Dean_Fuller

I thought about that but... Too late...DONE! Took about 2 hours...great write up. Now to change the blower motor hopefully Sunday.

Mrmerlin

once everything is back together its a good idea to spray some long life lube on the inner latch mechanisim.
Also while your there, remove the door edge light and you will wind up either replacing the bulb or the whole inner socket and the bulb.
After this is done take some silicone sealant and dab some on the wires as they exit the inner boot end, this will seal the wires to the boot and keep the bulb holder dry

jorj7

I had to move my site in August 2007, here is the current URL:

http://928.jorj7.com/wk-door-handle.html

NickT

It appears I need to join this frat. . .

My drivers side broke this week.. Sounds like I am in for a treat.

9two8

...., everyone that,s done this job felt the same as you.., overall it,s not too bad really, it,s removing the door card that sucks a little although I could do that blindfold now.
The other pain, at least for me was removing the anti=theft plate thats bolted to the handle area, once this is out the way you get some idea of what,s to be removed/refitted, It,s not too bad, and once your done you,ve earned your rite of passage

BTW.., I never fitted that plate back on, I junked it !!!
Good Luck !

Ken
80 928 S
5 Speed

UK

NickT

Whats funny is I replaced all the carpet, except for the lower portion of the drivers door. Guess this was the cars way of telling me to get it finished

rexpontius

Sorry to dig up an old thread, but I fixed by door handle mechanism today as well. For the second time in a year.....

The first time, the mechanism was completely broken, both tabs were snapped off.

A few weeks ago I noticed that the outer door handle had a bit of play, so I took the door card off and sure enough one tab of the inner mechanism snapped off again (the one nearest to the lock).

Off course it would be only a matter of time before the other side would have snapped off, having to take care of all the stress that would normally be held by two tabs.
So I tried to create a fix that would strenghten the original (obviously weak, judging by all the failed door handle posts :-)) construction.

I found a nice piece of metal with a 90 degree angle in it and made a small bracket that is held by the allen screw attaching the outer handle to the inner mechanism.
On the upper end I put on a tyrap to the small lever of the inner mechanism.

The end result is a door handle that feels solid again, and hopefuly lasts longer than 1 year :-))

I hope the above explanation is clear, I did not take any pictures unfortunately :-(

Maybe I will try to illustrate my fix using some pics of the inner mechanism I can find on the internet.

Cheers!

Mrmerlin

Rex FWIW the usual culprit of broken handles is that the latching mechanism gets gummed up and becomes very stiff to operate,
thus increasing the chances that the handle will break again.
Solution lubricate the latching mechanism.

Also make sure your handle is adjusted so the unlatch point of the door is closer to initial pulling rather than the last few MM of handle pull.

James Bailey

rarely does the actual handle painted part break it is typically the door handle hinge the part inside the door the little metal arm bends then as you pull harder on the handle to get the door to unlatch it eventually shears off. I sold a few million dollars of 928 parts and only a very few painted outer door handles

rexpontius

You are right, I am also talking about the inner part. The outer handle is pretty strong ;-)