Chevy Silverado 2003 Door Lock problem

I like working on automobiles when it is something I want to do, not when I have to. Recently, I went to lunch with my wife at The String Bean in Richardson. When I got to the restaurant I let my wife out at the restaurant door and went to park. When I finished parking the driver side door wouldn’t open. The remote, manual and key would not open the lock. I had to slide across to the driver side door to exit. I promise you a 6’9" 300 lbs guy should not be sliding across to exit anything. It must have been comical to watch. I had to slide back in to drive home.

After lunch I drove home and parked the Silverado and slid out again. After going to dinner in the wife’s car, I decided to wait until today to investigate the problem. After some google and YouTube work I determined it was the locking mechanism. Here’s what I found on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gIFQyUG91qA. Of course, my door was shut so I had to attempt this over the open window. After a little while, I got the bolts, clips and covers removed and the door panel would partially come off. It was not a fun task. I dropped a 10mm socket into the door and had a few other “crap” things that just happen issues.

I managed to grab the linkage cable and pulled on the unlocked door handle and it opened, but just as it did I bumped the door and it shut again. Murphy right? I got it open again and removed the panel completely. It was a good feeling to have the door apart.

This is the broken part.

The part that anchors the inside handle was broken away from the cover assembly which freed the cable from the door so the door stayed locked.

I’ve ordered the part kit from Amazon and it is supposed to be here today. Amazon is really amazing since a trip to the auto parts store/dealer would take another 2 hours from my day.

Now I just have an hour or so when the part arrives to put the door back on. (Famous last words) Turns out it is much easier with the door open than shut.

Apparently this is not an uncommon problem because there are at least 20+ youtube videos on the subject.

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Wow a door not opening from the inside is a super scary thought. Why do they make mission critical parts from super cheap plastic…?

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you answered your own question …

Plastic is super cheap.
Quality and longevity are not in GM’s (nor most) production equation

Just wait until you have to tackle this problem on the rear door where someone has enabled the “child lock” safety feature…and the you are the unfortunate tech or good neighbor that has to open the rear door in a non destructive way to replace a “super cheap plastic” door lock actuator that has failed and let the cable loose - so neither inside nor outer handle opens the damned door.

There should be a special place is hell with these kinds of doors to fix for automotive engineers to go to when they die…

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As an update, I installed the part today and completed the door reassembly. The door and locks work perfectly now, but I have no real confidence in this not happening again since the replacement part is designed to depend upon a plastic collar to leverage against a spring and the handle to open the door.

Regardless, nothing ever goes as planned and it took longer than it should have to fix the door, but mostly because I assembled the door initially without connecting the cable, which opens the door to the handle. I had to re-remove it and attach. It never pays to get in a hurry.

At least I can get in and out of the old Silverado now.

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