98 ford explorer sport "driver door wont open"

I have a 98 ford explorer sport and the driver door will not open. I have taken it to 3 different mechanics and they cant get it open either. also the driver seat is broken and the passanger seat is broken. Ford wont fix the driver seat until the door is fixed. but cant find anyone to open the door. I am having to crawl over console from passanger side to get in... that sucks! also the back seatbelts dont work, they wont pull down.. this car is a piece of S@#?*t.. I am fixing to let it get repoed just to get it out of my hair.

Reply to
turtlehead
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You mean Ford can't open the door? sheesh... guess I'm gonna have quite a time with my '92 and its frozen passenger door...

taken it to 3 different mechanics and they cant get it open either. also the driver seat is broken and the passanger seat is broken. Ford wont fix the driver seat until the door is fixed. but cant find anyone to open the door. I am having to crawl over console from passanger side to get in... that sucks! also the back seatbelts dont work, they wont pull down.. this car is a piece of S@#?*t.. I am fixing to let it get repoed just to get it out of my hair.

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Reply to
Robert A. Matern

I dunno.... I have yet to run across a door I can't open....... I seen a couple that I wouldn't open because I can't cost cap a job like that and I wasn't about to let a customer dictate my price. Tough to say how you need to handle the door thing without having a look at it - you might find a locksmith or talented tow truck operator that knows how to use a sneaky pete....

I don't know about the states, but here in Canada, letting a car get repossessed is not a brilliant financial move..... something akin to cutting off your nose to spite your face.

Jim Warman snipped-for-privacy@telusplanet.net

taken it to 3 different mechanics and they cant get it open either. also the driver seat is broken and the passanger seat is broken. Ford wont fix the driver seat until the door is fixed. but cant find anyone to open the door. I am having to crawl over console from passanger side to get in... that sucks! also the back seatbelts dont work, they wont pull down.. this car is a piece of S@#?*t.. I am fixing to let it get repoed just to get it out of my hair.

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Reply to
Jim Warman

I have taken it to 3 different mechanics and they cant get it open either. also the driver seat is broken and the passanger seat is broken. Ford wont fix the driver seat until the door is fixed. but cant find anyone to open the door. I am having to crawl over console from passanger side to get in... that sucks! also the back seatbelts dont work, they wont pull down.. this car is a piece of S@#?*t.. I am fixing to let it get repoed just to get it out of my hair.

========= Out of warranty; can't get the door panel off with the seat in place; can't remove the seat with the door closed. Yup, I can see the problem.

I've seen the door latch mechanism, and I can understand the problem; it can fail so that the door can't be opened without actually getting inside the door. So, how much does a new door cost? How about a door skin panel?

I really agree with Jim; letting the truck be repoed isn't a smart idea - the stigma will be in place (and affecting your credit) far longer than it would take to fix the door. And don't forget that if the truck is repoed, you'll still be responsible for any shortfall in the amount that can be recovered by subsequent resale; IOW, you're going to pay for that door anyway.

Reply to
Bill Funk

Aside from the broken lock mechanism on my driver side door that goes in next week for $250 repair, I also cannot open the driver side door when it's cold outside. It freezes shut. Other doors open, so I'm not sure why it's just the driver's side door that won't. It frustrates me when I see people with less expensive cars not having these type of problems, and I thought having an Explorer would have different type of problems.

Reply to
Artisanwomyn

More expensive ones? :-)

The two problems with the driver's side door may well be connected; a part that's bad (for whatever reason) can behave differently with different temps. If that part then fails completely, the fix for the failure will fix the cold temp problem.

*ALL* vehicles have problems; some are design problems, others are sample problems. Buying a different brand/model expecting fewer problems is, IMO, unrealistic. *Different* problems, yes. But even Rols Royce finds it necessary to tow their cars. The same goes for any other marque.

It's really nice to tell people that *this* model has fewer problems than *that* model, but that doesn't help the owner with a serious problem with *this* model. Individual samples do not follow the trends of the model as a whole; the most reliable model can (and does) still have samples with problems. And the person who owns that sample will be undersandably upset. Or even pissed. That's human nature.

Sorry to heasr about your problems.

Reply to
Bill Funk

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