Door stuck shut covers panel screws (how to remove?)

How skinny is the space between the door panel and the dashboard? There are very low profile right angle ratcheting screwdrivers. Can you get even your flat hand in there?

The Tacoma and 4 Runner are similar enough that the procedures for removiung the interior door panel will be the same. The only place to get a Toyota Factory Service Manual is through Toyota's Material Distribution Center, through a dealer, or on a subscription basis at

I believe the subscription is avfailable for $10 per day.

What is happening when you try the interior or exterior door handle? Does it act like it is locked or does it act like it is disconnected?

If you can get remove every clip and screw from the door panel except for the ones by the dash, then move the driver's seat all the way back and reclined and see if you can pull the panel away from the door far enough to release the latch.

HOW is the door stuck? By ice, or simply not opening?

You can 'slim jim' the door open using a wire coat hanger.

I really hope i'm not helping you steal a car!!!

Seems to me you will have to get that door open somehow. A locksmith or someone handy with a Slim Jim might be able to help. If you got all the screws but two out you should be able to pull the panel out most of the way. Barring that, try this:

Seems to me you will have to get that door open. A locksmith or someone handy with a Slim Jim may be able to help. If you only have two screws left you ought to be able to pull the panel out enough to get your hands on the locking mechanism. Barring that you could try this:

So, like how are you writing this? ;-)

Might be slightly different from the photo, but they all come from a common parts bin at the factory. And it makes no sense to make things totally different when they don't have to be - they can get a much better deal ordering 100,000 locks of one style per batch than they do when they order 20 different runs of 5,000 to 10,000 each. Saves a ton just in tooling up the production line for each change.

And Chilton (& the other aftermarket repair books) figure out what models are basically common and they tear down one sample car to get their pictures. But they don't always get it exactly right - so you have to take all their recommendations with a bit of salt.

This is why you pay more (sometimes a lot more) for the factory repair manuals - you can take them as Gospel, which makes them worth the added expense. Because those writers have open access to the actual assembly line and all the blueprints and parts lists, know about all the running production changes, and checked any questions with the engineers that built the car.

Ha. Ha. Ha. (NOT.)

Actually, before you resort to "destructive entry methods" like a chop saw, I'd try a 'Slim Jim' Lockout Kit and a Borescope.

Call your local licensed Locksmiths, they are probably the best bet to have both tools, and know how to use them efficiently.

You have to find and snag the latch release mechanism from the inside (not just the lock button linkage) to get the door open, which is where the borescope fits in. Slide it in through the window gap so you can see what you are doing with the unlock tools, rather than flail around blind.

They deliberately don't make it that easy to pop the lock from the outside by placing guard plates and other devices in the way of the linkages. If they were easy to pick, cars would disappear more often.

After somebody gets the door open, then you can get the inside trim panel off and have the access needed to really fix it. It's probably cheaper if you drive to the locksmith shop and have them pop it open there - then you can take the door trim panel off, and drive it home to mess around further at your leisure.

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Before you get destructive, try removing the driver's seat. This should give you enough room to pull the left side of the door panel away and stick something inside the door to manipulate the lock mechanism manually.

"Doug Kanter" wrote in news:JZRyf.917$ snipped-for-privacy@news02.roc.ny:

Sorry I didn't get back sooner. I had a trip back east and just arrived back home to San Jose Airport climbing in the passenger side (again) of the stuck-door Toyota 4Runner until we figure this out.

You could barely slip a piece of cardboard between the front of the driver side door panel and the dash so it's unlikely a screwdriver will ever get in there.

A hand wouldn't fit, even by the original Japanese maiden who may have placed it there in the first place.

I'll read the other posts to see what advice is given but I do thank you for taking the time and effort to help a driver in need.

Thank you, Stu

"Ray O" wrote in news:dd702$43cbf2f4$44a4a10d$ snipped-for-privacy@msgid.meganewsservers.com:

About a week before the Toyota 4Runner door lock mechanism broke for good, the handle was in a wierd position from the outside when I opened the door and felt something unnatural move inside. After that point, the front door would not open from the outside, even with the key but it would open fine from the inside and the automatic door lock button on both doors locked all four doors but only unlocked the three unaffected doors.

Then, all of a sudden, the electric door window would not go down all the way. I have no idea why the window would be so affected but it goes up fine. But now the inside door lock doesn't open the door. It feels like there is nothing connected to it.

When I try the door handles (inside or outside) now, it feels as if it's disconnected. However, when I press the lock/unlock electric button, the door lock pin at the top wiggles (but does not move sufficiently to unlock the door).

I will see if that works. I did remove the screw inside the inside door handle escutcheon; I lifted off the arm rest (it's just clipped on), and I removed two larger screws holding the door panel to the door metal. At this point, I think the only thing (according to the Chilton manual anyway) holding me back are all the clips and the two screws covered by the side of the dash.

I'll read the other help before proceeding this weekend (when I finally have a day off from the daily grind) but I do very much appreciate your helpful advice and kind attention.

Stu

Hachiroku wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@ae86.GTS:

I should have noted I am in the San Jose California area so I don't know what ice is (anymore) as it's about sixty degrees fahrenheit today :) and the worst we get all winter is a bit of drizzle that they call a horrible storm on the news stations (which have never seen real weather in their entire lives).

