Chrysler 300M: Can't open rear passenger door

Wow! Tough problem.

All the door lock/unlock motors (except for the driver's door) are driven thru common lock and unlock relays. No individual fusing - one common circuit breaker drives all lock and unlock relays including driver's door. So if the other doors' locks are working electrically, that is not the problem.

I think you're right - you're going to have to slim jim it (you can't remove the door panel to get to the latch from inside with the door closed), remove the panel, and then replace the latch.

A long shot would be that somehow the child safety lock has inadvertently been engaged, but even then, it isn't working like it should if that's the case (maybe it's halfway between engaged and not engaged - this is a real long shot) because you're still supposed to be able to open it from the outside with it engaged. Just in case, as a last resort before going the slim jim route, I'd read the excerpt from the owners manual that I've included below and at least cycle the child safety lock to see if something maybe shakes loose - kind of like re-booting a Windows computer to correct problems 8^) (make sure you cross your fingers, and tap your shoes together like Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz while you cycle it).

Also, you might try pulling the inside handle bezel out (one screw to remove behind the handle on the curve of the bezel) and see if you can apply some additional force to the locking rod and unjam it that way. But it sounds like something is mechanically jammed - maybe failed in mid-cycle of the electrical lock motor.

Of course you can have the dealer take care of it. Take money or a credit card with you.

Anyway - here's the info. on the child safety lock from the owners manual: "To use the system, open each rear door and use a key to move the control near the door latch UP to the "Engage" position as shown on the door label. When the system on a door is engaged, that door can be opened only by using the outside door handle. This will occur even though the inside door lock is in the unlocked position.

"NOTE: For emergency exit with the system engaged, move the lock plunger up (unlocked position), lower the window and open the door with the outside door handle."

Good luck! Bill Putney (to reply by e-mail, replace the last letter of the alphabet in my address with "x")

Ok, I realize it doesn't have it's own lock switch (thought the window switch was a door lock switch. When it's dark and 5F outside it's a little hard to pay attention to details).

Update: Wife takes the car this AM, comes back and asks "when did you fix the door?". So now it's working. There's a bit of a difference in that the sound it makes when locking/unlocking is different (louder, maybe a metallic twang that never used to be there). Interior and exterior handles operate normally.

I looked at that and it was in the correct position. I moved it back and forth and it wasn't binding or anything. Naturally, with the door in the "permanently-closed" position I wasn't able to see the safety lock.

Well, I'm glad the 300 has some self-correcting capability.

I didn't know that either - guess I don't sit in the back of my own car that much.

If I were you, I'd get a new latch. Next time it hangs up, it may not free itself up, and you'd be back with the same problem of figuring out how to get the door open. And if you've been reading this ng, you know that those latches do go into hard failure. $50-60.

Oops - I wasn't thinking.

Bill Putney (to reply by e-mail, replace the last letter of the alphabet in my address with "x")

Maybe not the same thing, but my 94 New Yorker had a problem with the rear door not opening. Thought the same thing about locks/latches but wasn't either. Son had discovered earlier that the weather strip would "roll up" at the rear upper side corner (around the window) and needed to "coax" the rubber back out WITHOUT damaging it. Not easy in the cold because the rubber gets very rigid, but by sliding a flat, blunt blade between door weather strip and body weather strip, it can be slowly worked back out.

Sure does keep the door tightly "locked" though. Happened to me after some work done to recharge the air conditioner compressor. Noticed the "door open" warning on panel driving it home but no door actually open that I could see. Good thing I have kids that can look at the obvious and then tell me when I talk about my latest issue!

- Bill

Replace latch motor mechanism. ~$60-$80. Identical problem on my '00 'Trepid. Intermittent operation and a change in sound when it operates. Plastic gears in the mechanism strip out either the teeth or shaft splines.

M> Bill Putney wrote:

After a couple of days of more-or-less normal function (a bit of a clang when lock is engaged) I practically jumped out of my skin yesterday when the lock engaged (as it normally does) after you drive for a few hundred feet.

I swear somebody installed a mis-tuned late-60's, early 70's mopar horn in that door because it now gives an anemic-sounding buzz for 1/2 second when the lock is engaged. Sounds normal when it's unlocked.

Is this really a motor, and not a solenoid?

This I _can't_ live with. Time to see the dealer.

I'm not sure - they call it a motor in the Chrysler documentation, but the word "motor" is a pretty general term and could include solenoids. The normally operating locks sound like a solenoid action. Perhaps when they go into this failure mode, they oscillate and turn into a door buzzer (or horn as you describe it).

The noise you are describing now is exactly what others have described before failure of the electric lock - do a google search on this ng and you'll find that to be the case (similar occasional reports on the 300M ezBoard, but ezBoard search engines are worthless, so it may be a waste of time to look there).

Bill Putney (to reply by e-mail, replace the last letter of the alphabet in my address with "x")

Called the dealer to make sure they had the part(s), and stopped by on way home from work (this is about 8 pm). Spent a few minutes looking at the cars in the show room (Sebring convtertible, Viper, Crossfire). Asked some sales guys when the new 300 would be in (he said they're being made right now, he expects to get some next month). Magnum availability somewhat uncertain. Walked across the street to have dinner. Came back (this is 9 pm) and car is ready. Old part is in the box (I asked for it).

Was asked if I had extended waranty (nope). I asked how much that cost (when car was new) - he sez between $2k and $3k.

Cost of part: $139.70 ($105 USD) Labor: $123 ($92 USD)

This is part # 04574023-AE

The latch and solenoid is one (compact) unit. 4-pin connector. 3 separate clevices for connecting 3 control rods (1 for lock button, 1 for door handle, and the other for ???). Next time I have a problem I'll take this old one apart and see what's going on inside.