rsabeebe

i tried opening my passenger door the other day (car was locked - i had forgotten - long story) and the handle pull had some initial resistance and then nothing. handle just flaps back and forth now. my shop tells me that the door lock assembly has broken and has to be replaced. the part has to be ordered from germany - 1-2 week wait time. part alone is $840!!

who has been through this and what was your outcome?? there has to be a cheaper/quicker alternative to 2 weeks and $1208 total for parts and labor. i took it to the shop, expecting/hoping for an easy fix.

hoping someone here has been through this and has suggestions on alternatives. i'll bite the bullet if i have to, but thought i'd tap into the 'rennlist knowledge bank' first.

rsabeebe

the part i need is 993 531 054 02 and it appears to be made of unobtanium.

holsen12

your part is available at Gaudin Porsche for $680...
http://www.gaudinporscheparts.com/parts/1997/Porsche/911/Carrera%204S/index.cfm?siteid=215796

If you're handy and have some basic tools, you can disassemble the door, extract the offending part and try cleaning & lubricating it. Mine (passenger side) is having the same issue, and knowing winter is coming, saved it as a small project...

rsabeebe

At $640, that's a very reasonable savings!! thanks very much for the link. my problem is my passenger door will not even close. apparently, the mechanism has broken and won't allow the door to latch - makes it hard to drive.

rsabeebe

even Guadin Porsche, with their much better price, has to order it from Germany. he told me Porsche is sitting on 108 units in stock - too bad no one in the states has one. the wait is what's killing me more than the cost. now, the part has to go from Germany to Vegas and then to me in Dallas.

C4S993

I ordered mine through Autohaus Pa the est time was one month; now going on two months !
Price was $400. I have been advised by local locksmith he wants to try adjusting the wafers and for $60 it might work. Today, took me a few hours but got the lock off; that outside small metric nut is a bit-- to get a socket onto. You have to remove the plastic guard to access the troublesome nut.

C4S993

I should update that on mine, it looks like the door's lever itself is broke and the key can operate the open/lock action. Anyone know who sells just the 993 door lever ?

Linnm

Why not contact some of the companies that dismantle wrecked cars?

Cupcar

Go to a dismantler and buy a used lever/cylinder set. Then exchange the lock cylinder from your old door into the lever from the dismantler as in this video
Now you have a used replacement lever with the same key as you had before.

It is not all that hard to remove the door panel and get in there and remove the door handle and do all this yourself.

C4S993

Are you saying the door handles' broken/floppy trigger lever is married to a donor's outer cylinder casing ? Thus to replace the trigger lever you HAVE TO replace the casing and extract your vin specific cylinder ?

Cupcar

Yes.

It depends on what is broken. If the the black powder coated trigger itself is broken, it can perhaps be removed from the donor casing by driving out its pivot pin and then installing it on the original casing (I have not done this). If the casing itself is broken at the pivot, then replacing the whole casing is in order as it is one cast piece.

It looks easier to me to just replace the cylinder in either case.

geolab

To the original OP, the part you mentioned, I have nickel plated it and know it by heart. I could see myself
throwing it on the floor, stand on it, and don't know how could this part break.

alas, you could find a lot of those on ebay as well 10 times cheaper because they could not break:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Porsche-911-...bd00f9&vxp=mtr

and the door lever could get stuck with grime, but how could it break ? I don't know

Cupcar

I assumed he meant the toggle lever in the door handle. This lever is really part of the lock cylinder. If the lever breaks, then maybe just removing the pivot pin and installing another lever will work.

If the break is in the pivot bracket part of the lock cylinder body, then the cylinder body needs to be replaced. This is where swapping the lock cylinder inside the body is a handy thing to keep keyed the same as other side.

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C4S993

Thanks so much guys: Edison himself could not understand a darn thing (LD) unless he could actually see it. Reading made no sense, seeing was eureka. I call Autohaus Pa and they are sorry it has been two months and are willing to sub at their expense an easier to acquire stock item; a stock door handle with a sub key. I will Ebay the new handle but use it's key-casing to marry to my original key cylinder. The stock handle itself is 100$ cheaper than the made to order VIN specific handle that Porsche has to wait till made by a German locksmith.