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Greetings, folks. It's been a while since I've been here since my Aero has been running well. But I've been experiencing the dreaded hard to pull door handle syndrome lately, late last week it stopped working completely. (Pretty embarasing to have to get in on the pass side to open the door!) So this weekend I came here to look at what others have done in the past and found two really good posts from both Ari and Matt94Aero. Thanks, guys, for some great advice, and thanks Matt for posting a site with pictures! I'd like to share a few tips of my own.
My biggest obstacle was getting out the mirror adjuster switch. (Yes, I was working on the driver's door.) I tried prying it out from the front side because I couldn't see how Ari got the screwdrivers in from the back because the inside handle was in the way. After about an hour trying to find the little keeper from the front, it broke off and I still couldn't get the damn thing out!! So I went in from the back, but instead of using the jewelr's screwdrivers as Ari suggested, I used a long handled one with a medium flat blade, and with very little maneuvering it popped right out.
Once the door panel was off, I looked at the latch mechanism to see how it worked. There are two levers that actuate the latch; one for the inside handle and one for the outside handle. I noticed that the inside handle moved the latch twice as far as the outside one, so I looked at how the outside one linked in.
The outside handle pulls on a bar that sticks up out of the top of the latch mechanism. I'm not sure if this bar bends over time and use (my Aero has about 150k US on the clock) or if the handle gets sloppy, but it wasn't moving far enough to pop the latch. The bar in question is bendable, but you have to remove the outside handle to get to it.
Matt's site talks about getting it off, but I ran into a few kinks. He's right that getting the handle out requires removing the internal window track (2 bolts that hold it in place, then shimmy the wire from the keepers out of the track--really easy) and that removing the handle requires finesse, not brute force, to keep from scratching your door. Don't forget to unclamp the automatic door lock arm before removal. It's a pop-on joint that has a keeper at the top. Pop up the keeper from inside the door with a screwdriver, then pop the lever off at the joint; you can leverage the screwdriver against the lock assembly in the handle to pop it off once you've popped the cap on top.
Now that all the stuff but the wires to the lock have been removed, you should be able to carefully maneuver the handle out of the door. It will take some careful guidance inside and outside at the same time, but you basically have to clear the front of the handle and keep it from scratching anything while working the back's actuator up and over the arm on the latch. The whole assembly has to wiggle out of a hole in the door that's not quite big enough for this to happen easily, but you can do this... carefully.
OK, IT'S OUT! Well, it's dangling by the wires, but with careful manipulation you can hang it around the inside of the door to prevent scratching. You now have to reach in and bend the latch lever so it will pull up the latch when it should. I went in through the door handle opening and bent the lever out, away from the interior, with channel lock pliers. The lever has three sections that I could see, and I bent the one on the top first. This didn't give enough movement, so I bent the second kink a bit. I might have bent things a little too far because I had some trouble fitting the door handle back in place, getting the bolt aligned on the outside handle point, but I got things lined up by carefully attaching the outside bolt, and then inserting the front handle and attaching the front bolt.
The handle pull now touches the latch release lever and the door opens, but it still requires the "push and release" effort typical here, and gives a labored popping sound when opening the door.
The quest continues...
Cal
posted by 71.146.83...
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