Driver's door won't unlock on her 95 Riv.

And now a new topic. Driver's door won't unlock. Can't do it with the electric switches, altho you can hear it clicking in the door. same with using the key. You can feel it turn to lock the door, but when you turn the key to unlock it, it comes up hard against the lock. Didn't want to break key in lock, so reached in and used the manual lock and the key at the same time. It's coming up against something rock solid. Any suggestions before I take it to an autobody guy? He says he can fix it. My thought is how do you get to the inner panel if you can't get the door open?

This sounds to me like the classic riv door handle/lock issue. There might be a thread on it somewhere, but I'll give you what I know here.

In a nutshell, the handle is still "pulled". Even though you have pushed the door handle back down. The riv door won't unlock if the handle is "pulled" The mechanism in the riv door handle is prone to corrosion so that the internal spring no longer has the oomph to move the rod that runs from the door handle down the inside of the door back to it's "up position." Also sometimes the plastic tab in the door handle against the spring can break as well, but I don't think that is your issue. The only proper fix is removing the door handle and cleaning things up and getting it all moving again. Not super hard, but a bit of a pain. But the door panel needs to come off inside to get at all the bits needed and to get the handle out.

The hard bit is getting the door open. You have a few things you can try. First I'd try rapidly jiggling the lock latch inside back and forth. Sometimes this will work the locking mech enough to allow the door to unlock if things are close. Don't force it, otherwise the locking latch inside the door can be damaged. If that fails what you can do is manually pull up the rod where it joins the locking mech down from the door handle. I did this for 6 months for my passenger door that had the same problem. You need a bit of metal coat hanger a bit longer than a foot long. Bend a handle at one end, and a hook at the other. Stick it down between the glass and the door about right where the door handle is. Swing it around to find where it will hook. About 1 foot down you should be able to feel it solidly hook the locking mech rod/arm. Pull up, and it will move the door handle latch rod back into the proper "up" position. Not much force is needed as you are basically helping the existing spring to return the rod where it needs to go. Once its back in the up position you will be able to unlock and open the door.

If this works, you will become my new Riviera hero. I'll give it a try. Thanks......

Oh, and the coat hanger trick is easier with the window mostly down.

Thanks a million to Karma,,,,,,,,, Didn't even have to use my beautiful stainless steel hook that I manufactured to try the hooking thing. All I had to do was the jiggle the door lock thing and the door unlocked. She is happy. Now I have to pull the door panel and get out the Lanacote, and the LPS 3 and maybe a little Tri Flo.

My door wouldn't open.  Drivers side.  1998 Riv.  About 4 years ago I replace the cheesy broken plastic outside handle, and neglected to hook up the latching mechanism for the door lock, relying on the key fob and passenger side door to get me IF i ever needed to get in.  Reason for not hooking it up proper was I was a noobie and didn't take pictures and couldn't figure out how to do it.  Fast forward.  I have become VERY INTIMATE with removing door panels, much more than I ever wanted to know, due to the top of the door panel flying out about 2 inches when I closed (ok, slammed the door shut).  I finally figured out there were two plastic fingers or hooks at the top of the panel that grabbed the door frame and were broken off.  I found a Riv in a Portland, OR junkyard and was able to graft a new panel by replacing much of the soft trim, such as the carpet strip (best lubricate the plastic shafts that the small aluminum nuts wind on to hold it in place.  Long story short, I thought I was finally done with ever removing that panel.  Well, door wouldn't unlock from the inside or obviously, outside.  Tried jiggling the OUTSIDE handle about 30 times...nothing, then used the fob to lock the door, then pushed to UNLOCK, and VIOLA (French...wah lah), it opened.  OK, tomorrow I'm off to the junkyard in Portland as they got a black '98 Riv and it's my intention to photograph the interior of the door latch mechanism and fix mine.  As for the "spring mechanism", anyone have any clues what else to grab?

I'd grab the little pads that the window guides on, if they're still there. They have a tendency to wear out which causes the window to rattle when it's halfway down/up. Hell, take the whole damn door. Once the pivot wears out on the "X" frame for the window, it will shake and rattle also. Those parts are absolutely unobtainium new.

EyeDoc1 wrote:

My door wouldn't open.  Drivers side.  1998 Riv.  About 4 years ago I replace the cheesy broken plastic outside handle, and neglected to hook up the latching mechanism for the door lock, relying on the key fob and passenger side door to get me IF i ever needed to get in.  Reason for not hooking it up proper was I was a noobie and didn't take pictures and couldn't figure out how to do it.  Fast forward.  I have become VERY INTIMATE with removing door panels, much more than I ever wanted to know, due to the top of the door panel flying out about 2 inches when I closed (ok, slammed the door shut).  I finally figured out there were two plastic fingers or hooks at the top of the panel that grabbed the door frame and were broken off.  I found a Riv in a Portland, OR junkyard and was able to graft a new panel by replacing much of the soft trim, such as the carpet strip (best lubricate the plastic shafts that the small aluminum nuts wind on to hold it in place.  Long story short, I thought I was finally done with ever removing that panel.  Well, door wouldn't unlock from the inside or obviously, outside.  Tried jiggling the OUTSIDE handle about 30 times...nothing, then used the fob to lock the door, then pushed to UNLOCK, and VIOLA (French...wah lah), it opened.  OK, tomorrow I'm off to the junkyard in Portland as they got a black '98 Riv and it's my intention to photograph the interior of the door latch mechanism and fix mine.  As for the "spring mechanism", anyone have any clues what else to grab?

while you are pulling parts off that 98 you should take the door latches too. They have a special locking feature that's also now unobtainable.