My driver's side outer door handle is about to fail. Judging from what I've seen on Ebay and in catalogs, a replacement handle will cost anywhere from $60 (used) to $200 (new).

One company is selling a 944 "door handle repair piece" for only $20, which it claims is the part that fails 90% of the time when a 944 outer door handle craps out.

Has anyone tried this piece, or replaced their own door handle? If this would do the trick for $20, it sounds like a great alternative to plunking down $200 for a new handle.

 

Hi,

What type of failure of the handle are you having? Is it the "squeeze handle but doesn't open door without a slight tug" syndrome? The piece that you can see from the outside that does the moving is usually (IMHO) at fault. The other side of that piece inside the door either is bent or the portion that it contacts (pushes) is not quite right, at least this was in my case. I did the same, looked at new and used door handles, to be honest all I did was bend the outer piece back towards the car with both thumbs, my door works perfectly now. I am not sure how much force this particular piece can take, but I am a relatively strong dude and I could not break it with both thumbs using all of my might. I had an old audi that shared the same symptoms and required the same fix. If you don't want to risk breaking it, then don't do it, I assumed that if I broke mine I would just hit the old boneyard for a replacement.

 

Whoa! Psychic Hotline Alert!
I was about to post the same question. Mine has failed. When I took the inner panel off that seemed to be the piece that had broken - the little open end wrench looking end (on the left in your pic) breaks.
Whether or not you can repair and replace I do not know.

 

Can't see your picture, but had the same problem, in my case a little white plastic piece disconnected from the lock mechanism - after I reconnected the door handle worked again.

Thanks.

 

Guys: I haven't repaired any 44 handles (yet)
but the handle (And it's parts) are the same as water cooled VW except for the logo. And i've done plenty of these. After VW solved the no heat problem by adding the radiator, they with the door handle breaks in the worst weather possible issue to replace it. If it is the handle itself you can take usually take them out without pulling the panel and see what part is NG.

You probably don't have the dreaded " somebody pulled the lever when the handle was frozen" syndrome. Very common here in the frozen wasteland
of the N.E., but lack of lube sometimes can cause the same prob. I would suggest you pull the handle and look it over. You can usually spot the problem pretty quick. and if it's a broken handle part swap some VW parts onto the backside of your P car handle. VW handles go for about $30 new on line. Good luck

 

My failure is of the "door won't open without exerting a LOT of pressure on the handle trigger" variety. I typically press down with both thumbs to open the door.

My girlfriend has a hard time opening the door; valets think it is locked.

I have not yet opened / removed the handle to inspect the damage. Is this a difficult process? Do you need to remove the interior door panel to examine the innards of the outer door handle?

BTW, good tip on checking for VW parts! <img src="graemlins/beerchug.gif" border="0" alt="[cheers]" />

 

Very easy process:
1. Remove the inner door panel
2. Pry back the clear plastic liner carefully
3. Inspect working components

You should be able to see the apparatus you posted originally (PIC) and how it works when you use the door handle. The problem that you are having sounds like the one I had, where the trigger will not release the spring loaded cocker on the side of the door. A very easy way to test this is:

Open the door, manually **** the mechanism on the side of the door and try to get it to operate by pressing the trigger, look inside the door at the same time to try and determine if the mechanism is actually working, maybe not depressing the arm enough. Manually depress the arm to see if it will snap the mechanism. There is also an adjustable factor to this arm, it has a plastic collet that can be screwed down to catch a little sooner, the piece I think that rpm and Sasha are talking about.

IMO it is unlikely that you need a new handle unless the door will not open period or the trigger is flapping in the wind.

hope this helps