Door Handles keep breaking

as long as you keep them lubed you should be good. It’s not like it gets cold there- I replaced the driver’s with a dorman, a few days later when it dipped down to-20F the handle just snapped, so I had to do the crawl across for a couple weeks till the OEM handle came and it warmed up enough to swap it out. Someday a garage.....

 

My Dormans on both sides are still going strong nearly 2 years after I put them on...but to be fair it doesn't get that cold here. I have had them in <20˚ weather before though on more than a few trips, maybe have just gotten lucky

 

Replaced broken drivers door handle on my daughters 02 last saturday. Really easy fix thanks to youtube videos. She bought the part of Amazon for about $10.00. Luckily, we don't get cold weather in So Cal....
Only problem we encountered was breaking the forward switch mounting point on the switch plate (forward of the door/window lock switches). Trying JB Weld today to patch that back up...

 

5 minute 2-part epoxy will fix most anything. It’ll stay running for 2-3 minutes and can be easily poured. Hold upside down and it will almost drip. 4&5 minutes in it will be getting hard. Sand with a coarse sandpaper before applying it.

 

I’ve been fighting this for over a year. 3 sets of handle in and today I finally removed the locks themselves. They were gummed up with dust and oil. The rod to the exterior handle was slightly bent also. Kind of a poor setup actually. Sprayed them down with SuperClean in the blue bottle and let that soak 30 minutes or so. Hosed it all off and did it again. 30 minutes or so later I hosed them off again. Air hosed dry and reinstalled. Then lubed the isht out of them with a silicone based lube that is supposed to dry eventually. Installed with the 3rd set of handles and so far so good.

 

First freezing weather and I’ve broken an old replacement driver’s side exterior handle. Yeah me.

 

I use dry lubricant on my handles, lift up on the handle, stick the straw in and blast away. Keeps them operating smooth as silk.

Also just want to reiterate that I think the OEM replacements are garbage, broken several of them. The Dorman handles I installed on both doors have lasted almost 2 years now with zero issues, I had multiple OEM ones fail (on the inside/back of the handle) within months of one another

 

My passenger side handle is all but useless after the last coldsnap. Noticed it on Saturday when wife tried to open it. Sounds like Dorman is a cheaper alternative so I will try that.

 

I finally got my new exterior handle installed. The initial failure was due to being frozen. Once it thawed out I was able to use it another couple of weeks before a complete snap off of the handle.

Being naive for years as to what the plastic lining was for I always peeled that crap off every time I put in door speakers or for whatever reason I had the door panels off. Every vehicle since my first. After realizing it was a barrier I used the plastic shower curtain a few months back and it’s made a big difference with interior dust and overall maintaining a constant temp as well. I feel like an idiot.

I also snapped a window crank about 8 months back. I replaced both with some aluminum/Chinesium universal fitting cranks. They work well for maybe a week before the set screws work loose and they fall off. So I used Blue LocTite and that lasted a month or so before the main, and single, set screw worked loose on the splined crank. The pot aluminum apparently wallowed out from use and caused the cranks to nearly fall off again. After managing to get the blue LocTited set screws out I got at the splined portion and decided 2-part epoxy was my choice of cursing in a couple of months. I applied some to the splines and to the universal piece. Installed it and red LocTite on that set screw. Waited 10 minutes and installed the rest with blue. Today it’s solid as can be and only time will tell. But I do not suggest these cranks as a replacement for anyone.

 

My Taco right OEM door handle was sticking in the recent cold snap in CO. Sprayed it with PB blaster about two weeks and the exterior handle recently cracked. It worked from 2008 to this last week. I suspect like everyone has mentioned the sticky latch mechanism contributed to the problem because I am lifting the handle to high in cold weather.

When looking for replacement handles the customer reviews on Amazon for the Dorman 91318 ($27) & 91319 ($26) are not exactly great. 5 star rating is 61% but the 1 Stars rating stated 1. fragile. 2 dissatisfied & 3. garbage. I have no skin in the game. I suspect its similar to the crappy clutch spring bushing design.

 

I've had my Dormans on for almost 2 years now and they've held up great, for what it's worth.

 

What size are the bolts that hold the handle in place?

 

10mm. They’re a bitch to get out

 

You know there's a hole punched in the door panel for access to the far one right?

 

Honestly man I've just come accustom to the handles popping off every time I gotta roll the windows down aha

 

I changed a few handles before I realized this myself, mine was covered with a rubber cap. Once I realized that was for accessing the bolt that holds the handle in it made the job so much faster lol. And less painful on my hands

 

The ones I've seen come with a sticker over it. Like a tamper-proof thing or something....

 

I’ve done my handles like 3 times and never knew that, when I take put my new passenger on tomorrow I’ll do that lol.

 

My driver’s side handle snapped yesterday.

For a year or so now, if I didn’t lift on the extreme left of the handle, the door wouldn’t open. Might be related.

Anywho, I’m going OEM since the first one lasted 21 years.