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Both, yes both doors are shut and unable to pen them
Hello forum members. Both yes both doors on my 79 are shut closed and I'm unable to open them. I have spent a good part of two hours doing a search on this forum. I narrowed the search to just 78-82 cars as the inner mechanisms although similar but different. I cannot get into the vehicle to try the push down on the "override" tab on the door latch, due to the windows being up. The passenger door does not open from using the inside door handle. The doorknob lock rod does move to lock or unlock position when you pull on it. The outside passenger handle sags and does nothing when you press on it with your fingers. I have tried the hitting the t-tops with a rubber hammer to pop the latch, no go on that too. I ended the up locking the driver's door by pushing the doorknob lock rod into the lock position and pulled it to the unlock position (so I thought) and when I closed the door, it could not open it, the outside door handle works but does not open the door. The lock keys for either door do nothing when I turn them. I cannot even do the unlocking the door with the oil dipstick trick. With all of that said, any suggestions on how I can get in the vehicle first before trying the other "tricks"
Last edited by Oldguard 7; 10-12-2018 at 03:01 PM.
Just to clarify... neither lock mechanism works? Or you don’t think your key is the right key? Does the key rotate 45 degrees to either side of vertical on either door lock? If it’s the right key and doesn’t want to turn, you can be very gentle with some pliers and force it over. I’ve had to do that when I first got my c3. That day I I started to rebuild the entire handle/lock system.
Hello forum members. Both yes both doors on my 79 are shut closed and I'm unable to open them. I have spent a good part of two hours doing a search on this forum. I narrowed the search to just 78-82 cars as the inner mechanisms although similar but different. I cannot get into the vehicle to try the push down on the "override" tab on the door latch, due to the windows being up. The passenger door does not open from using the inside door handle. The doorknob lock rod does move to lock or unlock position when you pull on it. The outside passenger handle sags and does nothing when you press on it with your fingers. I have tried the hitting the t-tops with a rubber hammer to pop the latch, no go on that too. I ended the up locking the driver's door by pushing the doorknob lock rod into the lock position and pulled it to the unlock position (so I thought) and when I closed the door, it could not open it, the outside door handle works but does not open the door. The lock keys for either door do nothing when I turn them. I cannot even do the unlocking the door with the oil dipstick trick. With all of that said, any suggestions on how I can get in the vehicle first before trying the other "tricks"
The lock mechanism cannot unlock if the outer door handle is out of adjustment or sagging. Try hooking a small wire or something under the outer handle and raise it up to the normal position, then try unlocking with the key.
Hope it works, that's all I got!
D
drill a hole here and you’ll see a little tab you can push down with a screwdriver to open the door.
as far as breaking into your vette, you need to force the window down enough to pull it outwards. Then use a coat hanger or something to pull the T Top release.
i hope this helps?
Got in through t tops. Used plastic wedge to seperate window from A pillar, (passenger side) then using a hook tool to hook t top handle unlatching it, than used a long prybar to pull t top latch handle down completely. Once I got the top off, I tried to open the door with the inside handle (door was in unlocked position) but did not open. So I reached over with the long prybar to the driver's side t top latch to pull it down, removing the t top. I then reached into vehicle, pushed the door latch to the unlock position (door panel was already removed) thus opening door from the inside. I sprayed both ldoor latches with a hood amount of WD40 and both doors work smoothly. The passenger side door handle now has a slight sag. When I get chance I will remove both latches and clean and lube thoroughly.
Last edited by Oldguard 7; 10-15-2018 at 10:14 AM.
Wow! Queue Mussion Impossible music! Well done. Congrats!
I only had this happen on my passenger side door and wd40 applied liberally and using a screw driver on the latch from the inside was the key. I can’t imagine the professional, yet very slow, car theif process you just had to go through.
For those with removable rear windows, I was advised by a local corvette parts store owner that he was able to kick the rear window in, as the lower hooks are basically pot metal. That would certainly be out of desperation.
Got in through t tops. Used plastic wedge to seperate window from A pillar, (passenger side) then using a hook tool to hook t top handle unlatching it, than used a long prybar to pull t top latch handle down completely. Once I got the top off, I tried to open the door with the inside handle (door was in unlocked position) but did not open. So I reached over with the long prybar to the driver's side t top latch to pull it down, removing the t top. I then reached into vehicle, pushed the door latch to the unlock position (door panel was already removed) thus opening door from the inside. I sprayed both ldoor latches with a hood amount of WD40 and both doors work smoothly. The passenger side door handle now has a slight sag. When I get chance I will remove both latches and clean and lube thoroughly.
Yahoo....now leave one of the windows down for a while!
my doors were having the same issue. I pulled the door panels off and the covers over the mechanism and soaked them entirely with lubricant, fixed the issue, everything needs to be lubricated over time.
10-12-2018, 02:58 PM
Both, yes both doors are shut and unable to pen them
