outer door handle replacment

[teenerted1]

my passenger outer door handle stopped working last night. inside is fine. looks like i will never need to lock that door again, with the top on.

have read thru the replacement articles and it sounds pretty easy. but was wondering if anyone has any additional hints/observations not covered.

also does any one have any good spares. Will have to wait till the weekend to get into the repair/investigation, to find out what pot metal parts broke.

[BenI]

It is very easy. When I lived in FL = lots of rain, I would redo and carefully glue on the plastic piece that keeps water off the back of the door panal. This is the only part/task I have to rememebr to prepare for since there is glueing involved. I've used brush-on contact cement in the past with great results, and the type of plastic you use in gardens and such.

If you can move the door handle flap, but nothing happens, most likely this little plastic piece has broken. Slight pain to replace...I think Pelican used to sell the kit. You must drill out a rivet, and then replace it with some type of bolt system, along with the new plastic part. If you have access to a machine shop it is very easy to take the existing rivet and drill and tap one end for a small screw. This is a perfect fix. You will still need to order the plastic part though, but I believe the aftermarket parts are made of more resilent materials.

If this is not the problem, then your handle may just be sticking (flap stays out). I've found grease is the fix for this, and the issue will go away.

Good luck!

[Dave at Pelican Parts]

Rivet? You shouldn't need to drill out any rivet when replacing the Door Latch Cam (that's the plastic part that moves when you lift the flap). Just unscrew the thing on the end of the lock cylinder, and open the flap all the way so you can slip the plastic cam off the rest of the handle. It should be obvious once you get in there.

--DD

[teenerted1]

thanks Dave didn't see anything about a rivet in the directions.

all this driving in the rain lately has started to exasperate more little gremlins in the car.

on the way home tonight the turn signal cancellation stopped. meaning after returning to driving straight after making a turn onto the next street the lever stays either up or down. can move manually so not a major issue just more to work on on my days off next week.

have to track down a horn short/ground anyway so see if something came loose in the steering column.

argh 33yr old car is showing more age than me. i was in grade school when they mad this thing

[BenI]

Oh...good memory. Sorry for the misleading post. I've had two handle flaps break, but never the cam, so my only recollection is drilling out one of the pressed ends of the pivot shaft. Your life just got easier!