jRingo

I used the fob this morning to unlock all the doors.

As I pulled the driver rear door handle (and opened the door) I heard something fall/tumble down. It was fairly loud, so loud that I pulled my phone out and turned on the flashlight (it was dark outside).

I didn't see anything on the ground or anything and grabbed my gym bag out of the back seat. I closed the rear door and it didn't close. Tried again, no go. Poked around on the mechanism in the door that catches the latch/bar on the door jam and it seems like it would work, but doesn't. The door just won't latch on.

Any idea what broke inside the door when I pulled the door handle?

*edit*
Okay, so I took off the panel and didn't see anything obviously broken in the door.

I checked the latch on the passenger rear door, and I can close it with a screwdriver and it stays in the closed position until I pull either the interior or exterior door handle, then it opens as it should.

On the driver rear, I can push the latch into the closed position, but it doesn't want to stay closed, it 'springs' back open. Is this just a latch mechanism I can get at a scrap yard?

jRingo

Bump...anyone? I can hear the lock/actuator engage and disengage when locking/unlocking. So is the actual latch a separate mechanism?

Brownd3max

My money is on the latch mechanism in the door- I would take it out, and it might become obvious why it's misbehaving.

jRingo

Yes, it was the latch mechanism.

I should have taken a picture before tossing it. Basically, a piece of plastic broke at a screw location (so the round plastic around a screw hole) right where a 1/4" diameter x 2" spring was held in place that sprung the latch into place. I might have been able to epoxy it, but I just went to the salvage yard and pulled an entire latch/actuator part (and the power window switch/wood trim I chipped up during removal) for $20.

I also came across some front seats I might snag as I plan on selling this ES sometime in the next 6 months and buying an IS350/GS350.