Rear Right Door Won't Open

OK here's the deal, the right rear door on my 97 Civic won't open. The lock
is still working, atleast that's what I'm figuring considering that I can
still work it with the electric lock system. When you move the handle on
both the outside and inside they are both very fluid, almost like they're
not attached to anything. I'm figuring that there is some sort of linkage
or cabling that has broke. Am I correct on that? Short of taking it to a
dealer, is there any way to remove the inside trim to check this problem out
or am I screwed? I figure I'm not the first one to have this happen to
himself. One last thing, my son was playing with the child proof locks on
the door, are they tied in to this somehow?

 

Hi,
Your guess is right. Remove door panel and look, see.
Linkage is disconnected or broken(not likely). A c-clip fell off
or small part is worn out.
Tony

 

Of course, I'm 99% sure you have to OPEN the door to remove the interior
panel. Once the panel is off, you'll probably see the problem if you
inspect things carefully. How to open the door is a tricky question. I'm
sure it can be done, but I don't know how.

 

I am thinking something your son did, dis abled the door, call the dealer or
look in the owners manual under child proof locks.

Tom

 

you can try a slim jim that's bent just right to catch the opening
lever on the latch. the childproof part only affects the inside
handle. you likely have a broken latch. pull the panel off with the
door closed, sometimes you have to pull the seat out, but i do it all
the time. haven't broken a panel yet.
Chip

 

I've been able to get the door open, took out the inside handle, pulled on
the rod and it opened. Still not sure what happened. Of course now you can
only open the door from the inside, it seems that the outside handle is
messed up, almost like it's not connected. I've been able to get the inside
panel off about 80% but the sticking point is the handle you grab to open
and close the door.

 

Are you sure that you've removed all of the fasteners?

 

Now that you've gotten it opened, you might try flipping the child safety
lock back and forth in case it is somehow stuck between on & off and causing
the problem.

 

I've got the same problem with both passenger-side doors on my 97 Honda,
and I find most of my friends are able to enter and exit through the
windows, Dukes-of-Hazzard-style, just fine...

....NOT. As a matter of fact, I'd appreciate it if somebody could post
a description of the method for removing the inside door panel. I was
going to try the 'go monkey with it' method, but I thought I'd see if I
could get a LITTLE more info than that first, lest I break something
that's not already broken.

Thanks-