H3 Passenger rear door

[lowtrac]

I bought a 2006 H3 last week. I have a couple of problems, but the most irritating at this point (followed closely by non-working key fobs) is the passenger rear door will not open. I can hear the actuator moving in the door when the lock/unlock is pressed. Nothing happens when you pull the handles, inside or outside. I can see a little bit of the mechanism between the door panel and the rear interior trim panel but not sure if I can get anything in there to push on the latch. Any ideas? Is it possible to get the door panel off with the door closed?

 

[JPaul]

I just looked at mine and I don't think you'll be able to remove the interior panel, though it *might* be possible. You'll probably have to remove the bottom seat on that side to give yourself more room, or at least fold just the bottom half of the seat down, and then hope you can flex the panel enough to get it out. There is a screw at the inside door handle (you'll see the cover) and a couple more behind the trim piece on the grab handle (you can pry that up using a thin flathead screwdriver or table knife). The rest of it are snaps that *should* break before the panel does, and those are replaceable for cheap. But I wouldn't be surprised if you end up breaking it in the process. If it's really that bad that might just be what you have to do, rip the panel off and just replace it afterwards.

Is it just not unlocking? The inside manual lock should still work, it'd have to have gotten really buggered up for that to not work. And unless the child lock is engaged, I'm pretty sure the door should open from the inside even if it's locked, it will unlock when you pull on the inside door handle.

 

[lowtrac]

I just looked at mine and I don't think you'll be able to remove the interior panel, though it *might* be possible. You'll probably have to remove the bottom seat on that side to give yourself more room, or at least fold just the bottom half of the seat down, and then hope you can flex the panel enough to get it out. There is a screw at the inside door handle (you'll see the cover) and a couple more behind the trim piece on the grab handle (you can pry that up using a thin flathead screwdriver or table knife). The rest of it are snaps that *should* break before the panel does, and those are replaceable for cheap. But I wouldn't be surprised if you end up breaking it in the process. If it's really that bad that might just be what you have to do, rip the panel off and just replace it afterwards.

Is it just not unlocking? The inside manual lock should still work, it'd have to have gotten really buggered up for that to not work. And unless the child lock is engaged, I'm pretty sure the door should open from the inside even if it's locked, it will unlock when you pull on the inside door handle.

The inside manual lock button is hosed up too. It's pulled or pivoted farther out than the normal unlocked position and it won't go back down, even when the doors are locked. I think either the lock mechanism is messed up or it's something with the cables and associated brackets. The problem is getting to either of them. I'm thinking I may be able to remove the rear interior trim panel and the lower interior B pillar trim and that may provide enough clearance to get the panel off.

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[4speedfunk]

Slim Jim it (hook the exterior latch between the glass and the weatherstrip). Then you can open it and do the typical door panel removal work.

Ask a cop...they usually have slim jims in their cruisers.


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[lowtrac]

I used to have one. Don't know if I can find it. It's worth a shot before going to a locksmith. I've got a Harbor Freight nearby so they might have one if I can't find mine.

 

[lowtrac]

Progress being made!

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[JPaul]

How did you end up opening it?

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[lowtrac]

I pulled the screws from behind the door handle and door pull and was able to "peel" the top of the panel out of the weatherstrip channel. That allowed enough room to get my hand back there and pull the unlock cable. The plastic ends of the cables had popped out of their keepers which I think was the root cause of the problem. I sprayed some WD-40 down the cable before putting it back together. It's a little finicky to lock now. It works fine with the switch on the door but sometimes doesn't pull hard enough when using the power locks to actually lock. I'm so happy to have the door open so that's a problem for another day. Maybe there's a way to adjust the cable length?


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[rsc]

I had the same problem with mine years ago. Yep, the door panel can still be popped off with the door shut. Thank goodness. You may have to get a cable greaser from a motorcycle shop to properly lube the cables. I doubt that they have had enough force on them to have stretched.

 

[lowtrac]

I'm now thinking it may be a weak actuator. The lock switch on the door operates normally after putting the door back together. The problem now is with the power locks. That door will unlock fine, but when you lock it it's a 50/50 chance of actually locking. I've found that if I hit the lock button twice it'll lock like it's supposed to. The first press moves the interior lock switch about half way, then the second press pulls it the rest of the way. I'm not too worried about it at this point since I can actually lock the door without walking to the other side to press the button.