I've searched, and haven't found anything here. I want to get the rear doors so they open from the inside. On our Tahoe PPV, it was as simple as pulling the interior door panels and reconnecting the linkage. I'm hoping it's that easy on our Caprice. Is it?
Before I start digging into the FSM, has anyone done this, and if so, do you have a quick list of steps? Thanks.
Rear inside door latch reconnect?
-
CrashTestDummy
- Posts: 2301
- Joined: Sat Feb 07, 2015 2:31 pm
- Location: Pearland, Texas
Rear inside door latch reconnect?
Gene Beaird,
Pearland, Texas
2012 Caprice 9C1
1992 B4C 1LE Camaro
2018 Tahoe PPV (her car)
1995 DGGM Impala SS
1985 Firebird - 310 LS1 C Prepared autocross car.
1980 Bluebird Wanderlodge
And some others
Do YOU have my SPID?
Pearland, Texas
2012 Caprice 9C1
1992 B4C 1LE Camaro
2018 Tahoe PPV (her car)
1995 DGGM Impala SS
1985 Firebird - 310 LS1 C Prepared autocross car.
1980 Bluebird Wanderlodge
And some others
Do YOU have my SPID?
-
CrashTestDummy
- Posts: 2301
- Joined: Sat Feb 07, 2015 2:31 pm
- Location: Pearland, Texas
Re: Rear inside door latch reconnect?
Got it done! The driver side wasn't that big of a deal, other than the top attachment of the door panel, the passenger side gave me fits!! While fumbling around with the panel, I ended up pulling the cables out of their anchor, so when I got the door panel back on, and everything back together, AND closed the door, the door would no longer open, from inside, OR outside. I popped the top of the door panel loose, and got the cables re-anchored and everything now works as expected. One more item off the project list.
Note: FSM = Factory Service Manual
For those that need to know, here is a summary of the steps:
1. remove the screw cover in the inner door latch. A thin screw driver inserted in between this cover and door panel, on the leading edge, will pop it loose. Be careful, it can fly.
2. there's a little panel at the bottom trailing edge of the arm rest. Remove it. Pull it straight off. There's two clips holding it on. In the front hole revealed you'll find either a phillips screw, or probably more appropriately, and correctly, a T-25 torx head screw. I say 'probably' because the screws were mixed and matched on both door panels on our car.
3. pull the screw behind the inner door latch cover and the armrest, as well as the three screws along the bottom of the door panel.
4. pull the door panel off the door. The FSM says to use a door panel remover to do this, but I just pulled it straight off like we did on our Tahoe. The driver's side came off fine, I had issues with the passenger side. More on that later.
5. The FSM isn't very distinct on how you are supposed to pull the top of the door panel off. I thought it would be like all the other cars I've worked on and it sort of un-hooks from the top of the inner metal door frame. While I was trying to execute this unhook procedure, the panel pulled straight off the inner lower window seal. It's held to the door panel by 4 spring clips, and pressed onto the top of the inner door frame.
With that finally loose, I was able to hook up the door latch and lock cable.
6. Locate the door latch and door lock cables. They are black cables with blue insulators around them and yellow plastic ends. The ones on the driver's side were just flopping around. On the passenger side, however, the ends were jammed into a hole in the inner moisture barrier that I had to pull out.
7. Make CERTAIN you have the right cable for the right latch. The ends are nearly the same. The door latch cable, you can pull on the end and the inner cable feels like it's spring loaded. The door lock cable will click in and out.
8. The end of the cable hooks into a little slot on the door lock switch and door latch handle, respectively, and the cable casing clips into a slot on the back of the inner portion of the door latch assembly.
MAKE CERTAIN YOU HAVE THE CABLE CASING IS FIRMLY ATTACHED BEFORE RE-HANGING THE DOOR, OR NEITHER DOOR LATCH WILL WORK!!!
^^ I meant to yell. You're neighbors will be happy I did, too.
9. With the cables properly-connected, re-attach the door panels to the door. Test your results, but don't forget to keep the other back door open when testing, just in case.