Actually, I used to know ice as I remember my Datsun 240Z cast aluminum door handle breaking in half on a freezing wintry day back in Michigan in the olden days of college. Now THOSE were storms in those days!

I didn't think of the slim jim approach. I picked up two of them today at Kragans. A thick one about an inch and a bit wide and a thinner one. I've seen AAA use them to open cars so I hadn't thought of that myself. I don't know what to do but I guess you slip it in and wiggle it about (hmmm ... that reminds me, I haven't seen my girlfriend in a week) and hopefully something comes loose.

Thanks for the advice and for taking the time to advise me. I think opening the door is a good approach. Who knows, maybe I can try it out on that Lamborghini I saw in the airport parking lot earlier today. :)

Stu

"badgolferman" wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@news.readfreenews.net:

Bruce L. Bergman wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com:

Since the care is 7 years old, it makes sense for me to purchase the

4Runner factory shop manual. I thought the Chilton's would do it but I hear (from googling) that the Toyota 4Runner Factory Repair Manual is the way to go. I will stop by the dealer before the weekend to see if they have it in stock. I googled for it but didn't find any current listings. I'd expect it to be a hundred bucks or so (am I close?).

I don't see how a locksmith will help as I have the key but I do agree that I hadn't thought of the slim jim (I picked up two from Kragans) which I'll try to squiggle in there to open the door when I have time this weekend off from work.

Interesting that boroscope. It's pricey but it seems to have many uses. I can even use it with my girlfriend if she is so inclined :)

Interesting. I can see that the boroscope should work for that (as long as the neck fits into the space between the door and the window glass).

I have the key so if that doesn't work, I suspect playing around with the lock mechanism itself won't do much good either (as you said).

I wonder if I can call AAA? I have a membership but this isn't an emergency towing situation as the car is in my driveway. I wonder if they cover opening the door so that I can then work on it from there even though the other 3 doors work fine???

Thanks for all the ideas, Stu

"MrFixit469" wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@g47g2000cwa.googlegroups.com:

I'm sure removing the Toyota 4Runner driver seat won't hurt but I have plenty of room on the left side of the driver side door panel (facing the door from the driver seat inside). It's the right side of the door panel, far from the driver seat, that has the two screws that the Chilton manual shows to be covered by the dash panel.

Looking at the open passenger side door, I can see the two plastic knobs covering the bolt holes so if the driver side is anything like the passenger side, removing the seat won't get me any closer.

I think the numerous suggestions to slim jim the door open are the best. Maybe I can call AAA and not tell them the other three doors work fine? Do you think they'll believe me?

Stu

Toyota employees used to work on Martin Luther King Day and get President's day off. The holidays were recently reversed so employees get MLK day off and work on President's day, probably because President's day weekend is a very big sales weekend.

AutoZone's sites are actually pretty good for a do-it-yourselfer. I have referred to them when working on friends' non-Toyotas. I am not aware of any other free online shop manuals. You may want to visit your local auto parts store and see if they have a Chilton's manual that you can take a glance at.

Can you get the door panel out at all on the jamb side of the door? If you take out the driver seat?

Just recently, Stuart A. Bronstein told us:

Hey Stuart, A locksmith shop that handles automotive work can open the door, and then either suggest or perform the repair, quickly and without damage. That's what they do. I know, I did it for over ten years before I went to work for one of the manufacturers. (security manufacturer, not auto manufacturer...)

They have manuals which show the specific details and pictures for the door lock and linkage assembly of each auto made for more than forty years. Yes, that's a lotta doors.

They will also have speciality tools to perform such an operation. "Slim Jim's" have not been adequate to unlock most toyota's, and most other vehicles, in many, many years. A SJ certainly will not assist in actually opening the door via actuating the latch mechanism through the window channel.

From your description, including things like the window only goes part way down, but up fine, and the handles feeling screwy prior to failing completely, I'd guess that the nylon clips that hold the linkage rods to the handles have failed. They tend to dry and become brittle after several years.

Nevertheless, get to a local locksmith. This is a small thing for them, a mornings or afternoons work at worst.

Thank you, and have a nice day.

I think the first thing they're going to ask you is "You say you're locked out of the car, but it's at your home - don't you have a second set of keys in the house?"

And if the locksmith they send treats it as a regular lockout, when the drivers door doesn't pop after a few tries I can guarantee he will go over and try the passenger door to see if it pops easier - which won't help you a bit.

You might be able to flim-flam them into coming out and getting the drivers door open - but when the locksmith figures out what you did word will get back to your local AAA club, and they're going to bounce your butt post-haste - after sending you the locksmith bill.

Tell the truth on this one, and save your quota of AAA calls for when you really need them - they do keep count. (Which will actually help you if you haven't needed a tow for 10 years or longer, and have a run of incredibly bad luck.)

What you can do that's honest is get a referral from your AAA to their local contracted locksmith, and you'll probably pay the lower labor rate he charges them.

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(46 year member of Auto Club of Southern California, or so it says on the card - which would make me a member in utero... Rolled over from the family membership.)

You can - sometimes - drop the window down and access the release mechanisms and linkages with a "slimjim"......or other similar tool/device......

I've done it with bent coat hangers, welding rod, thin strips of metal, etc.....

Ease of access and success is totally dependent on - and directly related to - the size of the slot into which the window disappears......

Another route might be to access the back side of the striker in the door post. If there is upholstery or an access window in the panel to the rear of the door opening, you might be able to simply undo the striker itself.