Passenger side door latch stuck

[szyzygy]

Opened this morning with my keyless remote. Noticed the peg did not pop up. Sometimes when it's damp out that happens. So I stuck my key in and turned it and it made an unusual sound and wouldn't turn correctly.
I managed to open the door from the inside by turning the wheel knob and pulling the handle.
I was moving the door latch around to check for resistance, and it ratcheted down and I can't move it now.
I think I could close the door, but I didn't because I figured it might get stuck that way and be harder to fix.

So I have to take the door panel off I guess. How hard is this job going to be? Timeframe?
The car it's fine otherwise, never had a problem with the door. I did wash it sunday, and took it out yesterday. I noticed the window looked different at the bottom where the rubber seal is. Maybe that has something to do with it.
I needed to fix the passenger side window switch anyways

[Porchcar guy]

Check the search funtion as there was a thread recently on a way to do this unlock without going into the door panel.......Good Luck !

[szyzygy]

Ok, I'll search again. I found a couple of threads but they both mentioned having to take the panel off. Il look again when back home and not on this droid.

[Porchcar guy]

Just looked at a number of searches ....
One guy sez...." have you tried to manipulate the latch back into normal position as you depress the exterior door handle?"
Worth a try !! There is a lot of info on keyless entry problems. Good Luck !!

[madmmac]

http://www.porschedoorhandles.com/Instructions.pdf

[Bob Kontak]

Originally Posted by Porchcar guy

Just looked at a number of searches ....
One guy sez...." have you tried to manipulate the latch back into normal position as you depress the exterior door handle?"
Worth a try !! There is a lot of info on keyless entry problems. Good Luck !!

Pull the outside door handle trigger first. If it is working it will pop back.

[szyzygy]

thanks for that pdf - I got everything off. Now I'm trying to figure out what to do next. I can feel around in there but not sure how to pop it free. It seems that removing the latch will be kinda hard, like the window guide bars will be in the way. Maybe take those out first to get to the latch.

[szyzygy]

I tried moving the latch cam on the door back into place while squeezing the door trigger latch. No dice. That thing is jammed. I can still turn it a little counterclockwise, but that's it.

[Porchcar guy]

Have you tried all combinations of the exterior door handle squeeze + key turn + remote click + interior handle pull and manipulating the latch cam ??? ...I know, you need 4 hands :=)

[szyzygy]

Ok, I fixed it. Got the panel off and was able to stick a screwdriver where the spring is on the backside of the latch. I popped it up, and with my other hand on the outside of the door, turned the cam back to the proper position.
Sprayed some WD40 in there for good measure.

I think the issue was there is an alarm rod that became unattached to the main locking rod. The alarm rod has a little hex screw that is used to tighten it to the main rod and it was loose. So I put it back and tightened it up. There was also a little rubber thing that was on the main lock rod, and there was a spot in the door panel where it looked like it was supposed to go, so I wedged it in there. I bet it's some sort of noise reducing piece.

I opened and closed the door, and locked and unlocked it many times, seems to work like a charm now. Actually sounds and feels better than before.

Thanks for your help everyone.

On a relate topic, is there a way to open up the window switch thing? My passenger side won't go up (unless you apply a ton of force to it).