Finally got the passenger RR door power lock/latch unit fixed today, after really scaring the crap out of myself and nearly butchering the door getting the damn thing out.

This thing is a serious PITA to get to and remove. I made a serious mistake I have seared into memory for life....NEVER, EVER use an impact driver to remove the 3 oversize #3 Phillips screws that hold the latch inside the door. Banging on it resulted in bending the door metal, misaligning the latch with the body catch hook. The door would not shut or latch at all. I was at the point of oh f**k panic, thinking I had ruined the entire door . So, I ended up driving around with nothing but a pair of rubber bungees holding the door closed this week. Thank God you couldn't see anything externally. The latch unit had to be removed so the door could be pulled closed.

I had a body shop tech straighten the pushed-in area and re-align the body latch hook. The adjustment is very touchy. I got off easy, they only charged me $50 to take care of it. I feel WAY better now this is over with, my sphincter was tearing a bloody hole in the driver's seat worrying about it.

 

oh, I replaced the front passenger door latch the other week.

what I did was use a REALLY long Phillips screw driver... and instead of turning it by hand (which i couldn't do), got the biggest wrench i had (just fit onto the handle) and turned it like it was a really long bolt. this gave me a lot more torque to take those screws out.

the hard part about my replacement was getting that whole thing out... hand to unbolt the window rail.

edit: i guess length of driver doesn't give more torque, but I would agree with the last answer here.

 

Manual impact driver works wonders and won't bend the sheet metal. Next time

 

For sure the length of the screwdriver has no effect on the torque but using a longer wrench to turn the screwdriver would.

 

Probably shoulda' used a small air impact gun with the screw bit. There's not any major push force. Got to get them loose without tearing up the head but not crunch the door too.

 

Yes i've done this as well or find a big socket+rachet that the screwdriver handle will fit into