Door will not unlock/open (passenger)
 

my front passenger door will not unlock therefor wont open. how do i go about getting the door open? is the actuator done for? there is no resistance on the inside door handle. thank you

Sounds like you have an electrical problem or a faulty door regulator.You'll need to pry open the door panel to narrow the problem. Check the 3G garage for instructions, very easy task.

i dont think its an electrical problem. i think the regulator (or actuator? same thing?) went out. would that make it stay in the locked position? also, i found the 3G garage on how to take the door panel off but not how to get my door open in order to take the panel off

Yes, if the regulator is faulty and the door is in the lock position, it will stay locked. If it's in the unlock position, it will stay unlocked. Have you try manually pulling the door lever on the top? If so, and if that doesn't work, it's a loose part that came off within the panel and not the regulator.

is the regulator the same thing as the actuator? i've tried pulling outside lever (will not open), pulling inside lever (no resistance on door handle), pulling up on the little lock thing (will not go up)

just noticed that it seems like the lock is trying to unlock but it wont. it goes up a little bit. i have attached a video of whats going on http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zv64E-lsvGA

bump

Not electrical, happened to me a couple of months ago. Take door panel off and follow the cable from the handle and you will find that it prob just popped out of the actuator harness.

i cant get the door open tho

You should be able to open it from the outside.

no it won open (passenger side also has no keyhole)

has anyone seen this before? is it a loose connection or something actually bad? the lock does go up and down, just not enough

bump
anyone know how i can get my door open?

WHOLY CRAP! yes I noticed the same thing on my car today. The only keyhole is on the drivers side only! What if the drivers side does that!!! SHEOT! That happened to me today. I walked around the car and fortuneately the passenger side opened so I reached across and opened the drivers side door from the inside.. Made me feel stupid.

But this is what happened to me. I unlocked the trunk to put in my laptop after work. I closed the trunk and pressed unlock. And I pulled the drivers door and it did not move. I pulled again and still nothing. I pressed Unlock and pulled and nothing! I pressed unlock again and pulled and it would not move! So I LOCKED it.. then unlocked it.. and pulled. and the door became Ajar. But it would not open all the way! How weird! I was confused. So at this point the door would open about 1" but not fully release. So, I decided to use the key.. and the key WOULD NOT open it! So, I looked on the back door and no keyhole! I walked aroudn the car, and no KEYHOLE on the passenger side.. What a TRIP! Sooo... I pressed unlock on the passenger side and pulled and it opened! YAY!! I reached across and pulled the handle and it opened.. YAY!! So while the car was unlocked, I opened and closed the drivers side door a few times and there was no issue! wierd. I locked and unlocked it and opened it and no issue! Hmmmm.. So I go home and try it at home.. Still no problem at home.. So I have NO Idea what happened when I left work. The door just would not open manually or even unlocking with the remote. I twisted the key left and right at work and it never did unlock the door. I had to walk around and thankfully the remove unlocked all the other doors I assume.. And no the battery is not weak. Something with these doors is not fully manual! Its like Toyota's all electronic accelerator pedal.. yikes!! and I still dont know what to think.

As for your problem, I would drive by a dealer and show them the problem and ask if they know a way to open it. Calling them wont do any good. Or maybe try and remove the panel with the door closed. Not sure if that is possible. I cant remember everything about these removal of the door panel off the top of my head.

Man i'm seriously thinking about getting another car!!!

BTW, you did try to pull up on the lock right? haha I had to ask.

And this is a total shot in the dark, but if these door locks are all electronic, and controlled by a brain.. then you may try disconnecting the battery for a few minutes and then reconnecting it. Like reset the system. But you would think that the locking lever at the top of the panel is all MANUAL. So, I don't know why it's not opening.

Sounds like the actuator or electrical $$$

I have the same problem on my 05. What I do when that happens is reach from the driver side and push down on the lock and usually it has a little room to move down (engage). Then I immediately pull it up to the unlock position then have someone outside pull the door open and usually that works. My guess as to what caused this problem was someone trying to open the door right when I unlocked it and therefore disconnecting the door lock from the actuator. I haven't fixed it yet but after you guys pointing out that there wouldn't be a way to open it if it's stuck, I think I'll tackle it this weekend. Let me know if this works for you.

mannn same exact crap is happening to me right now! Earlier this month I came home, pulled the handle and the door wouldn't open, after taking it apart I come to find the friggen cable from the handle to the actuator snapped?!?! who the hell designed that retarded part?! Now I know I live in New England and it gets cold around here but thats no excuse for the most important cable in the door to snap! what the hell acura?! this is a far cry from a luxury car if you ask me, especially after having to replace the tranny and having the heater motor give out. Piece of friggen crap, i'm not ever buying a stupid acura ever agian in my life.

