Mazda 323 GTX's driver door broken shut?

"MarquetteLa" (marquettela) 01/05/2015 at 11:20 • Filed to: marqgtx, mazda, 323gtx

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Hi, folks. Hoping to get some hivemind help this morning.

Went out to the GTX this morning to go to work and the driver door wasn't opening. Thinking it was frozen shut, I tried the passenger door, got it to open without any trouble, then slid over to the driver's seat. The driver's door wasn't opening from the inside, either. Then I noticed the door lock wasn't entirely up. I pulled on the lock (these locks have always been hard for me to operate by pulling up on them — I normally use the key) and it seemed to move up a bit, but I don't think it's in the fully unlocked position, but I can't pull it up any further. Using the key on the outside of the door will lower the lock, but it won't raise the lock.

While inside the car, it sounds like the door handle is moving components inside the door, and it sounds very much like the passenger door doing the same thing. This leads me to believe it's the lock itself that is broken and preventing the door from opening. But I can't get the door card off to inspect because the door won't open. Ugh. Any ideas, Oppo? The GTX is parked in an underground garage right now, so I'm really crossing my fingers that the lock mechanism was frozen or something and it'll be defrosted by the time I leave work.

Party-vi > MarquetteLa 01/05/2015 at 11:26

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Get some WD-40 and see if that loosens up any of the components.

MarquetteLa > Party-vi 01/05/2015 at 11:28

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I'm definitely giving this a shot when I get home.

CalzoneGolem > MarquetteLa 01/05/2015 at 11:31

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Do you have a long enough drive to work for the cabin to warm up?

jariten1781 > MarquetteLa 01/05/2015 at 11:33

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That sucks. First gen Mazda 6's had a problem where the whole mechanism would have a spring fail and it would lock shut. Got stuck in mine twice... On that you could pry the door card enough to wriggle your hand up in there blind and free it manually then open the door and pull the whole card off to replace it. It was a huge PITA.

multiple wheels for each day of the week > MarquetteLa 01/05/2015 at 11:36

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Have someone inside try to unlock it as you are using the key out side also try to open it from inside and out at the same time. My jeep did this to me for about 3 days till it finally opened. I pulled the card and found a dry mech ( greased it ) and slightly bent door bar ( from the handle to lock.

MarquetteLa > CalzoneGolem 01/05/2015 at 11:56

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No, in the winter the GTX barely gets up to operating temp by the time I get to work, much less the cabin getting warmed up.

MarquetteLa > multiple wheels for each day of the week 01/05/2015 at 11:57

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I'll give this a shot tonight, thanks for the reply.

CalzoneGolem > MarquetteLa 01/05/2015 at 12:18

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You might want to leave it running with the heat blasting for awhile and see if that loosens up that drivers door.