Front Passenger Door Won't Open!!!

[lwmartin]

Hey all,

I've got a 2001 9-5 2.3Lt, 4 dr. and this past Saturday I was out with a friend when I pulled over and went to put change in the meter. I locked the car but my friend hadn't the front passenger side door completely. Instead of waiting for me to unlock the car so he could open the door he proceeded to "bump" the door all the way shut.

After going to see the Expendables 2 we came back, I unlocked the car, he went to open the door and... nothing. The handle does not seem to engage fully. At first, the lock on the door seemed to stick when I was unlocking it, but now the lock seems to work fine. The other thing I've noticed is that when first unlocked, if you try to open the door it seems to pull down on the lock just slightly, but not fully engage, but after the first try, the handle does not seem to engage at all.

Anyone have any advice or know what might be wrong? I'm in D.C. and live in an apartment building so taking the door off might be an issue. Also, I can't even get the thing open!

Any advice or knowledge is sincerely appreciated.

[Saaber95er]

Remove the door panel and look at the rods for the lock; they have plastic tabs holding the rods a tab could be broken or came loose.

[lwmartin]

Any advice on removing the door panel?

[Saaber95er]

Remove the inner top plastic door molding; remove the 3 bolts, 2 behind the door handle covers, and one behind the lock release handle cover; with a screwdriver pop the door panel out from the bottom/side and lift it off the door.

Originally Posted by lwmartin

Any advice on removing the door panel?

[lwmartin]

I really appreciate the advice and especially the pictures. I also reached out to a local Scandinavian car shop here in D.C. (which quoted me around $300) but they said the biggest challenge would be getting the panel off without being able to open the door. Any advice there or should it be pretty straight forward regardless?

Thanks again!

[Saaber95er]

So you can't ge the door open at all? What happens when you try the doo opener on the inside? Can you hold the tab (to unlock door) and pul the handle at the same time. $300 is too much to get this done.

Originally Posted by lwmartin

I really appreciate the advice and especially the pictures. I also reached out to a local Scandinavian car shop here in D.C. (which quoted me around $300) but they said the biggest challenge would be getting the panel off without being able to open the door. Any advice there or should it be pretty straight forward regardless?

Thanks again!

[lwmartin]

The door handle on the inside is completely limp, and does not engage at all.

[rayodunne]

I just went for a smoke and noticed for the first time that my saab does not have a keyhole on pass side! Oops!
Ignore original post below!

Did you try puting in the key and keeping it turned to open as you are pulling the outside handle? I have to do this with my hatch!

[Saaber95er]

Or have someone push the door from the outside while you try the latch from the inside or vice versa; the lock might be jammed.

[Gunnar]

Remove the little cover on the bolt from the inside door handle.

Remove the T30 torx bolt/screw.

Remove the inner door handle assembly.

You should then be able to yank on the unlock mechanism to open the door.

See video here for a better idea of what I'm talking about.

Saab Window Regulator Roller Replacement (9-5, 9-3, 900 & Volvo 850, S70, V70) - FCP Euro - YouTube

Saab Window Regulator Roller Replacement (9-5, 9-3, 900 & Volvo 850, S70, V70) - FCP Euro - YouTube

[lwmartin]

Originally Posted by Gunnar

Remove the little cover on the bolt from the inside door handle.

Remove the T30 torx bolt/screw.

Remove the inner door handle assembly.

You should then be able to yank on the unlock mechanism to open the door.

See video here for a better idea of what I'm talking about.

Saab Window Regulator Roller Replacement (9-5, 9-3, 900 & Volvo 850, S70, V70) - FCP Euro - YouTube

Thanks Gunnar, that was EXTREMELY helpful! Now let's see if I can do all that with the door closed...

[lwmartin]

HUGE shoutout to Gunnar for the video and the advice. All it took was pulling the door release behind the handle on the inside of the car and it opened right up, and even better... now seems to be functioning properly!

Thanks to everyone else for their advice/help, having a working door is pretty awesome! haha

[Gunnar]

Always glad to help save people money.

Partial thanks go to FCP Euro for doing the video in the first place. (Next time you need to do brakes take a look at their offerings, picked up Brembo rotors for less than Amazon.)

[Dungbeetle12]

I'm not sure what the video shows (I'm at work), but this same thing happened to me. After removing the interior door handle I saw that the cable end pull had just enough play in it that the interior door handle nub would slip out of it when engaged. Someone prior to me had used a zip-tie to close the gap reducing the chance of the nub from slipping out, but it had worn down a little bit. I replaced it with a new, slightly thicker zip-tie and it helped secure the nub and made the interior door handle feel more sturdy and with less play.