At 01:26 PM 9/4/02 -0500, you wrote:
>Buy thee a slim-jim when you get a chance. One of the local FLAPS (Advance
>Auto) sells a foldup version. I bought a long version at a tool store once.
>I have used it on 5 cars, never my own - mostly friends' cars.

Actually on vanagons (and probably all vehicles with the identical door
handles) the easiest way to unlock the door is to pull the little styrofoam
plug out where the lever passes the hinge and stick your special tool
in...   Special tool being a coat hanger with the last 1/2 inch of one end
bent just under 90 degrees...  Stick in in there past the lever from above
the door handle, and rotate it clockwise for driver's side...  That little
1/2 inch bit goes around in a circle and pries up the same little lever
that reaches toward the latch that the lock cylinder pries up when you
unlock it with the key.
Only problem is that it's a bitch to get the styrofoam back in and without
it you need to clean the door handle out and re-lube it more often or you
end up with the sticky trigger thing.