Epiphany

Hey, my passenger door is only opening from the inside right now. I figure whatever connects the exterior door handle to the mechanism has either come loose or broke. I've found the guide to removing the door panel, but was wondering if anybody knew what to look for once I'm that far? Or if there's any other tips/tricks associated with fixing this. Thanks guys.

steve524

I would just remove the passenger door and the driver side door and compare the both of them to see what went wrong. I had to change my speakers and removing the pannels is pretty easy.

Kendreth

just a fyi, be carefull removing the door trim parts. its easy to snap off the little plastic tabs that hold everything toegther. if you get to an area that doesnt want to release easy, use a flathead screwdriver with the tip wrapped in eletrical tape. they make special tools to remove panels and interior trim but if your not doing it all the time or collect tools the screwdriver with the protected head is fine for most stuff.

not sure which car your working on but its prob the linkage that moves when the handle is pulled from the outside thats messed up. look in the area right behind the outer door handle should be a place where you can hook it up or where you can see that something broke, thats the most likely location for a failure. Good luck!!

friesm2000

iTrader: (4)

more then likely a little plastic clip has broken off inside OR the handle itself has broke

basically look at the back side of the outer door handle, you should see a rod coming off of it, going to the door latch mechanism,
so basically is the rod connected on both ends?
and then also when you operate the outer door handle, does the rod move?



and before you do try and fix it yourself, especially the handle itself, it can be kinda tricky to take apart/out/off the door, compared to other cars (basically saying don't take it apart unless you are comfortable doing it, and able to do the job fully; but you can still pull the door panel to inspect the issue though)

Epiphany

So what happens is the rod comes disconnected from the outer door handle, and when I click it back in it will only stay in place for about a week or so. I took it apart today again and took pictures in hopes that somebody might have an idea why it does this. For reference:
The rod that comes disconnected: http://img534.imageshack.us/img534/7549/img0002jk.jpg
Where it attaches to, it goes into the hole: http://img10.imageshack.us/img10/127/img0003jd.jpg
What it looks like when put back together: http://img703.imageshack.us/img703/8323/img0005yw.jpg
What it looks like after pulling the outer door handle ~10 times: http://img853.imageshack.us/img853/9412/img0006yu.jpg

As you could see in the bottom two pictures, it slowly comes back apart just by using the door handle, I've taken apart my drivers door panel to see if I was missing a piece inside but they look identical to me. Does anybody have any ideas on what I can do to make it actually stay together?

m733l

iTrader: (1)

sounds like its just worn down. i would replace the plastic grommet and the tip of the rod (where they both connect).

LegendL

take care of your car please.

Karanx7

iTrader: (2)

Is the child safety on? Or is that just for the rear seats?

Epiphany

Do you know how the plastic grommet would be replaced? The rod tip is easy, but I don't see how to replace the plastic connector.
Huh?
No, the CL doesn't have that. And if it did it would be able to open from the outside but not the inside haha.

m733l

iTrader: (1)

from the looks of the pics, it looks like the plastic piece should just pop out. no?

Karanx7

iTrader: (2)

Lol woops, didn't read that right. :embarrassed: