Hi Scotty,
It's my Mom's car. Low mileage '03 3.0l Sable and she states the driver side door won't open from the outside using the door handle. I suspect it is a broken plastic door rod clip inside the door from my internet searches. I haven't checked it out yet, and they want me to take it in for repair, but i was thinking of having a try at fixing it myself. If you have dealt with this type of issue, do you think the inside door lever still works or are they tied together inside making it inoperable ? I ask because i wonder how i would pull the door panel off if i can't get the door open.
Thanks
Bob
If you fell confident enough in small repairs, go ahead.
Every door panel on any car, isn't hard to remove. Usually its a few screws around the bottom , maybe around the handle and the rest is just plastic clips holding it on the door frame. It probably will need to go up a bit and then just pop off, after you unscrewed any screws.
Its hard to tell, what the symptoms would be, because we don't know whats broken.
It may be some popped of cable linkage going from the handle. However you might have to remove the window, to get to the lock solenoid, if that is the faulty bit.
The inside handle should work independently from the outside handle. Unlock the door and try opening it from the inside. If you can open the door from the inside you can begin the process of taking the door apart and fixing the outside handle. Sometimes the tumbler for the key doesn't line up or freezes up and then the outside handle doesn't open the door. Try putting the key into the door lock and turning it to the open and lock positions. If the key locks and unlocks the door easily, and you still cannot use the outside door handle to open the door; then your next step is to disassemble the door panel and have a look inside. Once you get the inside panel off and you get to the place where you can see the lock mechanism you should be able to tell if it's something simple like a broken plastic rod holder, in which case the rod fell out of it's intended spot, or maybe the key tumbler isn't working properly. Follow the bar that comes from the outside door handle and check to make sure it's attached to the lock mechanism.
@howardtaylor3725
i found the problem. It was a piece of string caught in the door latch. I was able to push the door open from the inside and the string fell out. I didn't believe it was that simple so i pulled off the door panel and checked the mechanisms. There's a cable going to the door latch from the interior's door release. And a rod to the same door latch for the exterior door handle. Both seemed to be working correctly. My folks confirmed it is working properly now. thanks for all your help.