UPDATE---2008 Escalade rear passenger door won't open

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Patick

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2008 Escalade--My rear passenger side door will not unlock either manually or electronically. And since it won't unlock it won't open. I can hear the actuator when I try to unlock it electronically. The post for locking and unlocking the door manually is stuck in the lock position and it is stuck hard. Does anybody have any ideas on how I can go about getting this door open so I can fix it? Thanks.

I was able to get it. It took a while to figure out, but it went pretty smooth, considering. I folded the back seat forward and was able to use the hooked end of a plastic pry tool between the door panel and the door itself. I slowly worked the pry tool around the edge of the door panel and gave it a little twist at each of the posts that hold the panel on. After the panel was removed I used a Dremel to cut the metal parts off of the actuator then used a soldering iron to cut through the plastic parts till I reached a part that I could move to unlock the door and open it. I was happy that I could accomplish this without causing any damage.
 
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Joseph Garcia

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I think that you're going to have to take apart the interior trim of the door. Before you do that, take it to your local locksmith, as he/she may have some ideas.
 

repairman54

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Frozen from water intrusion?
I have replaced many Malibu door latch assemblies that would not unlock but never had one that the knob didn't move up/down. Shocking the latch with knob in unlock was the secret on them. Probably the same latch assy. being used from the corporate parts bin.
 
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Patick

Patick

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I was able to get the door panel off and get a look at the actuator using a fiber-optic camera. The only thing I could find that looked stuck is the small white lever that sticks out of the actuator housing and attaches to the yellow-colored gear that is attached to the metal rod for the manual door lock. Does anybody know if there is a way to trip the door latch manually from inside the door? I have done it on older cars but, I can't see anything in here that would accomplish that. Surely they made it possible.

Snapshot - 2.jpg
 
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Patick

Patick

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Frozen from water intrusion?
I have replaced many Malibu door latch assemblies that would not unlock but never had one that the knob didn't move up/down. Shocking the latch with knob in unlock was the secret on them. Probably the same latch assy. being used from the corporate parts bin.
If it is from freezing, the damage is already done because it is not cold enough for anything to be frozen now. Now I just need to figure out how to trip the door latch.
 

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