I'm not looking for advice or even sympathy, no, I'm here to do a victory dance! I have a '91 Honda Accord, it's a pretty good car and I haven't had any major problems with it. For the most part it's pretty machanic freindly, as in it's easy to work on. But two weeks ago the drivers side door closed for the last time and would not open no matter what combination of swear words I uttered in it's direction. I began running through the different possible procedures I could use to open the door and replace the latch mechanism, everything from plasma cutters and die grinders to bulldozers and explosives ran through my head. Finally I decided to hit the junk yard up for a replacement latch first and then yank the door panel off. This is not an easy task with the door closed. Anyway once I gained acces to the latch it became clear to me that I need only cut off the mounting bolts from the inside and the latch would come apart, then it would be a simple matter of rolling the actual block of the latch to it's open position and pushing the door open. WRONG! After about 6 hours of drilling, cutting with my Demel tool, utilizing the "F" word the %$#*& latch still wouldn't budge. So in a last ditch effort I used the Dremel to cut the post that the latch attaches to when you close the door. This is the hardened steel loop that is mounted in the door frame. After another 20 minutes of cutting and a small fire from all of the heat and sparks I got it open. Th fire only burned for a few seconds and only damaged parts that were being removed anyway, so it was no big deal. So finally after two weeks of climbing over the passenger seat or out of the window I could open the door. All four of the posts (the one that I cut) are identical on this car so I swaped it with one on the back door and turned it around so that the side without the cut would engage the latch on that door. Then I was able to mount my new latch in the drivers door. All is well now and my door works perfectly. Why did I write this, you may be asking? because I simply cannot believe how much work, bruises and cuts to my poor hands it took to remove one part. I hope to God that I never have to do this again, in fact I think that this is one of the things that people are forced to do in Hell. Anyway, thanks for taking the time to read this, and if the door ever gets stuck on you'r Honda, don't bring it to me.
by TacitBlue » Fri May 23, 2008 11:42 am 
Honda Accord Door Latch Problems
