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Door Handle Removal/Install DIY (Warning 56K)

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89K views 29 replies 24 participants last post by  Pat McGinnis  
K
#1 ·
This is all the information and tips that you will need to replace your door handle on the 4th Generation Camry. (This was done on a 1999 Le, it may be a little different.)

DO THIS AT YOUR OWN RISK< I AM NOT RESPONSIBLE IF ANY HARM WAS DONE!

For starters, you'll only need minor tools: Two Screw Drivers (Flathead and a Phillips Head), 10 mm socket wrench with extension, some electrical tape or duck tape (not required, but useful) and a candle lighter (not required, but useful)
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THANKS TO Delay_FTB for his door removal DIY.
Delay_FTB said:
Use the tape, and tape over the head of the Flathead. You'll use this taped-over Flathead to remove cover pieces and pry at things as needed (the tape provides some protection against scratching your interior all to hell).

Now that all our "prep work" is done, we'll start of easy. There isn't an exact order that is necessary to do all this in, but it helps to be logical. I start at the side of the door, work my way around, then attack the center, and it gets the job done.

Areas that need attention: Red being our main focus (screws, bolts, etc...) and the green being internal panel retainers (holding the panel to the door from the inside, they allow for a snug connection; be gentle with these, they're not cheap to replace, and are a headache if you need to replace them See here for inner pic of panel).
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Start at the outter edge of the door. You should notice a small plastic circle within a circle. This is a panel retainer that needs to be removed.
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Take your Flathead, and depress the button in the center.
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Then just pull the piece out with your fingers. It should come out fairly easily.
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From here, I move to the top inner (vehicle) side of the door, where there is a round plastic cover, that is snapped onto a screw.
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Get your Flathead out again, and pry off the cover, gently, so you don't break it, it is rather thin.
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Remove that cover to find the Phillips head screw. Unscrew that.
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From here, we move to the bottom of the door, the very bottom, to find two phillips/hex head screws/bolts. Remove these two and we're done with the outside fixtures.
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Moving to the center of the door, you should find two covered holes on the side/bottom of the armrest. The outter one has a larger cover.
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Remove that cover with your Flathead.
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Underneath, way down in there, you'll find a Phillips head screw awaiting your removal.
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Once down with that one, move to the other covered hole and repeat. The two screws are identical. If for some reason you think you've removed the screw from its threaded hole, but it doesn't come out, wiggle the door panel, and they should fall from their places.
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While we're on the armrest, go ahead and remove the control switches for the windows and locks. To do this, slide your Flathead under the back of the panel and pry it upwards. Be careful because there are three plastic attachments (one on the nose and one on each side). There is a spring-like piece of metal along the back that holds the panel in place, you need to push into this with the Flathead before you pry upwards. Slide the panel back and up until the entier panel is out from the door panel.
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Once the panel is out, we need to disconnect the wireharness. Take your Flathead and push down on the middle section and slide out the harness.
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Once that is done, we move on to the cou-de-gras: The Door Handle!
Click to expand...
That is the driver side, the passenger side is almost the same put the clips for the wire harness is a little different. In the passenger side, first you remove the black one first by using a flat head screw driver and releasing the tab. Circled in green.
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Then you remove the white one by using the flat head screw driver placing it into a small groove and twisting it to take it off easily. Also circled in green.
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Delay_FTB said:
First, we need to pry open the screw cover that is recessed in the middle of the handle.
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Once that is open, we find the Phillips head screw awaiting removal, so do it.
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Then, this is where people get confused. To get the door handle trim ring out, it is necessary to pry at both the top
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and bottom
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to remove the trim ring. Once removed, you can see how it is affixed, and why it can be difficult to remove if you don't know its intricacies. The two marked areas show you that there are holes that act as securing grooves on the door handles side of things (think male to female connection).
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Once all your parts are removed, you would think you could just pop off the panel...WRONG! Those four interior panel retainers need to be removed from their securing places, so pry along the edges noted before (the green areas) to pop the retainers from their places.
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Click to expand...
This might be a more useful pic of the back side of the panel, If you are still having trouble. Clips are circled in green.
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Delay_FTB said:
Once that is done, you'll need to angle the door panel up, meaning the anchor point will be near the sail panel on the inner (vehicle) side of the door. Angle up from the outside working your way inwards. The bottom green line in the picture below denotes the outter rubber window seal that is attached to the door (you know, to keep the water out when it rains and whatnot). The upper line is the panel being angled upward. Normally, these lines will be parallel, forming a seal against each side of the window.
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Once removed, you can see that the door panel has a metal track along the top that matches up with the door frame's lip at the top. this track has segments that act as clips to secure the door panel to the top of the frame.
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Then...TADA!!!
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You have a bare door to do with whatever you please. To reattach the panel, simply reverse the instructions, again, minding the sail panel, retracking the panel to the door, guiding your wireharness back through to the controls, and screwings your screws back in and replacing your coverings. One specific thing you'll find once you've removed the door is that on the outter edge, where we started, there is a while plastic piece, this is what that original panel retainer affixes itself to, so be sure that it gets back where it belongs.

