Dutch Door Woes

[CaptSquid]

The 98 AWD Stro that I'm picking up has a problem with the bottom dutch doors. The top opens nicely and the struts are strong. But the bottom doors don't budge.

The question that comes to mind is... Is there an electrical solenoid on the bottom latch? Or could there possibly be a jammed latch?

[astrozam]

more than likely a jammed latch, I always had problems with my lower DD's

[CaptSquid]

So how do I unjam the jam?

[astrozam]

pull the panels off, remove the plastic membrane, reach up into the hole and move the latch.

[CaptSquid]

Driver or passenger side?

[Rileysowner]

I had sticky bottom dutch doors until I replace the handle after it broke. After that they worked fine, and still do years later. No idea what the difference was, maybe I moved something back where it should be. Lube it up well once you get it open and make sure the door handle is hooked up internally correctly.

The doors on mine work this way. The passenger side door latches at the bottom to the door frame, and the driver's side door latches to the passenger side door IIRC.

[GnarliSafari]

try spraying grease in there too first, if they arent lubed good they straight up dont work.

[astrozam]

Driver or passenger side?

Drivers if I recall

[LiftedAWDAstro]

Passenger side is the one that opens first...same as the barn doors.

[GnarliSafari]

no, passenger side opens first it has the license plate and the door handle, just like the barn doors.

[astrozam]

True, the passenger side has the latch but the latch catches on the drivers door, that is why you need to reach up into the drivers side to unlatch it.

[LiftedAWDAstro]

no, passenger side opens first it has the license plate and the door handle, just like the barn doors.

Man I am dumb...well I posted it this morning after working all night. I was thinking you grab the latch right by the license plate and open that door first but I wrote the driver side down.

[CaptSquid]

BRAIN FART!

[GnarliSafari]

True, the passenger side has the latch but the latch catches on the drivers door, that is why you need to reach up into the drivers side to unlatch it.

the latch is in the passenger door, the drivers door just has the posts that it catches so you would still need to pull the panel off of that one and manually unlatch it from inside first. then reach in the drivers door and unlatch that one, its latch is on the bottom of the door and the post is in the door sill.

[CaptSquid]

I paid a visit to the stealership today to pick up an exploded diagram of the dutch door assembly.. The Wunderkind behind the counter had hearing problems. First, he brought out the diagram for the slider! Then, he brought out the diagram for barn doors. Finally, he seemed to understand that I wanted the diagrams for the DUTCH doors. Sheesh!

Anyway, I got the inside panel pried back far enough to look inside as I pulled on the handle. All the linkages seem to be working. However, there appears to be a solenoid just above the latch mechanism. I didn't have my meter handy, so I couldn't find out if I was on the right track and see if 12 vdc was being applied to said solenoid. Provided Mother Nature cooperates today, I'll see if I'm going in the right direction.

On a brighter note, a local body shop was good enough to pull out the passenger fender so that it was not impeding the opening of that door.