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Howdy,
So it appears that something in my driver side door lock has become disconnected/misaligned or has broken. When I try to unlock the door the key will not turn to unlock, will turn to lock. The key pad will not unlock I can here the auto-lock attempting to lock/unlock. The pull lock will easily lock but will not unlock. They only way I can get the door unlocked/open is to open the passenger side door and reach across. The inside handle is also more stiff/resistance not as smooth. I took the door panel off and looked inside to try and fix it but was unable. It looks like I'm going to have to remove the assembly, so
Has anyone done this?
How difficult was it?
Does the window need to come out too?
About how long did it take?
Is there a "special" tool that is needed/can't be completed without?
Well thanks to YouTube, and a little further investigation, it looks like there's a broken assist spring in the lock mechanism. Though the videos show this repair being a "simple n easy" repair, mostly cause their spring just 'fell out' of the latch mine appears to be held in place (end broken off). S it looks like this 4th of July I'll be removing the lock assembly from the door, this will hopefully be better than last year, rolled mt 06 Ranger. It also appears that replacing the outside driver side door handle is also in my future.
Success!! Well till Friday/Saturday at least.
What had had happened was, the door unlock assist spring broke (photos) and was dangling within the door latch mechanism. With the spring broken it was impossible to unlock the door either with the key, with the electronic unlock or even the pull ****, the ONLY way to open the door was with the inside door handle, and with the spring in the mechanism this made it tough to open. Got the door apart and the mechanism loose within the door so I could extract the spring. Got the mechanism back in place but without the spring was still unable to unlock but was able to bend the broken end and get it back where FORD intended it, though not in factory configuration. Now along with the failure of the assist spring the outside door handle springs also failed so not it flaps and rattles, well got a new one on the way, should be here Friday, and by that time I'll have a replacement spring so one more time inside the door to complete this repair.
Broken spring end hanging in the door latch mechanism.
Stock location of the unlock assist spring. I believe it runs along the inside of the latch mechanism down to an attachment point on the unlock arm. New spring will run along the outside.
Door unlock assist spring after removed from the latch.
