GU driver's door won't open.

[ons348]

2003 GU, 210k, only trouble ever has been a new alternator. Never touched anything else including the brake pads. Lost a bit of trim in the rough but that's what they're for.

Wife comes home and announces the driver's door won't open. And she's right. Finally. The lock doesn't quite unlock fully. And of course you can't remove the trim. Reading the forum, seems like it isn't an uncommon problem, it is the actual lock mechanism itself that has failed. I spent quite some time poking around the levers in the door, having wound down the window and levered the window back away from the door trim. By taking the passenger door trim off and comparing the movements, it was clear that it was the lock. The old bent coathanger acting directly on the mechanism got nowhere. So you've got to actuate the snick on the lock.

First, pull off the interior trim that clips onto the pillar, up as far as the roof and tuck it out of the way. It slides out of the bottom plastic footplate easily. Remove the seat belt bolt at the base of the plastic pillar cover, and unclip the cover. With a torch, you can now see the door lock between the door and the pillar. Or, at least, you can see the lower white plastic striker plate, and the black striker. By checking how it works on the passenger side (use a medium screwdriver to "close" the latch, note that there are two stages of closing, the safety part where the door is still part open, and fully shut) you can see that if you can get something between the striker plate and the striker you can release the snick and open the door. To do this, drill an 8mm hole in the pillar:

http://www.nissanpatrol.com.au/forum...&thumb=1&stc=1

At an angle:

http://www.nissanpatrol.com.au/forum...&thumb=1&stc=1

Studying the passenger side again, you can see that you need to break the striker plate at the rear to get access to the snick. I used a 1/8" wood chisel to break enough away to allow me to slide a long thin screwdriver underneath the striker:

http://www.nissanpatrol.com.au/forum...&thumb=1&stc=1

Push the screwdriver under the striker. Use a hammer gently if necessary. Once you think it is in far enough, jiggle it around and pull on the door. The first snick opens it to the safety latch, then you may need to push the driver in further if it didn't travel with the door (i.e. got caught on the striker) for a second snick that opens it.

With mine, the mechanism itself was broken. Unserviceable. The door unopenable except possibly with the coathanger if you could position it precisely on a latch to pull up from underneath the lock - but you'd have to be incredibly lucky.

Second hand part for $110, will be well lubricated before installation, although that might not have been the problem.