How-to - Door won't open

[palirwin]

Feel free to edit with correct terminology. First post, and I am no ASE Certified Mechanic.
2001 Toyota Camry
Problem – Door handle connection broken. Door would not open from outside at first, until we rolled the window down, then it wouldn’t open from inside or outside. If your door quits working, don’t roll your window down!
Replacing the door handle is pretty straight forward, the issue I ran into was getting to it. I couldn’t open the door and I couldn’t get the interior panel off with the door closed. Solution…I already had my new handle, prepainted, ordered from Amazon, for about $30 shipped. So, I drilled holes in the exterior door handle, stay away from the extreme edges and make sure the window is up, and don’t drill too far. There isn’t much in there to hurt, but be careful anyway. Cut away as much plastic as I could. I found the brass colored connector that was supposed to be connected to the handle laying horizontally. With a pair of needle nose pliers I was able to pop it back up to where it belongs, then grasp the rod and pull it straight up until the door released. Then, with the door open I was able to remove the door panel, change out the handle, and put back together.

I hope this helps someone, I searched and searched and could not find a solution, so I just started drilling!

Thanks,

Paul

[Mister_Perkins]

I usually just rip the handle off, or use a punch and hammer and tap it. Its only plastic, so it doesnt require much effort

[palirwin]

I tried the brute force method at first, but it seemed I was going to bend the sheet metal on the door before I broke the handle. at any rate, I was very unhappy to see the design of the handle assembly and all the thin plastic pieces. I was more unhappy at how the aftermarket elbow (which secures the connecting rod to the handle in place) had the clip on the opposite side from the factory piece, which made getting it in the right spot very tough.

Another thing to watch for, my connecting rod on the bottom end was all bent up from the window coming down on it. I had to carefully bend back into shape without breaking it so that it would go on the little white plastic piece right and stay there.

Another tip, which might help somebody, is when trying to ge the lock lined up with the handle to start reassembling everything, put the bolt into the right hand screw hole first.

Also, the screws for the aftermarket piece were 6m x 1.00. They were tough to find at Lowe's with a hex head instead of the slotted, but they were there. I had to ask for help to find them near the machine screws in one of the drawers. You don't want to use slotted heads and try to get them all lined back up to tighten down. Also, I used lock washers. I recommend you do the same or a little light weight lock tight.

Only other hang up I can think of is the new handle did not feel like the rest of the handles when installed correctly. I thought I did something wrong, but it turns out it just required less length of pull and effort than all the other ones. Maybe it is a better design, I don't know.

At any rate, I hope the new handle lasts longer than the original and the Toyota OEM replacement handle I used last time. I begged my wife to take it easy on this one.

[Mister_Perkins]

I have no problems ripping or punching the handles out. havent bent my doors yet !

Just a quick Jerk usually gets it done