2009 Yukon XL Denali - Rear Drivers Door Won’t Open

[KraftMatic87]

So in my pic here the red line that should be up all the way and either of the green lines should open the door. Maybe the child safety lock is enabled?

View attachment 410070

I have pulled on the exterior door latch and it won’t pop open the door. I didn’t check if child safety lock was enabled when I installed the actuator so that might be part of my problem. But the exterior handle should still open the door when it is in the unlock position. I’ve been fighting with this for two days if I can’t figure it out today I’m just going to wait to bring it to the shop. What a pain in the ass lol

 

[89Suburban]

I have pulled on the exterior door latch and it won’t pop open the door. I didn’t check if child safety lock was enabled when I installed the actuator so that might be part of my problem. But then exterior handle should still open the door when it is in the unlock position. I’ve been fighting with this for two days if I can’t figure it out today I’m just going to wait to bring it to the shop. What a pain in the ass lol

Is the linkage moving? It could be misadjusted. Pop that orange clip open and move the lever by hand.

 

[KraftMatic87]

Is the linkage moving? It could be misadjusted. Pop that orange clip open and move the lever by hand.

That’s what isn’t working. I have opened the door this way before and it worked in the past but when I try and move the lever now by hand nothing happens. Really at a loss what to do hopefully the shop can figure it out. Don’t know how I managed to replace handles on three of my doors perfectly and the one I replace an actuator on is the one that won’t work now FML

 

[KraftMatic87]

Somehow got it open ! I pulled up on the interior door catch and it finally opened. The child lock was NOT activated so I’m really wondering what could be causing this to not open on the inside or outside. Any thoughts or advice would be appreciated.

 

[89Suburban]

Somehow got it open ! I pulled up on the interior door catch and it finally opened. The child lock was NOT activated so I’m really wondering what could be causing this to not open on the inside or outside. Any thoughts or advice would be appreciated.



View attachment 410079

View attachment 410080

Take it back out and inspect it's operation. I would absolutely not use that one again assuming it was properly installed and linkage properly adjusted. Exchange/replace.

 

[KraftMatic87]

I got the door to open from both inside and outside but now it won’t latch shut! Any ideas? Both the exterior and interior door handles work to unlatch the actuator as shown in the video, but when the door closes the latch doesn’t engage and hold the door shut. At least I can open it now. Going to tie the door closed with several bungee cords for now until I can get it to the shop tomorrow morning. I’m just happy I was able to get the door open but I have to pick up my kids so my wrenching time today is up.

I found a shop close to me that is going to look at it tomorrow morning, I’m officially throwing in the towel. If they need to replace with another actuator I’ll pay whatever I need to not have to open up this door panel again, especially when the door is locked shut!

 

[91RS]

Buy an OEM one.

 

[KraftMatic87]

Buy an OEM one.

My mistake was buying a Dorman product. Never again lol

Got a quote from the shop for close to $1000 to fix this so I’m returning my actuator for an AC Delco one and getting a new door handle.

 

[Geotrash]

My mistake was buying a Dorman product. Never again lol

Lots of Dorman parts or equal to or better than OEM, in my experience. But like any vendor, they have their duds, too. I'm running a Dorman throttle body on my '07 for 40K miles now and a Dorman compressor for the rear suspension for almost that long and both have been terrific.

 

[91RS]

I disagree. I don’t think any Dorman part I’ve installed felt anywhere near the quality of OEM.

 

[KraftMatic87]

I finally got this resolved. I was able to get the Dorman lock actuator to work. The issue was that the rod that connects the outside door handle to the actuator was rubbing against the inside of the door, keeping the actuator from re-engaging the lock latch once the door closed. I was able to bend the rod slightly so that the tip was pointing towards the inside of the vehicle, allowing the rod to move up and down freely and not get stuck in the open position.

I’m at least thankful GM made these door panels so easy to remove, even when they are stuck closed! Glad this problem is finally put to rest.

 

[5StarCustmSolutns]

Nice Video Pete! I've done this multiple times now. Not used the torch but have had to retrieve my built in nuts and JB Weld them back into place.

This is also a very good testament to how cheap and brittle the grade plastic used is... That torch isnt on there but a few seconds yet the plasti-chrome is near liquid form.


**Another repair I've made a couple times, and made it a little better each time is to the area INSIDE this spring.

There's a cross pin that runs through the center of the whole spring/latch release apparatus here Ive highlighted with 2 Yellowish Orangeish Gold arrows. There's a LOT of forces being enacted right here and its far enough from the two anchor points that, if they're loose at all, it can allow enough flexion to cause the spring to rotate out of position, to not do it's job properly...

What I did was cut a small piece of tubing to go in the void space: Inside the coils of the spring and Around the shiny center shaft pin.
The pin with the two YellOrangGoldish arrows.

So you're inserting a piece of stout rubber or plastic hose, that is just barely longer than the coil spring, long enough to fit the space(maybe .70" IIRC?) that is just barely smaller than I.D. of spring coils....... and has an I.D. of it's own that is just larger than O.D. of center shaft pin...

Said actions drastically reduce the rotational ability of the spring/release apparatus.....loose anchors or not

Hope I explain that in an understandable manner?