w126 sedan door = kaput

[Snibble]

I came back from my trip to Myrtle Beach and found that my back left door is locked and will not open. The locking knob just falls right down on it own and trying to open the door from the inside or outside doesn't do a da*n thing! I figured its something to do with the locking mech. where the door closes to the body frame. I thought at first it could have been the door lock knob... but now I don't think so. I am trying to remove the door panel and I am stumped. I removed door panels before, but that with the doors open. I unscrewd the doorarm pull, the power window switch and black metal fram insert for the chrome door opener. But from this point on I am stuck. Please if anyone can help, I would very much appreciate it. I need this door unlocked AS SOONS AS I CAN.

[haasman]

I had a similar problem over the weekend with one of the sedans. I too was prepared to pull the interior door panel until I saw that the seatbelt was jammed in the door lock area.

I decided to pull from the outside while someone gently pushed from the inside and it opened. The seatbelt was crunched but not cut.

If this is not the problem then be sure the lock surround (rear of door) is off before trying to remove the interior door panel. If I recall correctly I ran into something like your problem on a past 123 model and I removed the rear seat cushion and seatback to help gain access. The seat bottom is easy and the seat back is held in by three 10mm bolts at the bottom.

Keep us posted,

Haasman

[Snibble]

Found the problem...

I did some investigating on this problem. I thought it could be the locks freezing up due to age/wear, etc. However I remember lubricating these parts last week and everything was fine and in working order. I noticed that the knob that you pull to lock and unlock is lose, as if its not connected to anything. It just falls straight back down after you let go. I remember a while back when I removed the door panels to place the speaker wires, how the locking mechanicism looked like. I figured the part where the locking knob attaches to the brass colored rods that lock and ulock the doors has either broken off or came undone. So I came up with an idea just to see if it would work. I screwed the knob back into place and pushed the door panel down as much as I could without breaking it. Then with the other hand I pushed the knob down as much as I could. When I did this.. I hear a click. I gently pulled the knob up but it came undone. I kept repeating this process several times until I heard a nice click and the locking knob stayed up. I pulled the knob up and I opened the door. I quickly removed the door panel and found the problem. The part in which I thought was the problem was indeed the problem. Its a small clear/white plastic piece that has three points to it. The rod hooks onto that piece at the end. One of the points broke off causing the knob to lose contact with the locking rod. So, I used the other 2 points by placing the rod in between these 2. It works fine now. I am glad I finally figured this problem out. My next mission is to fix my driver's door window. Its makes a bad clicking sound once it reaches the top and there is a tiny gap at the top as well.