[manxmike]

Hi all, 1998 CRV auto. Lovely car, but the front passenger door (left hand side - I'm in Britain) will not open. First the internal handle stopped, that's an easy fix, a small plastic guide needs replacing, but now the outer handle does nothing either, so the door is permanently closed.
If I could get the panel off I could take a look, but with the door closed I can only loosen the panel at the rear of the door - the front fasteners are behind the edge of the scuttle.
Any thoughts? I am sure I can't be the first to experience this, so hopefully someone knows how to get the door open without the use of a wrecking bar!

 

[Lochinvar]

I haven't seen this happen, but you can remove the inner handle pretty easy. Just pull out the screw in the plastic panel behind the handle, then push the inner handle forward until it pops out. You can then grab the linkage with pliers.

You probably already did this, but make sure the door is unlocked. "Locking" the doors really only offsets the door handles so they don't work until you "unlock" the door, mechanically speaking, so it would show the same symptoms if the door was simply locked.

 

[Lochinvar]

I'm not sure if you'll be able to get to inner panel off with the standard covering one of the screw mounts, but I found this on YouTube. If it helps you, great!