Last night as I was driving home a huge buck came charging out of a woods and slammed into the side of my car. I feel extremely lucky that the main impact was just at the back of the rear driver's side door. A couple feet forward of that and its antlers would have probably pierced my brain.

It left the car pretty beaten up; the rear quarter and rear door skin were both destroyed, rear tail light ripped out of its moorings, and driver's side mirror ripped off.

I have located the parts I need, gotten the door skin and quarter panel removed, but now I'm at an impasse: the impact also broke the hard black plastic pawl that actuates the latch mechanism. Because the far end of it is sandwiched in the mechanism, I can't tell whether or not it can be replaced, and if so how I would proceed. I removed the three bolts in the door jamb to remove the latch mechanism, but the actuator rod coming from the inside handle, which is pressed through a bushing and it appears there may be something clinching it on the inside. I don't see any way of removing the latch until I figure out how to get the rod loose.

Google hasn't come up with a video or exploded diagram to help me come up with a plan. I hope someone in the group might be able to help. I wanted to ask before removing the inside panel, which would be a "first time" operation for me.

 

The small round rod linkage is usually held in with little plastic clips. They should look something like this. You have to unclip it from the rod and then the rod should pull out.

 

That is indeed the way the rods are clipped on at the other ends, i.e. where they connect to the inside handle. The latch end does not appear to use that sort of connector. You can see I have gotten the lower rod disconnected. The upper one is roughly in the middle of this image; a circular yellow piece of plastic surrounds where the rod goes through the arm. Thanks.

 

Sorry, man. I've had 2 brain surgeries and my cognitive thinking doesn't work so well anymore. I really don't understand what's going on by looking at that photo. I'd have to actually see it and put hands on it in order to make an evaluation. I used to live in Tennessee and could buy an entire door at the Nashville Pull-A-Part for $40. That's what I'd do if I were in your shoes. Doors here in FL are $75 each! Still cheaper than a body shop repairing it, but YIKES!