Help with door not opening

[WV Mike]

I locked up the my 88 Fiero. When I went to unlock the Fiero, the driver door handle pulls up and doesn't unlock the door. There is a wire hanging down slight from under the handle. The inside door lock still showed locked. I moved it to unlock and the inside door handle won't open the door up either. Is there a trick with maybe using a coat hanger or some other way of opening up the door? Any thoughts?

[Fierofool]

There is a little return spring on the outside door handle that eventually rusts and breaks.  That's probably what you're seeing on the outside.  It has no bearing on whether the handles will open the doors, though.  I guess you can still get into the car from the right side so you aren't totally locked out?

The the inside lock slider should unlock the door and allow the handle to open it.  I'm not familiar with the inside workings of the door.  Roger or Aerodonamic would be our gurus on that. 

[WV Mike]

I tried the insider slider lock and no luck with opening the door from either inside or outside. When unlocking the outside key lock, the insider slider lock does not move. I have a feeling some sort of retaining clip has come/broke loose. I'm going to try a close hanger later today and see if I have any luck.

[TopNotch]

Remove the inner door skin, and you should be able to see what the problem is. Both the door latch handle and the lock slider connect to the actual latch mechanism by way of metal rods. In the case of the door latch handle, the rod connects to it with a little tab with a hole in it. That tab can break off, and then you can't open the door from the inside.

[WV Mike]

Ok, I removed the inner door skin. Everything was connected. I kept trying to get it to open up. And, finally it did once. With the door open, I locked and then unlocked the door and again the latch would not open. Luckily on my parts car, I removed and installed the latch from it. Now the door works like it is supposed to. From looking at the original latch mechanism, I couldn't tell what is wrong with it.

[f85gtron]

It might have needed a shot if lithium grease?  Mine had been sitting for more than a decade and i had problems like that. I eventually realized i had good parts, i just needed to shoot up everything with pb blaster and grease. Locks and handles and windows work great now.
Ron

[WV Mike]

Thanks. I'll give that a try.

[WV Mike]

Played around with the lock mechanism today and found that the spring on the back side which pushes up is broken. To fix all I need to find a replacement spring.

[f85gtron]

Glad you found the problem. Lowe's has a weird stuff section by their bolts. You might find a suitable replacement there.

[Roger]

If that does not work Aerodonamic has the whole mechanism for sale.
At least I think he still has them.

[WV Mike]

Cool, I'll give Lowes a try first.