The wife and I headed to the beach for a week of R&R. Today, first day in, the passenger side door handle has apparently come uncoupled inside and will no longer open from the inside. Ugh!
Anyone else ever experienced this?

 

I haven't but I've had the door apart. It's not scary difficult. If you're lucky you may be able to get at it just behind the door handle without taking the whole door panel off. If you pop the plastic piece that sits in the well behind the door handle it you can see if the handle has popped off of the bar inside the door that hooks to the latching mechanism. If it has you may be able to get at it and push it back on the door handle end. You're probably missing a small clip that holds it to the door handle.

If that doesn't work, you take the door panel off by removing that same bit of plastic and there's a screw behind it. There's also a screw below the armrest and (I think) on the perimeter of the door. There are also clips on the door panel perimeter - they look like black plastic rivets about the diameter of a dime. In the center is a smaller circular piece of plastic about the size of a pencil eraser. Push the center piece in and the plastic rivet will now come out of the door. Remove these all around the door panel perimeter and you can pull away from the bottom and lift up to remove the panel. Watch for the wires that connect to the puddle light in the lower rear corner of the door.

Now you should be able to get at the inner mechanisms of the door and find a rod inside that's flopping around but will reach the door handle. That's the one that allows you to pull the handle and have the latching mechanism release. Easy enough with the panel off to reattach it, the clip is probably at the bottom of the door & you might be able to find it & fish it out. Otherwise you just need to get something like a cotter pin or other clip to hold it in place (go to Advance Auto or some other auto parts store).

Putting the door panel back on is the reverse of the above. Don't forget the screw under the armrest. It's easy to forget (DAMHIK).

Or you can just roll down the window and open it by reaching outside the car

Of course if you were the chivalrous type she'd never know it didn't work because you'd be getting out of the car first and going around to open the door for her.

 

Thanks for the great reply Jim! I may give this a try. And yes, my wife has already mentioned the chivalrous part lol.

 

What a great forum! Excellent and fast response from DiggerJim.

 

yes, this is the best car forum on the planet!