Scoundrel

Hi. I bought a 1990 ls400 recently for $900. Its rough, but overall a good candidate for customizing, which is my goal. However, it has a broken drivers side door. All of my friends and some professionals have taken a look and none of us have had any luck getting it to open.

The handles on the inside are completely disconected. Power disconected. Arms pulled,as they weren't connected to anything already.

There is a plunger deal on a spring on the passenger side that i cannot locate thru the small hole i have for access. I expect if i could reach it i might be able to manually engage the door mechanism. I am not sure.

Any of you masters have any advice or questions to help be able to answer? Please feel free to post or refer me to a relevant thread.

Thanks.

Scoundrel

jaaa

I think a picture might be worth a thousand of your words right now.

CELSI0R

I agree with jaaa. A few pictures and perhaps a video would be extremely helpful.

On the other hand, this topic has been discussed before in other threads. You might find this to be helpful.

timmy0tool

iTrader: (7)

a picture would just show a closed door, not really helping us much.

have you had a locksmith try and use a slim jim to grab and pull the disconnected rod inside the door which would usually be connected to the inside door handle? i would start there.

oldskewel

iTrader: (1)

Welcome to the club.

Depending on what "customizing" you're thinking of, the old Dukes of Hazzard General Lee, with doors welded shut would help you solve this current door problem. Just picture it.

Scoundrel

@ jaa and CELSI0R - I will try to get a picture when I get home. A video as well so i can narrate as I show around. However first i will point out that the door is locked closed,and all of the inside arms are disconnected and removed. As they were upon purchase.

@ timmy0tool - i have not put any unneeded money into it yet, in hope of finding a way to do it myself. A slim jim will not work, i am a former road side assistance provider, and underatand the line of thought. It simply isn't feasible due to lack of parts to attempt to manipulate arent there.

In the door mechanism itself where the door and the body connect on the door side, the locking lever is moved on a spring with a clip lifted/pulled to open the door. The spring in this point is missing. Im trying to figure out how I can reach down into the door to grab the lever manually.

I hope this helps until i can make a video.

I will follow the link and read thru and see if it is helpful. I have not done that yet. Thanks for your input and ideas so far. Talk to you soon.

jaaa

I can only say I feel your pain. I bought my $300 special with a driver side door that was bashed in to the point where it wouldn't open. I had bought a door and needed to open mine to replace the door. Only sheer exasperation and anger while I was in the driver side made me bang the door open with my shoulder one day. To my utter surprise it popped open. I was very close to a saws-all at one point.

Scoundrel

I understand timmy. I have considered the saws all myself. As end all fix all of course. Haha. I tried shoulders, kicking with and without a friend pulling from outside. To no avail.

dicer

You could use a stiff long piece of wire like a coat hanger and stick it in the hole of the lever where the normal linkage connects to and I think it is to be pushed down to unlatch, of course the door panel is off to do it. I would have used that as a huge bargaining chip and got that price way down from what you paid for it.

CELSI0R

Well, it says "broken driver's side door." Without a picture, this could mean either that the door handle outside is broken, the cables are all disconnected, a combination of both, etc.. It's good to understand what's being worked with.

@Scoundrel - Have a look at the thread I shared. It will help guide you through the troubleshooting process.

ALtin107

Post some pics when you get a chance