Additional notes:
The clips that hold the door panel on the passenger side all came off in the door. I had to get some plastic pry bars and pop these little jewels out. One, I think disappeared in the interior of the car. It's a blue one that went in the front of the door, so it wouldn't be hard to find, it just disappeared, though. Hopefully it'll come rolling out from under something at the next autocross we go to. Every one popped out and flew some distance, no matter how I tried to contain them.
As mentioned above, I think the torx-head screw is for the armrest anchor, but not sure of this, again, the FSM isn't very detailed.
Note: FSM = Factory Service Manual
For those that need to know, here is a summary of the steps:
1. remove the screw cover in the inner door latch. A thin screw driver inserted in between this cover and door panel, on the leading edge, will pop it loose. Be careful, it can fly.
2. there's a little panel at the bottom trailing edge of the arm rest. Remove it. Pull it straight off. There's two clips holding it on. In the front hole revealed you'll find either a phillips screw, or probably more appropriately, and correctly, a T-25 torx head screw. I say 'probably' because the screws were mixed and matched on both door panels on our car.
3. pull the screw behind the inner door latch cover and the armrest, as well as the three screws along the bottom of the door panel.
4. pull the door panel off the door. The FSM says to use a door panel remover to do this, but I just pulled it straight off like we did on our Tahoe. The driver's side came off fine, I had issues with the passenger side. More on that later.
5. The FSM isn't very distinct on how you are supposed to pull the top of the door panel off. I thought it would be like all the other cars I've worked on and it sort of un-hooks from the top of the inner metal door frame. While I was trying to execute this unhook procedure, the panel pulled straight off the inner lower window seal. It's held to the door panel by 4 spring clips, and pressed onto the top of the inner door frame.
With that finally loose, I was able to hook up the door latch and lock cable.
6. Locate the door latch and door lock cables. They are black cables with blue insulators around them and yellow plastic ends. The ones on the driver's side were just flopping around. On the passenger side, however, the ends were jammed into a hole in the inner moisture barrier that I had to pull out.
7. Make CERTAIN you have the right cable for the right latch. The ends are nearly the same. The door latch cable, you can pull on the end and the inner cable feels like it's spring loaded. The door lock cable will click in and out.
8. The end of the cable hooks into a little slot on the door lock switch and door latch handle, respectively, and the cable casing clips into a slot on the back of the inner portion of the door latch assembly.
MAKE CERTAIN YOU HAVE THE CABLE CASING IS FIRMLY ATTACHED BEFORE RE-HANGING THE DOOR, OR NEITHER DOOR LATCH WILL WORK!!!
^^ I meant to yell. You're neighbors will be happy I did, too.
9. With the cables properly-connected, re-attach the door panels to the door. Test your results, but don't forget to keep the other back door open when testing, just in case.
Additional notes:
The clips that hold the door panel on the passenger side all came off in the door. I had to get some plastic pry bars and pop these little jewels out. One, I think disappeared in the interior of the car. It's a blue one that went in the front of the door, so it wouldn't be hard to find, it just disappeared, though. Hopefully it'll come rolling out from under something at the next autocross we go to. Every one popped out and flew some distance, no matter how I tried to contain them.
As mentioned above, I think the torx-head screw is for the armrest anchor, but not sure of this, again, the FSM isn't very detailed.
Gene Beaird,
Pearland, Texas
2012 Caprice 9C1
1992 B4C 1LE Camaro
2018 Tahoe PPV (her car)
1995 DGGM Impala SS
1985 Firebird - 310 LS1 C Prepared autocross car.
1980 Bluebird Wanderlodge
And some others
Do YOU have my SPID?
Pearland, Texas
2012 Caprice 9C1
1992 B4C 1LE Camaro
2018 Tahoe PPV (her car)
1995 DGGM Impala SS
1985 Firebird - 310 LS1 C Prepared autocross car.
1980 Bluebird Wanderlodge
And some others
Do YOU have my SPID?