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Broken Rear Door

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Care, Maintenance and Troubleshooting' started by geraldk, Apr 26, 2011.

  1. geraldk

    geraldk New Member

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    I tried to find this with out any luck...

    I was messing with my back passenger door (took off door panel and such). I put it back together and when I shut the door, I had engaged the child safety lock and somehow messed with the outside door handle. Now I have a sealed door! I can't open the door at all. Please help if you have any idea how I can get this door open again. I could disengage the the child safety lock and tinker with the outside door handle again.


    HELP!!
     
  2. geraldk

    geraldk New Member

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    Nobody has any advice for me? I am dying over here. I was thinking that maybe if I got inside and kicked the door open as hard as I can? Does that sound like a bad idea? My other idea is to remove the bolts from under the front door where the back door is attached. after taking the door off, I might be able to either cut the lock bar or unscrew it?
    Anybody Anybody?
    Please Help
     
  3. Patrick Wong

    Patrick Wong DIY Enthusiast

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    1. Is it possible for you to remove the interior door panel while the door is shut? If not, then:

    2. Call a locksmith with a Slim Jim, and see if s/he can use that tool to latch on to the door lock release mechanism.

    Both of these ideas sound very bad to me.
     
  4. seilerts

    seilerts Battery Curmudgeon

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    +1 for the Slim Jim, otherwise do whatever it takes to remove the door panel, maybe take the seat out? so you can get in there and release it.
     
  5. geraldk

    geraldk New Member

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    Thanks Patrick
    1. I have not tried to remove the panel but I studied it and it is in the wheel well so I don't know how I would get the tabs out without breaking the door panel.

    2. Correct me if I am wrong, but I think a locksmith would just unlock the door. The door is unlocked. Just both handles are not engaged.

    I played with the working door and tried moving the lock mechanism while the door was open to see if I could move it. I could not get it to budge, but maybe it was a torque issue.

    Ideas?

    I am going to call a Prius scrap yard on Monday to see if they had any ideas.
     
  6. seilerts

    seilerts Battery Curmudgeon

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    I'm just thinking that if there is any destruction involved in getting the door open, the panel is the obvious choice. Maybe taking the seat bottom out would help. Far easier to replace the panel than to fix a bent door skin or damage to the rocker panel?
     
  7. Patrick Wong

    Patrick Wong DIY Enthusiast

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    I would agree with this.
     
  8. Mendel Leisk

    Mendel Leisk EGR Fanatic

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    do not know if it's relevant, but have you tried:

    Page 73 of owners manual, half way down:

    [​IMG]
     
  9. Patrick Wong

    Patrick Wong DIY Enthusiast

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    That illustration relates to the rear hatch. I believe the OP is having trouble with one of the rear side doors.
     
  10. northwichita

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    My guess is the child safety safety lock latch is in between the two positions, so jamming the handle and the lock from working.

    How about cutting an access hole in the door panel (unless it can be removed as is ) and then using a narrow knife like tool to move the child safety latch up or down. The inner weatherstripping is loose, but there is a bevel in the door panel that is in obstacle here. Look at the other side as a reference.

    About the front bolts holding on the door hinges, even if these were removed, it appears to me the door stop would limit any sideways movement.
     
  11. Mendel Leisk

    Mendel Leisk EGR Fanatic

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    Dooh :redface:
     
  12. geraldk

    geraldk New Member

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    I have news:

    Thanks for all the ideas...

    I talked to one of the largest Prius salvage yards. At first he said I was S.O.L.
    I would have to somehow remove the door panel, but the only way to do that was to have the door open! Nice. So, he said I would have to destroy, in some way the panel to access the lock. He also thought maybe the child safety was the issue, but has never come across this problem before.

    Backstory...

    The reason all of this happened was my car was in a minor accident with a golf cart. my door was dented badly, but the rest of the door was fine. I talked to a dealer about fixing the door... $1800+!! Wow. So I thought I could just bang it out and use some cover up paint. Well that lead to me messing with the door and getting it locked. I ordered a rear door from this salvage yard, only $600.00 with shipping!!!!

    What a deal

    So, I was talking to the guy and I said what if I remove the bolts from the rear door via the front passenger door. That way I could get the child safety lock and disengage it, open door and put new door on. Solved! He thought that was a great idea and should work.

    So, my door is on the way and when it gets here I will do this. One warning was that the door was heavy and be ready for that door to fall off when I take off the bolts.

    Wish me luck and I will let everyone know...

    $600.00 with a little work from me seems like a much better deal then $1800+ for a "repaired" door and a weak paint job. :)
     
  13. geraldk

    geraldk New Member

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    Sorry double post
     
  14. RobertK

    RobertK Member

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    I once had this happen to a Dodge, but this might help. In my case, the interior door panel moved down and was hung against the inside of the door sill. This happened because the mounting tabs had broken, but the result is the same.

    Try moving the door panel up and see if it does anything.

    I don't have access to my Prius right now, so I can't look at it to tell you if this is even possible. It might be an easy fix to what appears to be a serious problem. Good luck.
     
  15. geraldk

    geraldk New Member

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    OK!  Everything is fixed!  So, how did I do it?  My new door arrived and studied it. I figured my best corse of action was to remove the bolts holding the door on. After taking them off I ran into a big problem. There is a black bar that attaches from the door well to the door that I could not get to. So after jerking and pulling for awhile, I decided to get back in and try to remove the door panel. Although the panel was still stuck inside the door well I was able to get enough leverage to pop the panel off. What a relief!  I grabbed a long flathead screwdriver and pushed the safety lock up. I was so excided that I opened the door without thinking. My buddy caught the door from hitting the ground and breaking the black rod or anything else, including any damage to the door well. From there it was easy. We put the new door on slapped the door panel back and everything looks great. The entire job took about two hours, most of it just standing there dumbfounded on how the heck are we going to do this. I have to say if you wanted to break into a Prius, this is not the ideal way. :) 
     
    cthorsman likes this.
  16. direstraits71

    direstraits71 Member

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    Please post if you took any pictures.