brakedrum

Been a while since posting, but I have a problem with my old 93 Accord EX.

Something has broken or come lose in my drivers door and I cannot enter or exit the car through it. I was able to work the door panel off from inside the car, but don't know what to try. I have moved several rods, but nothing happens. At first I thought it was the retaining clip on the rod connected to the interior latch handle, but its not that. Something deeper has gone wrong beyond rod.

Does anybody happen to know where I might find a schematic that shows how that whole latch mechanism moves, and what is attached to what. I really need to get that door open to find out what's wrong and fix or replace it, and I prefer not to use a shop. At this point, any suggestion for getting the door open, even if I have to break something that can be fixed again, is welcome.

Tremor95

The factory service manual has a diagram for the door panel (under Body>Door), have a look at that first before you start breaking stuff off, maybe you can paint yourself a better picture of what you're dealing with first.

brakedrum

Thanks for pointing that out. I have a CD (somewhere) with that manual on it. Once I know how it's assembled, I think I can reach in there and push, pull or turn the right thing to free the door from the latch.

tech8

See this old TSB.

brakedrum

Okay, that's good information. Now I can stop banging up my hands trying to reach back in there and operate that latch manually. Earlier this afternoon I decided I would likely need to drill something, but wasn't sure what to drill.

Looking at that photo, I don't think I am seeing that view yet. I need to peel or cut away a lot more of the vapor barrier. This car has a lot more steel than the newer ones and it is not easy to get to stuff inside the door.

Somebody actually told me they had heard of this procedure being done by the dealership and that it cost over $500, and the door panel was ripped onto pieces and had to be replaced.. Well I got my door panel off without damaging it, except for the plastic push screw on the right side. And I did break the tweeter off of a garden variety Pioneer speaker when sliding the panel to the left. but there was no way to avoid that.

Now the hard part begins.

brakedrum

Looking at that photo, do you see the drill point as the solid black circle on the left end of the base of the inverted T? It appear that way to me. I saw a YouTube vid that said drilling has had low success, but I think people are missing the mark with where they drill.



Also, I need to find a replacement latch. They seem to be scarce, or more than scarce. Anybody know a source? Drivers door on 93 Accord EX Sedan

tech8

Use this link to see images saved with the Wayback Machine. The spot is along the line near the "/" of the 1/16 marking.

https://web.archive.org/web/20210422...oor-stuck-shut

tech8

brakedrum

I understand now. Thanks again.

brakedrum

For a cleaner shot at that latch, how is the window track removed. I can't seem to find where it is anchored. Update, I found how it is anchored.

One thing I noticed is that there is already a small hole at almost the exact spot recommended for drilling out the bad latch. Perhaps Honda added that after this problem was reported on prior generations. I am the original owner of this Accord and have never touched that latch.

I am going to try to get this latch out intact, and perhaps try to fix it afterwards. Finding a replacement seems less and less likely, and I need to be able to lock the car in some situations.

brakedrum

Back on this again and having trouble. I guess I'm in the hell zone on the task. The metal window channel is in the way of getting a clear shot at drilling the latch and I can't figure out a way to remove it. The door can't be opened, and the bottom screw to loosen that channel at the rear of the door is below the part of the door I can reach, but it is visible. When I stick a wrench in there and I loosen it a little, it hits the body of the car and won't turn further. The bolt for the front side of the channel is reachable and can be fully removed.

I'm going to take the glass out tomorrow or this weekend, but once done, how is that channel mounted in and can I move it out of the way of the door latch without damaging the channel? I know it is bolted in at the bottom, but what holds it on the top?