And thats all there is to it. See, I told you it was easy! And so help me god, if anyone ever asks how to do this again...well...you don't wanna know...:nutkick:
Click to expand...
The easy part is done. One the door panel is off you have to gentle pull of the plastic shielding off to the side to get to the holes. The holes are located on the other side of the handle, but one hole is covered by a circle tape. Holes are circled in green.
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The bolt near the center of the door and the easiest to get to.
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The one that is closer to the side of the door which is difficult to reach the bolt. You might have to try a few times to get the socket attached to the bolt.
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Here is a picture on how it looks inside the door using 10mm bolts.
IMPORTANT!: There are two rods, one to control the lock and the other one to open the door. We remove the one that opens the door first, then later when told we remove the lock rod!)
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Once you remove the two bolts, then you have to remove the rod that is connected to the handle. (The rod that is used to open the door.)
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I had great difficulty removing this part, but if your replacement handle comes with the yellow part to attach the handle there is no need of saving the old one. I used a lighter to melt/soften the plastic so it is easier to pull apart.
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Once the rod is removed, we can move on to the next step. I would recommend taping the edge of the handle so there is less chance of scratching the paint. Then use the screwdriver to gently remove the handle.
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Then the handle will not be attached to the door. But then you have to remove the lock rod. Push the handle slightly up wards and near the center of the door, you will notice the rod on the bottom left. By using the screw driver detach it from the yellow locker. DO NOT LOOSE OR BREAK THE YELLOW LOCKER, YOU WILL NEED IT TO INSTALL THE NEW HANDLE! Once that is done simple remove the handle.
Then you have to remove the lock and install it to the new handle which is connected by one bolt.
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Once that is done put the handle back into the door while connecting the lock rod. You cannot install the lock rod when the handle is in the outside of the door!

To make it easier use your key and turn the lock while connecting the lock rod like in this picture.
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Once all that is done just simply reverse the steps. The Handle rod will simply snap into place and do not need the lighter any more if you used it.
 
K
#6 ·
cruisn76 said:
Nice DIY. My main key is just like yours with a drilled hole in the middle. lol
Click to expand...
Haha, It matched my old door handle. Drilled a hole it it and used a key ring to open it!:lol: I thought that they at least had some common sense and put steel in that area. I had a hard time finding it in the dark in the grass with no lights.:disappoin
 
#14 ·
i tried these step by step on removing outer door handle as my driver side door is broken.. WHEW.. never knew this is not easy .. especially when you loose nuts inside the door... but nevertheless i did make it.. newbies who want to try this must have patience.. lots of it. plus DIY technique.
 
#16 · (Edited)
My handle partially broke over the winter, I finally got around to getting one off of ebay - cost was about $32 with shipping included, and painted.

NAPA only had black, and my local junkyard only wanted to sell me a black generic handle for $25 - he wouldn't sell me a handle off of a junked car (I guess because he considers it a part of the door). So I bought a pre-painted one off of ebay, works great.

Anyway, putting it in was even easier in my '95 LE than shown in this thread (great write-up by the way). There is a lot less metal on the third generation inner door, so it's much easier to move around, pick up dropped bolts, etc. While I was in there I was also able to fix my speaker (loose wire).

I did break a couple clips taking the door panel off though, I'll swing by the dealer on Monday and get them so I can put the door back together. If you follow the instructions in the first post you'll be fine, I was doing it blindly and forgot about the side clips and they sort of snapped. Not a big deal, replacement clips should be around 75 cents or so, or I assume I can buy them from Pep Boys or Autozone.
 
W
#18 ·
Outstanding write-up with great photos - invaluable - thanks so much!

Our 2001 Camry was parked outside during a recent ice storm. The driver's door was frozen shut so I pulled up hard on the door latch and SNAP! Our local dealer wanted about $95 plus tax for the handle plus $150 to install it. I found one painted on E-bay for under $30 including shipping that arrived today. $1.35 for 5 bolts at Lowe's and a couple of hours of labor following these instructions that were "spot on" and all is well. (I'm not quick and I spent some time unsuccessfully trying to find the inside handle screw cover that I managed to flip into the interior somewhere.)

The yellow clip included with the aftermarket part was backwards (for the passenger side I think), so I removed and reused the one from the original handle. The handle also doesn't fit exactly flush, which I found to have been reported by others but it's close enough for a car with 140,000 miles on it.

