97 doors stuck closed
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From: Bedford Texas
97 doors stuck closed
Got a 97 explorer and both the rear doors are stuck closed. I have the parts to fix them, but i gotta get the doors open first. Is there any way to get them open without taking the doors off the hinges? I cannot pull the door panel with the doors shut and I have no other way to get to the opening mechanism. Thanks in advance guys.
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Joined: Dec 2003
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From: pacific northwest
I have a '96 and will take a look at my back door panels. Someone else had a problem with a stuck closed driver's door and the panels look like they will come off even when shut. What is preventing the rear door panels from coming off when closed?
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From: Bedford Texas
Yeah, i read the post on the front door being stuck, but there just is not a way to get the door panel off with the rear bench seat in the way. There is room to work around the driver seat, but that back seat is too close to the door and covers too much area. I dont stand a chance of removing the rear seat either, so the only solution I see is to pull the hinges. I dont really have a problem with that, I just wanted to see if anyone had a quicker, easier solution.
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From: pacific northwest
My wife just got home with our Explorer and I went out to look at it. You are right the area is tighter between the seats and the door panel at the rear than the front... but the clearance seems it is still possible. The panels only need to come out about 3/4 of an inch, maybe a little less, to come off. Using those cheap trim tools from Harborfreight make the job easier. I am not sure I understand how you can get to the hinges... and then how do you get the door to pull away from the latch? I think I would try getting the panels off first... but then again I am not the expert. Just my thought.
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I had this exact same problem.
You can get the door panels off with the door shut. One of those door panel removal tools will help a lot. Its been over a year or so, but I do remember getting the bottom and sides of the door panel loose, but had trouble with the top part. I ended up pulling them off towards the inside of the car or something like that, thought I was going to break them but it turned out ok.
Then, once you get the door panel off, you get to have fun wrestling with the latch mechanism to open the door. Took a few minutes but it worked.
Picked up a latch from the auto wrecker and sprayed lots of oil into it. The original one failed because it rusted and a tiny spring inside had failed.
Hope this helps.
Then, once you get the door panel off, you get to have fun wrestling with the latch mechanism to open the door. Took a few minutes but it worked.
Picked up a latch from the auto wrecker and sprayed lots of oil into it. The original one failed because it rusted and a tiny spring inside had failed.
Hope this helps.
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