So my door striker on my driver door ended up coming loose. I subsequently tightened the two bolts securing the striker to the center pillar and figured the issue was done.

Unfortunately while tightening, the striker went out of adjustment and the door wasnt aligning. Being the idiot that I am, I took both bolts off to recenter the plate to its original location (which was visible in the paint)

Looks like there was a plate inside of the pillar that fell down and now I cant get the bolts secured again.

Any idea how to get inside. I've tried looking for it from the small 1/2 " holes but it looks like its dropped pretty far down.

Now I've got a door that wont close.

Can I access this from the inside trim? What do I need to take off?

Any help would be appreciated. This is a 2008 Honda Fit Sport A/T

 

If you search 'Honda Fit Door Panel Removal" you get several vids that will help.

 

No. I don't think you're understanding. The issue is not with the door. The striker is the item on the b-pillar that the door latch hooks on to. It looks like a rectangular metal ring.

 

Wrong striker, that's the latch in the door. Striker is on pillar.

Yes, pull the trim near the bottom or the bottom half however they come off ( I'm new to fits so haven't done it myself ) but been in the auto fields a few years in the past, there should be a nice sized opening to get your hand in ( or if you got fat hands, use a retractable magnet pickup tool ) You will need the access anyways to re-install the striker, I'm surprised the internal nut plate isn't secured like GM products are? nice to know this.

 

Solved in relatively cheap fashion! Sharing my lessons learned:

Items you will need:

Harbor freight telescopic pickup tool with magnet. Its small enough to just barely fit thru the holes but has a big enough magnet to get a good grip on the plate. You can add the button magnets noted below on the existing magnet to reinforce the pickup power if needed. They are the same size as the built in pickup head.

https://www.harborfreight.com/18-inc...net-37187.html

Harbor Freight Button Magnets (Not necessarily needed but extra credit)

https://www.harborfreight.com/10-pie...ets-67488.html

There is ONE striker plate for both screws NOT 2 separate ones. This helps significantly as it makes the plate larger and less likely to fall all the way down to the bottom of the b-pillar. That doesn't mean you wont be the unlucky bastard that has this happen to you but it didnt happen to me and I dropped it a couple of times while trying to get it aligned.

The plate's path down to the bottom is blocked by wiring for the door open switch and misc wiring that seems to go to the back door.

I fished the telescoping extension thru the top bolt opening and picked up the plate with the magnet. With a bit of wiggling, I was able to get the plate aligned and temporarily screwed in place. I used the button magnets to keep the plate from temporarily not falling in.

Hope this helps someone out in the future.