Reinstall exterior door handle

[lsiunsuex]

Incredibly long story short - had to get a new hood and fenders; went with Trufiber fiberglass parts. Fiberglass needs to be painted (ie: not carbon fiber) so instead of painting the car, we opted to wrap it.

And the wrap is going well - few more parts and we'll be done. BUT - i also opted to take apart as much of the car as i can to get the wrap around the edge and get a good grip.

Got both exterior door handles out just fine - but in both cases, we backed out the screw that goes in from the side all the way out.

I have watched all youtube videos on it; i've bruised up my arm pretty bad reaching into the door with the window up to pull the latch mechanism back to grab onto the t-shape part of the handle - nothing is working for me.

Anyone have a fool proof way of getting it back in? Maybe a pointer that I'm missing or not getting? Even watched a video of the entire assembly out of the door and still can't get it back in.

I'm to the point where I wanna just say F'it and take it to the dealer and through them an hour of labor or whatever and let them do it.

Help, please!!!

Sponsored

 

[Bushranger]

Incredibly long story short - had to get a new hood and fenders; went with Trufiber fiberglass parts. Fiberglass needs to be painted (ie: not carbon fiber) so instead of painting the car, we opted to wrap it.

And the wrap is going well - few more parts and we'll be done. BUT - i also opted to take apart as much of the car as i can to get the wrap around the edge and get a good grip.

Got both exterior door handles out just fine - but in both cases, we backed out the screw that goes in from the side all the way out.

I have watched all youtube videos on it; i've bruised up my arm pretty bad reaching into the door with the window up to pull the latch mechanism back to grab onto the t-shape part of the handle - nothing is working for me.

Anyone have a fool proof way of getting it back in? Maybe a pointer that I'm missing or not getting? Even watched a video of the entire assembly out of the door and still can't get it back in.

I'm to the point where I wanna just say F'it and take it to the dealer and through them an hour of labor or whatever and let them do it.

Help, please!!!

I think I can assist you as I had both my door handles out and one wouldn't go back in. So I removed the good one and then I couldn't get it to go back in either. So I removed part of the window mechanism and then the entire door lock mechanism and worked out what to do.

This is a picture of the right hand door mechanism looking from the inside of the car outwards. The large circled thing is a barrel that turns about its vertical axis and hence pulls a cable to unlatch the door. When you unscrew the torx screw the barrel slides left and locks behind the plastic pointer that I have half circled in the above photo.

This is looking from the outside of the car inwards. See the plastic pointer locked behind the scalloped out part of the barrel. The pointer holds the barrel fully rotated and therefore you are able to insert the T piece of the handle into the slot in the door. In the top photo just on the right hand side of the barrel there are 2 claws (you cannot see them in the photo) that grab the T piece and when you pull the door handle, the T piece rotates the barrel and hence unlatches the door. So what you have to do is wind up the torx screw, rotate the barrel fully, then unwind the torx screw with the barrel fully rotated so that the barrel slides over/past the pointer and that holds the barrel fully open so you can slide the T piece past the claws. Then tighten the torx screw. This slides the barrel back to the right in the top photo and hence the claws on the barrel slide around the T piece. Then when you pull on the handle, the T piece pulls on the claws which rotates the barrel and unlatches the door. I had the door trim off so I contorted myself up and rotated the barrel from inside the door whilst screwing, unscrewing and rescrewing the torx screw. Kind of hard to explain but you can do it. I thought I might have been able to rotate the barrel from outside the car using fishing line hooked around the claws to rotate the barrel fully but I'm not sure I could get the T piece in the slot past the fishing line. But it may work that way too. Actually you could remove the fishing line once the barrel is held rotated by the pointer, so it should work. Good Luck and let us know how you get on.

 

[lsiunsuex]

@Bushranger thank you so much for your help

my problem still is i'm always blindly reaching for that latching mechanism

On the inside, once i take the interior door panel off, i'm presented with a sheet of metal with the door latch cable, the cable for the window controls and locks and a whole covered in plastic that i roll up the window, pull back the plastic, and put my arm up it and try to fiddle with the locking mechanism there.

Are convertible doors built differently? Do coupe doors not have this interior sheet metal or does it come off some how? So far as i see, its welded all around.

Ie: where are photos of the locking mechanism coming from? Is it possible to come out and inspect it for damage or ?

 

[Bushranger]

@Bushranger thank you so much for your help

my problem still is i'm always blindly reaching for that latching mechanism

On the inside, once i take the interior door panel off, i'm presented with a sheet of metal with the door latch cable, the cable for the window controls and locks and a whole covered in plastic that i roll up the window, pull back the plastic, and put my arm up it and try to fiddle with the locking mechanism there.

Are convertible doors built differently? Do coupe doors not have this interior sheet metal or does it come off some how? So far as i see, its welded all around.

Ie: where are photos of the locking mechanism coming from? Is it possible to come out and inspect it for damage or ?

