Cannot open driver's door

My wife took the car out today (1991 348) and could not open the driver's door. Ended up having to go out the passenger door. When I got home from work, I could not open the door. Seems like the door post that goes up and down goes up alittle then gets pulled right back down. Tried using the key, the electric switch and door handle - nothing. I know I probably need to get into the door, but I cannot do anything without the door opening. Any help, would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

 

Not sure, I did a search before this post and one of the posts said you could not get into the door that way (it was just one post, and it may not be correct information).

 

Tried that too. Disconnected the bullet connector to the battery - no luck.

 

Thanks for posting the pictures. I tried the coat hanger - no luck. Tried bouncing the door in and out - nothing. I am going to remove the outer part of the door bottom to see if I can reach it that way. Is there anything I need to know special about removing the "fins" on the outside bottom of the door? Thanks.

Update, well I cannot take off the skakes (the finned part of the door) since the door needs to be open to get to the front 10MM bolt. Based on previous posts, there is a solution using a 1 ft screw driver, but there are no pictures of what to do. I can use a flashlight and look down to the door mechanism, and I see the cable from the door handle move down about one inch when I pull on it, but nothing happens. Man, this blows. Anybody know how to use the screw driver to release the door mechanism? Thanks.

 

OK, even tried the screwdriver method that pushes directly down on the inside door latch. The lever goes down, the door stays unlocked, I can rock the door back and forth - but the door just will not open. In short, I am screwed. I think it is the actual door mechanism that keeps the door closed that refuses to release the bolt of the door. I even tried kicking the door open using a pillow and my son to hold the door handle in the open position. Except for a sledge hammer, I don't think there is any way to open the damn door.

 

Could be, but the door appears totally closed (lining up the two seams). Even though I have unpluged the battery, I still think the locking mechanism is still engaged. Battery disconnected and I am using the screw driver on the inside lever and still won't let go. I am out of ideas.

 

I think you are correct. You can actually hear the mechanism at the door latch try to let loose, it just will not let go. But, I don't want to kick the interior and screw that up and certainly don't want to dent the exterior by pushing too hard. Kind of a catch 22.

And yes, I have a good one (wife) as she actually took the time to research some posts and pull out the the manual to help.

I will spend some time on it tomorrow. If I can't get it to let loose, I am going to bring it to a good local body shop to see if they can shim the door to get it free. I will update this post, as maybe it will help someone in the future.

 

UPDATE: Daniel at Ricambi America wins the award. Daniel explained that the problem could be the door striker. The problem of having the door stuck was that the striker broke free and begun to spin around. Once in the wrong position, the teeth of the locking mechanism got stuck in the striker (see Ricambi parts diagram under striker - if you enlarge the photo you can see what I am writting about).

I brought the car to a local body shop (they do really good work, although they never deal with F Cars). They explained that you can get the interior trim off the door while the door is closed if you do it carefully. (It took them about 90 minutes to take the trim off and get the door open). If done correctly (bottom to the top) by following the directions on my348.com, you will not harm the interior. You may have to leave the trim attached to the door due to the trim bracket in the door jam. But, you will still gain access to the locking mechanism. In my case, I had to get access to the locking mechanism through the door to release it.

Hope this helps somebody in the future.