Anyways, I bought a new cable and went about replacing it, took tha actuator out AND APART just to install the cable. Gosh I would love to meet the lummox who designed this system and thought it was a brilliant idea. So one hour and having gotten the thing in, now the drivers door is permanently locked. Does that stupid thing where you hit unlock but it only budges a bit. idk what i'm gonna do now, comtemplating driving this poor excuse for a luxury car off of a cliff.

Bump....this just happened to my drivers door. I cannot open the door. I pulled the inside handle and it has no effect. Same with the exterior handle. pulling up on the knob..nothing works. Can the door panel be removed if the door will not open?

What did you guys do that had this same problem?

Drivers door?
Can't you just put the key in and open it?
But to answer your question, no the panel can not be removed if the door is closed. Well, technically it can..but you will damage it and have to replace it ($500ish)


This is how i got my passenger door opened:
- rolled the window down
- wrapped the lock knob with a towel and clamped a vice grip to it
- pulled up on knob and pulled on exterior handle at same time

It might take a little bit of strength

Thanks for the response. No the key had no effect either. I just dropped it off at a Honda dealer. I'll post what they tell me was the problem and what it cost to fix. :(

This exact same thing happened to me tonight on my passenger door. It's exactly as you described. Neither the outside or inside door handle have any affect, and the lock is stuck in the locked position. It actually happened as i parked the car and a passenger got out. I think someone was talking earlier about the cable unlatching when someone opens the door at the same time it unlocks? Thats probably what happened. Anyways, for me, when it first happened the door would not shut. So i pushed the lock down, and then the door shut. Now i cant get it open :/

Update
 

Well, it's been really cold around here. I also just got my car washed yesterday, and any water that the towel driers missed was frozen soon after. So, before I whipped out the vice grips and started tearing my door apart, I decided to park it in my heated warehouse to let it "thaw" out a bit, and see if that would changed anything with my door that wouldn't open. After my car thawed, i tried to unlock the door with the remote and the lock popped right up. The door opens perfectly from the inside and outside. Im so glad that nothing was broke. Now i just need to get some stuff from Autozone to spray on the door to keep this from happening again!

It's a faulty lock actuator.


It's fairly common. I talked to my friend whose a tech at Acura and he had to do it on my car. Rear passenger door was closed and wouldn't open from inside or outside and I couldn't pull the knob to unlock it manually either.

He somehow removed the door Panel and accessed the lock actuator to replace it without opening the door. Cost me 220$ including parts. He said the dealer charges 800+ usually. If you got yours open you should replace that actuator. It's only 50 bucks or so on acuraoemparts.com....I'd do it for the piece of mind.


Pretty shitty.

I'm not sure if my lock actuator is broken because it works now that my car was warmed up. If the actuator was broken, wouldn't it stay locked until I replaced it?

Ok guys, im dealing with the same problem. Followed post above.

Here is what you can try it worked for me.

Remove plastic piece that attaches to lock near window.

Stick a needle nose plier in the hole and grab on the latch and pull up
then pull outside handle at the same time. Door opened for me.

Almost called a locksmith service, but got it open now. Thanks Acurazine !

im having the same problem except I hear a weird clinking noise coming from the door panel (driver rear) like something snapped or something and is moving around kind of a metal on metal noise. what happened was I took it to a tint shop working just fine from the outside (not inside) and when I got it back it didn't open at all. stealership said it could cost up to 800 bucks or more if they had to replace a door panel and lock actuator but I don't want to pay that much. is there any way to get part of the door panel off without breaking it or do I have to have the door open and it all comes off as one piece? any help would be hugely appreciated

by the way its an 05 if that makes a difference

Tint shop may have knocked one of the cable latches off the hook.
Open the door completely, with the manual trick mentioned above .

Check for any cables loose or not in place first, it will save some money
The cable latches are about 15 dollars . There is a inner latch cable that connects
To the inner door handle and outer that connects to the actuator .

If can't open door with manual trick this is what I did.

Get into car and sit in broken door side .
Remove plastic molding that goes all along the door.
You can remove screws from inside door handle of you like.
Pry door panel thats near the lower center pillar enough
To stick you hand in there . A extra hand would help.
Pull up or push down on that latch cable that's connected
To the door lock actuator. That should open door, now you can take
Apart door panel to see whats really broke .

I dealt with this problem for 2 months . Hope this helps it is really
Frustrating I know the feeling.

This is happening to my car door as well. Last time when the "Polar vortex" hit my door wouldn't lock for 3 days, now with temps at 0, its happening again. Is there a permanent fix for the door freezing up?

I had this same problem after I washed my car.. It's quite cold here in Minnesota.. the door initially wouldn't close, then once I got it to close, it wouldn't open. I put it in a heated garaged and left it for a while and it works perfectly now..

Looks like I need to get my car in a heated garage! lol



~Cheers~

Could you send me the youtube link for that door locking trying to unlock but it won`t.