Well this is quite possibly the worst situation to be in but the passenger side latch is stuck and will not spring open. I managed to get the door pannel off and spray some WD40 inside on the assembly. The lock works and both the inside handle and outside handle mechanisms work, the latch just will not spring free of the striker. I can't seem to see a spot where I can access the latch to flip it open from inside the door pannel.....anyone ever have this issue? Think I'd rather rebuild a valvetrain then work on this one!!! Oh ya, and the door is stuck closed of course.

 

I don't know if I had the same problem as you are having. My passenger door handle would not open on the inside only. After I looked at for some time, I noticed that part of the inside latch was not under the piece of metal that allows the door latch to open an release from the pin on the door frame. I had to bend that piece of metal back towards me to make the connection. This seemed to fix the problem

 

The parts catalog illustration shows all the door latch and door lock cylinder parts in great detail, just the picture you need. Section 200 / page 17.

There are two rods that feed to the latch: one from the inside door handle, the other from the door lock ****. Both these rods are held to the latch by plastic clips. Similar clips are available from NAPA in the HELP section.

The latch itself has a replaceable coil spring inside it.

Why your door won't open.

1) Does the door handle button spring back out after you push it in? Behind the push button is a small coil spring. If the button won't pop back out, the spring has broken. If the spring has broken, the door button is useless.

2) The most likely scenario: The door striker is out of adjustment. This causes the latch to bind up.

Try these tricks to get the striker to release the latch: Push in on the door while you hold the door handle button in, then try opening it / While holding the door handle button in...use the handle to lift the door up...then try opening it / Try the same thing, except use the handle to pull the door down...then try opening it.

3) Either one of those plastic clips has broken (that was a very common occurance once), or the spring inside the latch has broken.

4) Another factor: The right door latch doesn't see anywhere near the amount of use that the left door latch does, so it doesn't get lubed as often, or ever.

 

I will try that and see what happens......meanwhile is there a copy of the parts catalogue on line that I could see a picture? I have the shop manual but it only shows it from the outside assuming the door is open...