I have a 2014 3500 Promaster. The rear double doors are stuck. The vehicle is definitely unlocked but the doors can only be opened by pulling the inside handle on the passenger side of the van.
When this first happened, I could open the door a dab--just enough so the lights flashed because the door was not fully closed. But I could not actually get the doors open. I had to push it (kick it, actually) really hard to get it shut. Since then I've tried several times but the same thing happens--I can open it from inside but it's very hard to close enough to lock and in fact most recently will not lock though it seems to be tightly closed.
I have unlocked it both via the key fob and the physical key and neither resolves the issue.
Any advice on what I can do to diagnose and hopefully fix the problem without a trip to a dealer (which is a long drive away)?
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A bit later: I'm quite positive the problem is the latch in the center of the right side (when facing the front of the vehicle from the rear, i.e., the passenger side) of the rear door, in the center. I can easily manually push the white latch part down and it easily goes up when I pull on the inside handle on that door. Nonetheless I doused it pretty well with WD-40 but that didn't change anything.
It looks like with a special tool (for the star screws) I can remove the lock mechanism myself. I'm wondering if that's a smart thing to do, i.e., if it's an easy replacement, or if I should go to a dealer for the work. The door does now lock when I press the key fob, though the problem is when I close the rear doors without locking them I cannot open them except from the inside. That is, even when unlocked the rear doors act as if they're locked.
See photos showing latch both open (by inside handle) and closed (by pushing it closed manually).
When this first happened, I could open the door a dab--just enough so the lights flashed because the door was not fully closed. But I could not actually get the doors open. I had to push it (kick it, actually) really hard to get it shut. Since then I've tried several times but the same thing happens--I can open it from inside but it's very hard to close enough to lock and in fact most recently will not lock though it seems to be tightly closed.
I have unlocked it both via the key fob and the physical key and neither resolves the issue.
Any advice on what I can do to diagnose and hopefully fix the problem without a trip to a dealer (which is a long drive away)?
====
A bit later: I'm quite positive the problem is the latch in the center of the right side (when facing the front of the vehicle from the rear, i.e., the passenger side) of the rear door, in the center. I can easily manually push the white latch part down and it easily goes up when I pull on the inside handle on that door. Nonetheless I doused it pretty well with WD-40 but that didn't change anything.
It looks like with a special tool (for the star screws) I can remove the lock mechanism myself. I'm wondering if that's a smart thing to do, i.e., if it's an easy replacement, or if I should go to a dealer for the work. The door does now lock when I press the key fob, though the problem is when I close the rear doors without locking them I cannot open them except from the inside. That is, even when unlocked the rear doors act as if they're locked.
See photos showing latch both open (by inside handle) and closed (by pushing it closed manually).