One caution: even with threaded inserts, they are still embedded in the plastic. I overtightened the bolt that holds the lock and cracked it. And a tip for re-installing the two bolts, particularly the one near the edge of the door: I took about a 2" piece of 3/4" masking tape, punched a small hole in the center and pushed the bolt through it (sticky side against the bolt head). Then I inserted the bolt head into the socket and ran the tape down both sides to hold ihe bolt in place. The socket was deep so to keep as many threads out as possible, I put a couple of small (8-32 I think) nuts in it first. After getting the bolt partially threaded, I pulled the socket back out and the masking tape came with it, leaving the bolt in place to finish tightening.

I removed the door panel with the window up but reinstalled it with the window down.
 
#19 ·
Great tutorial, Thanks a lot!

Like several other people I had a hell of a time getting the handle control rod off the yellow clip, and getting the new one back on... I don't know how anyone could get that apart without breaking the clip.

I also noticed that the exterior handle doesn't quite sit firmly against the door - there's a little bit of give... I wasn't too incredibly worried, considering even the original isn't weather sealed or anything, but if it whistles or anything odd i might pull it back apart and put a little bit of plumbers putty or something behind it.
 
R
#20 ·
Great write-up, thanks!

I just replaced my driver side door handle today using the directions in this thread.

Got it from usautoparts.net for $20 a few weeks ago and painted it to match with a can of touch up paint.

I also added lockwashers to the screws so they won't work lose under vibration.

I found getting a standard socket and extension past the window guide in the corner port hole to start the screw is very difficult.
A cheap and easy way to get the screw and lockwasher started is to use a McD's soda straw and duct tape the screw and LW to the straw in order to get it to past the window guide and started in the handle thread. Then go back in with the socket and extension to tighten.
 
R
#24 ·
Additional info on replacing Camry Door Handle

I just finished replacing my driver's side outside door handle, saving a bundle, thanks to kpszar and all the posts. Here are a few observations. I did not need to soften the plastic clip on the door latch linkage. I used a needle-nosed plier to compress the small plastic piece that extends through the hole in the handle lever, while pulling on the linkage to extract it from the hole. Also, re-inserting the lock linkage in the lock plastic clip is tricky. While using the key helps, I found that again, using a needle-nosed plier to grip and manipulate the linkage made the job easier. The trick using masking tape on the socket is perfect! The repair took me 3 and 1/2 hours, but I was taking frequent breaks to look at these pictures as well as an informative youtube video:
, or search youtube for "2001 Toyota Camry Door Handle Replacement" .
 
X
#26 ·
I've successfully replaced my door handle. But there were some bumps along the way. I tried locally and online for genuine Toyota door handle for my 97camry but I was told that it was discontinued. I tried EBay but I had no luck finding a 97 Camry door handle that was made for a Japanese built cars; they just had American ones. You can tell if your car was built in the USA or in Japan by looking at the VIN#. I don’t know what the difference is but I decided that I would not take a chance on a handle that had a build note that said USA built cars. I went with the Dorman handle 79426 from partstrain.com $22. It was specific for a Japanese built car. I also went to Dorman’s website to confirm this. It comes in black only so I went to a local collision shop and they painted it for me for $35. It came out well. The combined total was still far less than the money I would have spent at Toyota had it still been available.
I found your pictures in DIY helpful. I would also recommend a video from youtube of a guy who replaced a door handle on a 2001 Camry. 2001 is still a 4th generation Camry and it was exactly the same.
Like one of the guys commented before; I had to destroy the handle to get it out. I didn’t have a lighter. I broke tower on the handle that holds the door bar (not the lock bar) with a screw drive. This allowed me to detached the handle far enough to the outside so that I could get a hacksaw blade on the plastic part that holds the door bar. I had no problem getting any of the bolts because I used a ¼ inche ratchet with extension. The bolts were removed in seconds. I also used a box wrench on the lock bolt. I would recommend and I saw this on the video, that you should remove the bottom metal cover; it made life easier. I was able to get my arm in the door with easily. I also left the lock attached to the yellow jacket and left the lock in the door. When it was time, I just install the handle into the car and with my hand inside the door, pushed the lock into the handle and I threaded the bolt on. It took three tries. The whole process was about 2 hours. THANKS for DIY
 
A
#28 · (Edited)
My 1.8 cents.
I was able to get the plastic part off without melting it after giving it a second go. I went through the OUTSIDE of the part after getting the handle off AMAP. I used NN pliers and popped the metal part through the plastic.

AFA the bolts are concerned, I was able to get them started by hand before poking the tool through. (That's what she said) I do not feel I have small hands but YMMV.

Not the most difficult/annoying DIY out there, but a chick wold have to be pretty hot for me to offer to do that for her.........

Now MY question is: How hard is it to swap the level part from a new handle onto the old bracket part of the factory one? The Feebay handle ass. (~20$ shipped and painted) I received does not as tight as the factor one. (It also has too new a coat of paint.)
 
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