OK, My photos were after I removed the door handle and latch mechanism and put it on the kitchen bench. So you can remove it all but it is time consuming and you have to remove part of the window mechanism in order to remove the door handle mechanism. All this did was to get me to understand how it works. I still had to reinstall it all without fixing the problem. I don't know if verts are different to coups, I cannot imagine why. You don't have to remove anything from inside the door. All you have to do is after you have the door trim off is do what I stated. Window up. You will find the barrel with your fingers. It is the only part that moves in the door handle mechanism. It is spring loaded and thats why you must keep it fully rotated whlist you undo the torx screw. After initially retightening the torx screw, I could feel the barrel move past the pointer while unscrewing the torx screw and i could feel the pointer lodge behind the barrel while the barrel was fully rotated. It is fiddly but once that barrel is locked open then you can insert the handle from outside the door through the rectangular slot in the door. If you cannot do it this way then do the fishing line approach. Through the rectangular slot in the door (the one that the T piece goes through) loop the fishing line around the claws (the claws are the 2 metal things that the T piece is hitting against and won't go past). The reason the claws are in the way of the T piece is that the barrel is not fully rotated and that is because the pointer is on the wrong side of the barrel and is preventing you from fully rotating the barrel. Wrap the fishing line around a stick or something that will allow you to pull on it hard. Wind up the torx screw ( this slides the barrel away from the pointer so that you can fully rotate the barrel. The claws are attached to the barrel so the barrel will rotate when you pull on the claws). Once you have tightened the torx screw far enough that the barrel is away from the pointer then you will be able to fully rotate the barrel. Pull hard on the fishing line as the door handle actually exerts a lot of force on the claws in normal operation. Then you have to undo the torx screw so that the barrel slides back over the pointer on the correct side of the barrel. The barrel must be fully rotated and fully slid to the side in order for the T piece to enter past the claws. Then with the door handle fully inserted, screw up the torx screw which moves the claws back over the T piece where they need to be so that the T piece can now pull on the claws and open the door. So I'm sorry if its long winded explaining how it works but in the end all you have to do is - Wind up the torx screw, Fully rotate the barrel either with your fingers inside the door or with fishing line or some other hooking device from the outside of the door, unscrew the torx screw whilst holding the barrel fully rotated I cannot stress this point enough FULLY Rotated, get the barrel to lock behind the pointer in the fully rotated position. Insert the door handle and screw up the torx screw. Job Done. I did this 3 years ago so I hope I have not left anything out. It took me 3 days to sort this out back then but it is a simple process in the end. In videos you will see that you need to pull on the door handle whilst un screwing the torx screw. OK your door handle is no longer in the car so you have to replicate that process somehow. I believe that when you removed your door handle you failed to get the barrel to slide past the pointer on the correct side of the barrel. Maybe you weren't pulling enough on the door handle. Who knows .I failed to do it properly too. So start from the beginning with the torx screw tightened and go from there. I will be away (funeral) for a few days but will check in to see how you go when I can.

 

[THX 138]

OK, My photos were after I removed the door handle and latch mechanism and put it on the kitchen bench. So you can remove it all but it is time consuming and you have to remove part of the window mechanism in order to remove the door handle mechanism. All this did was to get me to understand how it works. I still had to reinstall it all without fixing the problem. I don't know if verts are different to coups, I cannot imagine why. You don't have to remove anything from inside the door. All you have to do is after you have the door trim off is do what I stated. Window up. You will find the barrel with your fingers. It is the only part that moves in the door handle mechanism. It is spring loaded and thats why you must keep it fully rotated whlist you undo the torx screw. After initially retightening the torx screw, I could feel the barrel move past the pointer while unscrewing the torx screw and i could feel the pointer lodge behind the barrel while the barrel was fully rotated. It is fiddly but once that barrel is locked open then you can insert the handle from outside the door through the rectangular slot in the door. If you cannot do it this way then do the fishing line approach. Through the rectangular slot in the door (the one that the T piece goes through) loop the fishing line around the claws (the claws are the 2 metal things that the T piece is hitting against and won't go past). The reason the claws are in the way of the T piece is that the barrel is not fully rotated and that is because the pointer is on the wrong side of the barrel and is preventing you from fully rotating the barrel. Wrap the fishing line around a stick or something that will allow you to pull on it hard. Wind up the torx screw ( this slides the barrel away from the pointer so that you can fully rotate the barrel. The claws are attached to the barrel so the barrel will rotate when you pull on the claws). Once you have tightened the torx screw far enough that the barrel is away from the pointer then you will be able to fully rotate the barrel. Pull hard on the fishing line as the door handle actually exerts a lot of force on the claws in normal operation. Then you have to undo the torx screw so that the barrel slides back over the pointer on the correct side of the barrel. The barrel must be fully rotated and fully slid to the side in order for the T piece to enter past the claws. Then with the door handle fully inserted, screw up the torx screw which moves the claws back over the T piece where they need to be so that the T piece can now pull on the claws and open the door. So I'm sorry if its long winded explaining how it works but in the end all you have to do is - Wind up the torx screw, Fully rotate the barrel either with your fingers inside the door or with fishing line or some other hooking device from the outside of the door, unscrew the torx screw whilst holding the barrel fully rotated I cannot stress this point enough FULLY Rotated, get the barrel to lock behind the pointer in the fully rotated position. Insert the door handle and screw up the torx screw. Job Done.

Just wanted to thank you for posting this explanation! I couldn't figure out how to get the T piece back in place until I read your instructions above. Very helpful. Cheers!

 

[Bushranger]

Just wanted to thank you for posting this explanation! I couldn't figure out how to get the T piece back in place until I read your instructions above. Very helpful. Cheers!

Just saw your post mate. Glad I helped. I was in a real panic when I couldn't get my door handle in. I was too embarrassed to drive my new car to the dealership with no door handles.

 

[Rapid Red]

Just saw your post mate. Glad I helped. I was in a real panic when I couldn't get my door handle in. I was too embarrassed to drive my new car to the dealership with no door handles.

LMAO yes Duct tape not a good look on a new car .....

Sponsored