]

Ooh.. I've had to do a fair share of door panels with the door closed, most of them being rear hatch doors honestly. That was still a pain to do no matter what, and in this case you won't be able to remove the door panel without opening the door because of two clips that are covered up by the frame and dash.

You're best bet is going to be to try and get the inner door handle off and try to force the operating rod of the locking mechanism to the open position (you may need to use pliers from the sound of it.)

It sounds like somehow the lock actuator assembly has siezed up in the locked position, this is going to be impossible to take care of without opening the door, and to do that is going to be difficult. (I think now I know why we had that brand new Camry with a giant hole cut into the outer door panel...and don't do that...)

 

[rnacion]

Thanks for the input guys. So this weekend I'm gonna give it shot, I'm getting real sick of climbing through the passenger side. I'm spent a minute in the car today pulling the top of the door panel away, and found I can just barely see the two rods leading to the door handle and manual lock rocker. I am wondering if the lock rod is number 13 or 14 in the following diagram. Also am I right in assuming that forcing it towards the rear of the vehicle will move to the unlock position?

In terms of a replacement actuator motor, does anyone know if the same part is used for the 2005+ Tacomas? I ask because there is someone locally parting one out.

BlackWorksInc, do you mean to remove the handle itself or is there a section of the panel that separates at the handle (other than the screw cover).


Thanks again for the help.

 

[BlackWorksInc]

Ah, that's going to be a bit of a pain, it looks like the 4th gens use a sheathed cable instead of a rod which will make it more difficult. I forget the door handle set-up on the 4Runners. Most of them have a little plastic cover that goes over the actual inner door assembly and removing it lets you get at the cables a little easier.

 

[drapaki]

wow, this sounds like a real pain! rnacion, how many miles are on your truck?

I wonder if this is going to be a common problem as our trucks get older. if so, i'm thinking that either I'll replace the actuator next time I open the panel, or figure out some way of a back-up plan to get the door unlocked. like a wire or string sticking out that I could yank on to get it unlocked.

please take picutres and let us know how to get around this! it'll really help the forum out!

 

[rnacion]

Hey all, so I just wanted to say that I have remedied this problem for now. drapaki, my 4Runner has about 120 000 miles on it, it's a Canadian with just over 200 000 kms. I was in a bit of a rush to do this and did not take the best pictures unfortunately, but the process seems fairly straight forward.

These are the tools I used:

I started by wanting to get a better understanding of the lock mechanism and system set up behind the door panel so I decided to take of the passenger side and have a look. I did not document this process since SamNavy has already done a great job of that in this thread: http://www.toyota-4runner.org/engin...-idiots-guide-door-panel-removal-4th-gen.html

Upon examining I found that like BlackWorksInc pointed out the lock actuator connects to the rocker switch with a sheathed cable. (The following is the driver side)

The top wire, with the white tip, is the one that controls the lock, and I knew this was the one that I would need to get at. I also found that unlocking the lock extended the wire, and locking retracted it meaning once I got to the driver side I would have to pull the wire ball out from the sheathing.

I buttoned the door panel back up and moved over to the driver side. There was no access to the wires from behind the door handle section of the door panel so the only way to access it would be to pry the top of the door panel away as much as I could. I began by removing the two door panel screws (behind removable arm rest, and behind door handle plate) and triangle piece at the side view mirror. I then gave the panel a light tug from the handle (not door handle) running along the window controls to loosen any clips in the area. I then rolled down the window and started to pull the top of the door panel away. I found that it was much easier to start at the side closest to the rear end and pull the panel up and away from the door. You'll be able to see the metal overhang that the panel uses to grip onto the door. A flathead screwdriver helps to get this started.

Continue to pull the panel up and away from the door moving towards the front end of the vehicle side, until you can see this:

In this picture I had already removed the lock wire which is why you do not see it but it was just above the green tipped one for the handle.

At this point I had an extra pair of hands keep the door panel separated from the door to make this a bit easier, be careful not to put too much pressure on it. Use a long flat head screwdriver to remove white plastic wire holder from its position by pushing it away from the door panel. Once it is free reach in and maneuver the ball on the end out of its position, refer to the picture above for a reference since you will not be able to see what you're doing. Once it is free pull the wire up like so:

I then used the vice grip and pliers to pull the wire out of the sheathing which manually unlocked the door. It took quite a bit of force which I'm assuming is because the actuator mechanism was stuck in the lock position, the manual rocker switch was not able to provide enough force to pull the wire out.

