'86 240 wagon door stuck.

[RgrF]

I've had this dinosaur for a long, long time and the age is showing. Left rear passenger door got progressivly harder to open from the outside, eventually would only open from the interior handle. Now that handle is frozen. Won't move.

I attributed it to a broken mechanism but later found from my son that he had moved a small lever situated just under the door lockplate. After that the interior door handle wouldn't move.

Looking at the other rear door I found the lever but wasn't feeling adventurous enough to touch it. Is this some sort of child protection lock devise? That sounds improbable since it can't be acccessed once the door is closed.

No such lever on the front doors. Any idea what this switch is for or if it might even be involved in the problem?

[Kmaniac in California USA]

The small lever you describe sounds to me like the child protective lock. Activation of the level prevents passengers from opening the door from the inside. Passengers like little children who try to open the door when the car is moving down the road. A great feature to keep children and others contained inside the vehicle as long as the outside door handle works. But in your situation, not a good thing.

You should contact a repair shop or towing service who would have a Slim Jim available to try to open the door. I don't know of any other way unless you destroy the door or interior panels.

[waynej]

when you go for many years without lubing the latch assembly the doors get hard or impossible to open. When they are really hard a slim jim will usually not work and you can do damage trying.You should be able to remove the trim on the inside of the B pillar and unbolt the hinges and lift the door off. The latch assembly is held on with 2 Allen head screws. Make sure you have the right size Allen tool. I got mine at NAPA the part # is NB 106M. I mount it on a 10 inch extension with a long handled 3/8 ratchet on the other end.The extension helps to hold it square with the screw. If you use a cheap little Allen wrench it will roll to the side and ruin the screw, then you get to use a drill and Easy-out, and buy a new screw. I suggest you lube the other 3 doors soon.When you get the latch assembly off, you pry the plastic cover off the metal part. I use 20/50 synthetic oil on the turning parts and synthetic grease on the sliding parts. Synthetic last 5 or more years, regular oil is 1 to 2 years. Put the cover back on and re-attach to door.Good luck.