Okay, so both of my door latches are acting up. On several occasions, I've gotten locked in my car because both latches fail to "release" and neither the inside nor outside handle will open the door. On each occasion, I've had to pry the door panel off (while the door is still closed), reach inside the door manually to release the latch. Then I open the door, WD40 the latch, spray on some white lithium grease, and wait for the next time it decides to start locking me out.

Unfortunately, I've gotten pretty good at peeling the door panel back just enough to reach in and manually moving the seized part. I don't know what part it is since I can't see it, but I'll try and look at some pics to try and see what is actually happening.

Other than replacing the door latch (or latch actuator), is there any way to fix this? Do I need to replace both parts or just the latch itself?

I've read all the previous posts, but those tips dont work for me (i.e., switching gears to lock/unlock, cycling through lock/unlock via door panel button, cycling manually, tapping the outside of the door beneath the handle and over the latch, etc.).

 

I've had this problem with my car. I've noticed if I make sure to unlock doors before trying to open door I never have the problem. When someone tries to open the door while it's locked is when I tend to have this issue but not everytime. All I do is roll down the window and pull on the outside handle a few times and it pops open. Hope this helps