Once this was done I was able to FINALLY open the door and remove the door panel to take a look. I was strapped for time so I wasn't able to remove my actuator to inspect/repair at this time so I went with a bit more temporary of a fix. I unplugged the power leading to the actuator itself, I forgot to take a picture of this plug, but it is hard to mistake it for anything else. It is a white plug, and the actuator is mounted directly behind it. I then sloppily taped the plug like so, to the foam so that it didn't interfere with the door panel fitment at all:

After this all that needs to be done is reattaching the lock cable to the back of the door panel, reinstall the door panel, and voila! If you are reading this because this situation directly applies to you give yourself a pat on the back, and be thankful you no longer have to climb over the centre console whenever entering/exiting your 4Runner.

Removing the plug to the driver side actuator does not affect the functionality of any other doors. All electronic methods of locking/unlocking work just fine on the 3 other doors, and rear hatch. The driver side door will only work by key and manual rocker switch.

When I have another chance to spend some time on this I'll have to take out the actuator and have a look to see if I can repair it or just have to replace it. Either way, I believe there is already some guidance on those matters posted in this forum.

NOTE: If you decide to do as I have done and leave the actuator unplugged, and use your key fob to lock all of the other doors when exiting be sure to unlock your vehicle first with the key fob before manually unlocking and opening the driver side door. If you do not you will set off your alarm every time you open your door, I've done this three times already.

Thanks for the advice guys, hope this little write up might help someone out some day.

 

[BlackWorksInc]

Awesome job! Glad you figured it out, was a little worried there. Did you get the chance to check the operation of the cable when you disconnected it from the actuator? I ask because I have seen in older vehicles the cables seizing inside of the sheath causing them to be difficult to pull (mostly things like trunk release cables, and gas door cables that don't get much use) and wonder if that could have been enough to either burn out the actuator or just be enough resistance that it couldn't pull on it.

 

[sosari]

Following Macion's instructions I was able to open my door and removed the panels.. I closed the door http://www.tamemymind.com/blog/images2007/smiley-bangheadonwall.gif without the door panels installed yet (I had to go to the mens room) and when I came back I tried opening the door again to inspect the actuator but the door just didnt open. Problem now is it wont open with or with out the power connector installed...
Any advice on how to make the actuator open the d:thanksor?

 

[BlackWorksInc]

Maybe Blackworksinc can chime in & tell us how dealerships do it , gotta be major hassle !!

We cut the entire door off and bill you.

Joking aside, I'd probably do similar to what the OP. In the event that we couldn't pop the door via the cable, I'd probably have to do some tricky stuff to try and get the door panel off enough to get at the actuator and manual pop the door that way. Worst case we'd explain to the customer that the door panel most likely will be damaged and it may require replacement as part of the repair.

This is assuming worst case, cable and/or actuator is so seized we have to break it apart to get the door open, which means getting the door panel off with the door closed, or at least enough of it off to get at the actuator. I haven't had to do that yet on a 4Runner, but I've had some moments where I didn't think the door panel would make it.

That being said, we had one '12 Camry that came in with the majority of the outer door skin cut out. Now I never did find out why the outer door skin had be sliced off (wasn't at the spot welds like you'd do for a body repair, looked like someone just took a jigsaw to it, poorly I might add...) but I guess that's another way to get your door unlocked?

 

[chrisrollins]

Door lock repair to 1995 model - replace spring

I disassembled the door today and found a broken spring, $0.70 at Ace Hardware. This spring returns a sliding bracket to the neutral position after the outside handle is lifted, otherwise the plastic lock will only raise with extreme difficulty (I was using a Leatherman the last 15 hours to get out from the driver's side instead of the passenger's - was not sure how long that tactic would last).

Sorry if this thread is for post 1995 models, but this is the closest I found googling the problem an hour ago before I took the door apart - hope this helps others.

 

[ben550]

Does anyone know the part number for the white sheath for the top wire in this picture? Mine is broken where the threads start. The lock functions lock and unlocks but the indicator does not go back and forth on the interior of the car. any idea where i can order this plastic part from and if i can replace it without replacing the cable too? Thanks.

 

[ben550]

Found it.

 

[BlackWorksInc]

You have to replace the entire cable, we don't sell the sheath separate, but they aren't that hard to do.

 

[riceandpho]

Have you try to use some kind of glue to just hold it in place. Try some jb stick, then some epoxy.

 

[preacher35]

Found it.

Hey, [MENTION=98419]ben550[/MENTION], here's one on eBay for $23.00:

TOYOTA OEM 03-09 4Runner Front Door-Lock Cable Left 6975035010