97 f150 third door
 

my third door will not open you can pull the handel up but it does not unlatch is this a cable system or a rod system. how do you pull the door panel off to fix this problem.

Looks like some of both. Photo courtesy of Ford Tech Resources.
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a1...rlatchassy.gif
Item Part Number Description
1 — Upper Rear Door Latch
2 — Inside Rear Door Handle
3 — Rear Door Inside Handle Remote Control
4 — Rear Door Latch Remote Control
5 — Lower Rear Door Latch
6 — Outside Rear Door Handle

Just took mine apart. My cable broke. It is really a lame design. Puts a lot of pressure on the cast plastic end of the cable case. I'll try to find a new one or rig the old one to work. Let us know if you got the same thing and a solution.

I'm having the same problem. The upper latch will not release. As far as taking it apart, how do you do that. Mine looks like outside door latch is riveded. Just drill out or grind the off or what? I dont see anyway to remove the inside latch. How do you get the upper latch to release to open the door?

I removed the door panel from the back seat with no problems. Peel back the plastic vapor barrier and everything is right there attached to the inside door release.

If you need to get the door open, pull on the end of the cable while pulling on one of the door releases.

All I had to do was put the cable back in it's holder and it's lasted 10+ openings. I put the panel back on and haven't worried about it. If it falls out again I'll probably zip tie it in or something. Can't justify buying the $50+ latch assembly because an itty piece of plastic broke off the end of a cable.

Thank you for this. I just read this and fixed mine in 20 minute's.It was just how you said, it came out of the holder so i put it back in and used 2 zip tie's to hold it in place.
I know this is an old thread but maybe it will help someone like myself in the future.:-jammin

Well my has broke again.
Ford did not do a very good job on this design.
Norm

Access top latch/Cable fell off completely....
 

Just had the same problem on my 2000.....

How do you access the top latch when the cable came off completely?

Both top and bottom latch need to be fixed. I can access the bottom real easily however can't figure out the top.

I have tried a clothes hanger up to the latch and am litterally fishing to hook on something to pull.

Any Help Please......

oh wow, i don't know how to get to the top latch.

Maybe somebody here will chime in and let us know.

Yeah, I can't figure it out. I see a scree under the weather strip but I suspect that if I loosen it up and it falls down and out the door, I see NO WAY of getting it back up into the door.

Just trying to figure out how the latch is configured in there so I know what area to fish at with the clothes hanger.....