My Driver's side door handle stopped working a few weeks ago. It would lift up, but the door wouldn't open from the outside. A quick look through the forums and I came to the conclusion that I would need to replace the entire unit. This seemed rather daunting to me, and so I consulted with my local mechanic... Who quoted me $1,100 to replace the handle.

With a price like that I figured this was more of a challenge than a daunting task. He quoted me $500 for the part... I found a brand new one on ebay for $260, and picked up a gasket for $20. I took the inner lining off the door as most have suggested, and then removed the old handle. The nuts are reachable with the window in and up. Sure enough, a piece of metal in the old handle had sheared apart. A replacement was the only way. It was rather fiddly at first, until i realized there was a lot more arm room if I got into the door from the middle area. Pealing back the insulation opens up a good deal of room in the door. attaching the two rods to the handle was simple,

It's all back together again. Working like a charm. Many thanks to this forum for giving me the courage to do this myself.

 

No experience with a broken door handle ...yet, but just a shout out as a CT neighbor. Hope to meet ya one day.

 

I would suggest you steer well clear of that mechanic for anything if he is going to try and rip you off like that!

 

Allow me to translate from mechanic-speak to common English:

"I don't want to be bothered. Please go away"


Cheers
DD

 

...but in case you were interested in paying me $1100,00, I will gladly do it.

 

i had that same problem back 25 yrs, when restoring, 1978 XJS, car came all apart , and no outside door handles. so i improvised!
small electronic key fob, opens perfect , inside handles are stock!

NO outside handles,

 

How do you get in if your battery is dead or key FOB is Tango Uniform.
Edit: Nevermind. I see you don't have a top so I've just answered my own question. I would also guess you just place your hand on the door top and pull to open.

 

I like the decals on the side. Where did you get theM

 

back in 1994, a company opened close by that did custom computer drawn decals, showed me one ,ordered 2 sides , somethin like $20 dollars!

well he had very little business , closed up shop and moved away, thats all i know!
ron