Otto Mechanic

So, let's begin at the beginning?

Three years ago I bought a very nice 1989 944 S2 in nearly perfect condition. I had it shipped to me by a friend to CA from FL. When it got here I was very happy. It had a few cosmetic flaws but I wasn't worried. It was destined to be a track car and so I wasn't all that interested in the rest of it. The driver's side door didn't open with a key.

Well, that changed a bit.

When the car arrived the driver's door handle didn't open the door. I was mostly interested in its drive train and suspension so I didn't really care. Months go by. Eventually I've sorted out the drive train and suspension and out of shear boredom I turn my eye to this driver's side door handle problem.

So I read Clark's about door handles. I follow instructions and find the link that opens the door (the long one with the black plastic fastener threaded onto it) is broken. I order a new one from Pelican. Weeks go by and it shows up. I make an attempt to install it but there's this white plastic dohickey that has to be engaged at the same time. Large amounts of cussing are involved. Eventually I come to hold the opinion that both of these bastard plastic emissaries from hell are installed correctly according to Clark's Garage.

I test it (I think) seal the whole thing up and consider it done.

Boy was I confused. It sort of worked for awhile then I started blowing fuse #4 every time I hit the central lock button and, I couldn't lock the car from the driver's side. It worked fine on the passenger side, but not on the driver's. What to do?

So I took it apart again and found the white plastic dohicky had come unlatched from its designated ball pin. I reconnected it and put the whole thing back together again, proceed to blow the #4 fuse over and over. Something was still wrong.

It turns out there's a micro-switch on the door handle that had fallen into the door itself and never been correctly re-attached to the handle mechanism. After sacrificing a wire coat hanger I was able to fish that switch back up through the door. I'm pretty sure it's why I was blowing fuse #4.

So I fish the sensor back up through the door and proceed to try putting the handle back together for the third time.

I've done this before twice , but I've just spent 4 hours trying to engage these silly plastic fittings on the two ***** joints they're supposed to mate with and I'm damned if I can do it again. There MUST be a better way to do this? I've heard it can be more deterministic if you take out the window, but I honestly can't see how that works?

There must be a trick to this, or is it just one of those 944 curses that just never goes away? Honestly, I've rebuilt the entire drive train on this car and I'm completely flummoxed by the door handle? I just can't see this as right?

Help!

PS: If anyone out there has any suggestions for a metric black interior door trim fastener "kit", like one of those $49 kits you see on Amazon that has a useful assortment of screws, I'd like to hear about it. I've taken this door card off a few times now and it was very clearly taken off a few times before I got it. It's missing screws and using a few it shouldn't be.

Thanks,

Noahs944

If I recall I found it easy to pop them back in place by loosening of the outside handle because it allows more articulation... *but extreme caution must be use used to avoid damaging the outside door paint (very easy to do, while you are pre-occupied on the inside. So I recommend double layers of painter's tap to protect the paint. Can't remember if I had the glass out when doing this. Probably.

Otto Mechanic

Indeed Noah. I haven't honestly been as careful as I should have and I've already noticed what you're talking about. To be perfectly honest? This is a track car. Yes, it has a future as a concourse car, it's that good, but I'm still building a track car so my main focus is making it work, not making it look pretty. Pretty is optional. Fast isn't.

thomasmryan

I made a few new words for the lock micro switch. disconnect the electrics if it is giving you fits.



the vacuum controlled locks and self closing mechanism on the W140 merc drivers door is the size of a flattened basketball. you have to drill the rivets out and remove the glass and regulator to even see it.

Tiger03447

Glad mine are all manual..I would go absolutely bonkers if mine were electric. The manual ones are bad enough IMHO.

Otto Mechanic

Yeah, I've invented a few choice words for that switch myself.

Thanks for the video, the lucky person with that door problem didn't have to mess with removing the outer door mechanism though, and that's where I'm beginning to tear hair. I had to take the whole thing out the first time because the trigger pull on the latch wasn't opening the door anymore, turns out the rod that connects the trigger to the door latch had broken, so I replaced it. That's a real bear because they used a ball and socket type connector that's way down inside the door and there's no interior access to it I can see. You need to work your fingers into a 3.5x1.5 rectangle cut in the door sheet metal. You can't see what you're doing and it hurts the whole time you're doing it. Once you think you've got the socket placed over the ball, you need to carefully hold everything in place while you slip a flat screwdriver down, put it on the back side of the socket, then press hard on it to snap it over the ball. It's damned near impossible but I know I can do it since I've done it twice before.