Once I lift the glass out, and maybe somehow get both front and rear channel bolts out, can I just pull that channel out of the door, or is it welded in somehow at the top? I don't see any bolts holding it on the top. I really only need the bottom of it out of the way for a short time to work on the latch. I'm not talking about the rubber part, but the steel structure that the rubber is seated in that the window glides up and down in. .

brakedrum

Post #3 in this oldie post helps me a lot. Same year model too.

https://honda-tech.com/forums/honda-...-bent-2022412/

brakedrum

I was able to wiggle the bottom bolt out of the window channel between the door and the bottom rubber door seal, but it turns out my window channel is continuous, and is welded somewhere up at the top of the door frame. That explains why those channels are rarely, if ever. salvaged. They are part of the door. That also tells me to not bend or warp the channel unless I have a door handy if the window on mine no longer goes up and down properly.

The lower bolt out lets me move that channel away from the door latch a little bit without hurting it, which will make a little easier to drill the latch, but I am still uneasy about drilling it, and would like to release the latch by working the internal mechanism. I just need room to do it. If I do drill it, and it fails, I am not equipped to shred that latch while it's inside the door, and would end up at a shop, even after all this trouble.

brakedrum

I did get the door opened in early spring but it was so frustrating that I never updated this post. Nothing to really feel much satisfaction about after trying and failing so many times. I also wasted a lot of time trying to manipulate the latch with picks and kitchen tools and stuff. When this model latch breaks inside, it needs to be drilled out.

The drilling into that hole, or in the spot recommended in the bulletin, is correct, but the method of drilling isn't made clear. Once the drill bit is in that bottom part, it is in contact with the piece that clamps onto the strike plate, but if you drill too fast at that point, it will go right on through and no longer bite. I went through all the bit sizes recommended, but still had no success. The key is to slow down when the drill bogs some, and use more low speed torque. I bought an 11/32 bit (a size I would never have thought about buying) and stuck it in there. When it got to the right spot, I stopped and wiggled it a little while applying small bursts of torque. The door opened just a little bit, but was still latched. I might have been able to use the drill the rest of the way, but instead I stuck a screwdriver in there and twisted and wiggled it around, and the door popped open. That was also recommended in the 2006 WaybackMachine post provide here by Tech8. Again, getting it opened was a good moment, but after over 4-months, it was nothing to be too proud of.

Installing the replacement latch was a challenge too, but I got it done. Best to take off the longest rod. It releases the same as it does up at the interior handle. Don't bolt the latch to the door until you get everything attached to it. Definitely attach the exterior handle from outside the door, and make sure the weather gasket is seated firmly. It has some rubber prongs visible when it is in seated properly. Haynes book recommends putting protective tape on the exterior door so it isn't damaged when you twist the handle in circular motion to thread it onto the rod that has the machine type threads. Its an interesting little puzzle to assemble, but done logically, its not too difficult. I will say that I think the latching system on cars is the most overengineered system I have seen. No wonder its such a pain when the latch fails internally.

Note that I found that the steel window track can be easily removed to make it easier to work on the bad latch. Early on, I was able to get to the bolt and turn it with an open end wrench in the small space between the shut door and the car body. If you reach around and push the track towards the outside of the door, the bolt remains viewable unto it is completely free. Then you can pull the rubber part of the window track out of it while pulling down to remove the steel track from where it slots into the upper part of the door. It turned out there are no bolts or welds up there, it just fits into a groove. I think some people bend the steel track due to not understanding how its assembled, which creates window movement problems later on. When I was done, I couldn't find the blind spot the steel track slots into, so I took out the glass. That let me see where it goes. Position the steel track where the lower bolt goes, and that will show the only place the upper part fits in. Push the rubber window track back into it. It's not necessary to pull out more than an inch or so of that track from the upper part of the door window frame, but the lower part can be completely hung out of the way once the steel track is out.

So for those who still have these old cars, and perhaps a latch yet to fail, the process in the bulletin Tech8 linked earlier does work. Just work slowly in that recommended spot and you'll get it. But don't take as long as I did.

I'm not sure about the sizes of these pics; sorry if they are gigantic.


Recommended drilling spot

Back side of the bolt the holds the steel track

Space open end wrench can be used to remove the steel track