Hello, I bought a 2002 Dodge Caravan a couple of weeks ago. The locks have had been working fine until just the other day the passenger side sliding door will not unlock automatically or manually. It is completely stuck locked and the door will not open.

I've been searching around online for what the problem might be, and what to expect trying to get the side panel off of the door itself before I go in. But I have not found anything too descriptive or helpful because there seems to be a wide range of problems with the sliding doors.

Does anyone have any insight as to what might be the problem, and the best way to crack open the side of the door open so I can see why the lock cannot move?

I am so tempted to just pry on it, but I do not want to break it any further.

Thanks,
Pete

 

You should be able to take the door panel off with the door closed and get a better look at it. It just snaps off, no screws. I guess I've seen the lock not work power but never sieze up so you can't work it manually. I have seen the seat belt get caught in the door jam so the power latch gets jammed.

 

Pete, did you ever find a solution for your problem? I have a 2006 caravan with the same problem on the drivers side sliding door. I cannot move the lock even if I tried.

Thanks a bunch!

~ Aaron

 

Here is how i found out and solved my problem last week with the sliding doors not continuing to open. I went to this web cite and say utube video.

I went to my 06 van and did what he said and it worked. I spliced in a wire about 5 inches. If it didn't work then i could have just pulled out the wire, about 24 inches and spliced in a new one in its place,because maybe that section i pulled wasn't the section that was broken. but it was. here is the cite:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=705hcJqOf6U
i type in caravan sliding doors in google. i did what he said and it worked last week. still working. there is a section of one of the larger wires that bent more then others. that will be broken inside. cut it out and replace it with similar size. i used electrical tape to splice it in. if you can't find the bend that appears to be broken then remove one of the larger lines that looks bent and replace that whole one for about $1.00 it will be about 24 inches.

go get em--you can do it.

 

Mine was completely jammed, it wouldn't even work manually. All of that stuff was jammed up inside of the door. Removed part of the mechanism since some of the parts were chewed up, now it works just manually. We never lock the doors, so having automatic locks is a non-issue for me. Worst case it can be locked manually..

 

Thanks for the advise, I may just do that. Just one more question: how did you get the door panel off?

 

Very carefully.
REMOVAL
Remove sliding door upper frame molding.
If removing the left sliding door trim panel, remove screw from inside ash receiver bezel.
Remove screw from pull cup.
Disengage push-in fasteners holding trim to door panel around perimeter and upper edge of door.
Remove sliding door trim panel from vehicle.

 

Hi,


Great video for info! Thanks! What gauge or thickness of of wire would you replace with?

 

Hi,


Great video for info! Thanks! What gauge or thickness of of wire would you use to fix it?

Thanks again!

Larry