Then there's this white plastic connector with a ball/socket on both ends that needs to be installed with similar contortions using the same hole, which is now partially obscured by the handle you've just installed. You have to put the lower end of it on before you connect the first part described above, holding it in place with a wire or some twine. Once you've finished the procedure above, you need to connect the other end of the white plastic rod to the handle, otherwise the key won't lock the door.

Finally, you need to attach that micro switch, snapping it over the end of the door latch mechanism. Now you can replace the latch in the door and re-assemble the interior door card. You don't really need to remove the door card to fix this as long as you haven't dropped that micro switch into the door (which I did). If you do that, the card needs to come off so you can recover the switch.

Like I say, there's just got to be another way to do this.

Otto Mechanic

Oh now you're just gloating...

MAGK944

A few months ago I swapped my clutch, replaced my torque tube bearings and reindexed my torsion bars. I would gladly repeat the whole process than deal with door handles.

<rant>What a stupid design when you have to spend hours getting everything aligned and snapped into place then you have to take it apart again to adjust it. The second or third time of doing it doesn’t get any better, then the metal lug on the handle decides it’s had enough of your endless meddling and snaps it’s potmetal ***. You then find that the price of a drivers side script door handle on the used market has gone up in value more than your whole car. However, you console yourself that clearing out your 401k to buy that 30yo handle is not the most painful part of the process, you still have to fit the damn thing again. </rant>

Otto Mechanic

Thank you for that rant Mike. Only I heard that

Otto Mechanic

I'm beginning to think it would be easier to break into the car with a coat hangar than repair this damned thing.

Tom R.

My buddy got a clean 968 with records for a very good price. Two things that need work are the sunroof micro switch and the passenger door handle. He retires from his job this week. I think he may go back full time after fighting with those to "projects" on his to do list to kill time.

Otto Mechanic

Tom R. writes: "I think he may go back full time after fighting with those two "projects" on his to do list to kill time."

I can understand completely. I think I'd rather shoot my dog than work on sunroofs or door handles. Let's face it, Porsche builds great engines, suspensions and drive trains. Sunroofs? Door handles? Not so much...

Otto Mechanic

Much as I hoped for some miracle worker to step in and give me the exact right incantation to make this procedure painless, it didn't happen. Many thanks to those of you who shared my pain and gave me moral support.

In the end, it's just patience and perseverance as far as I can tell. It does help to run some thread through the top end of that little white plastic rod that has a ball/socket connector on both ends; that keeps it in place so you can eventually thread the top into position to make the final mechanical connection. I got it done but it was an extreme pain in the butt. I won't bother to describe my procedure here, I'm not sure it's reproducible. I think it mostly depends on just being in the right place at the right time. No magic words helped and you can be sure I tried every one of them I know. If it weren't for the fact I personally did this twice before, so I knew it could be done, I'd have given up at least 10 hours ago. My lower back is killing me from bending over that door handle for hours.

But it's over. Fuse #4 isn't blowing every time I hit the central lock button, the key locks and unlocks the door, and the handles on both sides work. All that's left is to replace the door card. I'm still looking for a good source for those trim screws so if anyone has a lead I'd like to hear about it.

Almost time for beer and opiates...

Otto Mechanic

OK, it's 15 minutes early, but I'm going for the beer and opiates...

Otto Mechanic

BTW, I ended up using "frog tape" around the hole, it protected the finish pretty well. Definitely a best practice when working on these things.

Hey, off topic, but I noticed the white 944 in your avatar picture has a club sport badge on it? Do you have a CS? If so I'd like to pick your brain a little on the interior, I'm getting ready to replace my seats, put in a half cage, 6 pt. harnesses and a fire suppression system. I'm not going to try completely reproducing the CS in racing form, but I'd like to use it as a guide. Naturally the power seats go and I'm working on adapting an early manual window regulator to a late chassis. With luck I'll be able to delete this b@stard central locking system Power steering is already gone.