What to do if your Commodore VT/VX/VY door won't open

On our 2002 VX Berlina, we were recently stuck in the driver's seat because the door would not open. If you are able-bodied this isn't a big problem as you can climb out another way, but that might not be possible for some people.

This is the scenario we faced. The door can not be opened using the inside or the outside handles. The doors appear to lock and unlock normally and the other doors work as usual. Both the inside and outside handles feel to be connected and operating (they are not loose and floppy), but the door just won't open.

After some investigation, I believe the problem here is that part of the door latch mechanism has worn out and won't move in to the position it needs to for either of the handles to work.

Here's what we did to open the driver's door, although this should also apply to the front passenger door.

You need to get access to the door latch mechanism which is inside the door, of course, and behind the door card which is almost impossible to remove with the door stuck closed.

However it is possible to gain a little access by removing a few of the screws.

Remove the lower B-pillar trim by prying out from the top. This gives just enough access to remove one screw at the rear of the door card.

Remove the lock knob by first prying out the red locking piece. Undo the screw behind it.

Remove the decorative cover from the inside door handle and remove the screw. Then there is another screw behind the door handle that should be removed.

Remove the inside mirror cover by pulling it straight out.

Now with a certain level of violence you can pull up and outward the rear top of the door card.

Then you can separate the plastic seal and gain access to the door latch mechanism and actuator.

The only way we could get the door open was to feel where the outside door handle rod connects to the mechanism and pull this upward. That was enough for it to get in a position where it could activate the door latch. This is not as easy as it sounds as you can't see that far inside the door and there is a plastic cover on the top of the door lock mechanism. You may find it easier if you pull this cover off (requires force and you will likely break it but you will probably be replacing the whole unit anyway).

The other option is to rotate part of the mechanism anti-clockwise, if you can reach it.

Familiarise yourself with the photos to see where these parts are. They will also help to show where the various rods attach when replacing the lock mechanism and actuator.

Hopefully you can then pull the outer handle and open the door.

The part that caused this problem for us was the rotating part. It appears that it wore out enough that it either could rotate further than it should, or maybe the spring that returns it to the correct position was no longer strong enough. It was very loose on the shaft compared to the replacement part.

The solution here is to replace the whole mechanism. A new one is around A$300 or second hand ones can be bought for under A$100 on eBay.

PS. We had called out the NRMA hoping they would know a trick to get the door open but they couldn't get it open.

A - Outer door handle rod sits in here. This is the part you can pull upwards to get it back in position. When installing, you need to make sure the rod aligns to this hole first.

B - Inside door handle rod attaches here.

C - Outside door key lock rod attaches here.

D - The cause of this problem. When worn out, this can rotate too far clockwise.

E - Inside door lock. No need to remove this, but take note of how it is routed and it can be a pain to line back up when installing.

(Actuator solenoid removed for photos but does not need to be removed)