I just restored a '65 442 and yesterday shut the driver's door, which was shutting firm and complete. Now it will not open with either inside or outside handles. This is also the case with another '65 Cutlass I have on the passenger side. Also was the case in the past with a '68 442 I had and never fixed it. It seems something broke inside the door latch??? I'm at a loss on where to start. Inside rod is in place, locking rod appears to be working. Any ideas?

 

I will be watching this thread. I have the same problem with the passenger rear door on my 66 wagon. Closed it one day and haven't been able to open it since.

 

I had this happen once on a 1967 Cutlass. There was a thin wire spring, just a couple loops in the latch mechanism that broke. If your problem is the same you'd need to go through the door panel to see the broken spring.

 

But the question is how to get the door open to replace the latch?

 

Iveseen this mentioned in the past you need to remove the door panel…..not good on a just restored car, where the door wont open.

ive also read that maybe rapid repeated locking and unlocking of the door lock may allow you to open the door, or spraying lots of lubricant into anywhere you can get may help.

when the drivers side of my old 71 did it, the car was for sale (needed complete resto). I sold it like that ! ( hey its a option ). Good luck

 

Yes, as RetroRanger said you'd have to remove the door panel if it is the spring that's causing the problem. Since its a post car it might be difficult rolling the window all the way down and trying to reach in with a hook to activate the latch release. If you haven't tried that yet it might be worth looking at.

 

Roger try prying up from bottom of door on the inside to jiggle it while somebody pulls on it. I think it’s just stuck and this might get it to pop open. Wish I could help you with it but good luck

 

I'm thinking you need to get something down the window opening to hook the door release

 

roger,did you ever get your door open? what was it and how did you fix it. inquiring minds want to know

 

I haven't made time to deal with it.Will try and get to it next month.

 

I had this happen once or twice on my 67. Mine was just a simple issue. All I had to do was lock and unlock it a couple times. I thought I was just having a senior moment the first time. Apparently if you close the door with the lock mechanism somewhere between the lock and unlock position, like bumping the lock **** while closing the door, the release button/lever won't work. Try moving the lock button up and down firmly a couple times and see what happens.

 

This happened to my 65. I pulled front seat out from passenger door and pulled door panel off very carefully I have a customer interior so it had a few screws on the bottom I was able to pull down just enough to pull it out of the top trim and remove the panel. I replaced the latch never really looked into why it had a issue hope this helps.

 

Thanks for the information which encouraged me to go look at the car in storage. So I worked the lock stem up and down while working the inside and outside lever and button for many minutes. Finally the door moved out about 1/8 inch so I kept at it until it finally popped open. So I'm changing the latch and hope it doesn't happen again. Now hoping I can get the other '65 car's door to open also.