Rick Potter
02-18-2011, 11:52 AM
A friend was visiting next door, and came over to ask for help getting into her car, which was locked. The remote button clicked, but didn't open the door. The key clicked the lock, but didn't open the door. The door handle on the other side was broken off...it was plastic (99 Chrysler Sebring, but the door lock said Mitsubishi).
After trying the same things she had tried, plus putting pressure on the door to possibly take the strain off the opener, I finally called the Auto Club. They came out quickly and instead of a slim jim, they put a tiny air bag between the window and frame which gave them some wiggle room to run a probe in the window to actually hook the handle from the inside, which worked. Pretty neat, and I had never seen this before.
After he left, advising us there was probably some linkage in the door which had come loose, we tried the door with the window down. There was just no way she could shut the door unless she left the window down to get in. Now, this lady recently kicked out an abusive husband, and is almost destitute, so naturally my hero complex kicked in, and I said I would try to fix it.
I spent about two hours removing the door panel, checking wiring, looking for loose linkage, and finding nothing but a few cracked plastic parts. It turns out the outside key actuates the electric lock mechanism. My hands were not small enough to get the actual lock off, but it was obvious someone had worked on it before as two of the three screws that held it on were missing. Unbelievably, it was not loose.
Anyway I had no luck, and the lady still had no way to close her car door without the window down, and heavy rains are expected today. Finally we get to the hall of fame entry.
I took a length of strong cord, made a loop that would not slip off the inside door handle, snaked it into the trunk, and (woodworking part) drilled a hole through a dowell for a handle. Now she can open the trunk, pull the cord, and get into the car.
She is overjoyed it works. I am ashamed to have not been able to fix it right. I doubt that it will ever be fixed correctly.
Rick Potter
After trying the same things she had tried, plus putting pressure on the door to possibly take the strain off the opener, I finally called the Auto Club. They came out quickly and instead of a slim jim, they put a tiny air bag between the window and frame which gave them some wiggle room to run a probe in the window to actually hook the handle from the inside, which worked. Pretty neat, and I had never seen this before.
After he left, advising us there was probably some linkage in the door which had come loose, we tried the door with the window down. There was just no way she could shut the door unless she left the window down to get in. Now, this lady recently kicked out an abusive husband, and is almost destitute, so naturally my hero complex kicked in, and I said I would try to fix it.
I spent about two hours removing the door panel, checking wiring, looking for loose linkage, and finding nothing but a few cracked plastic parts. It turns out the outside key actuates the electric lock mechanism. My hands were not small enough to get the actual lock off, but it was obvious someone had worked on it before as two of the three screws that held it on were missing. Unbelievably, it was not loose.
Anyway I had no luck, and the lady still had no way to close her car door without the window down, and heavy rains are expected today. Finally we get to the hall of fame entry.
I took a length of strong cord, made a loop that would not slip off the inside door handle, snaked it into the trunk, and (woodworking part) drilled a hole through a dowell for a handle. Now she can open the trunk, pull the cord, and get into the car.
She is overjoyed it works. I am ashamed to have not been able to fix it right. I doubt that it will ever be fixed correctly.
Rick Potter