Broken door handle

My 96 Tahoe has a broken door handle. Well, not sure it's the handle or what it attatches to. It just sort of flops around, and I have to roll the window down to open it from the outside to get out. Don't think it should be that hard to fix, but I'm clueless about how to the the door panel off, and I definately don't want to mess up the wiring so I couldn't even get the window down. Please help! Thank you!

 

[QUOTE=Boroco]My 96 Tahoe has a broken door handle. Well, not sure it's the handle or what it attatches to. It just sort of flops around, and I have to roll the window down to open it from the outside to get out. Don't think it should be that hard to fix, but I'm clueless about how to the the door panel off, and I definately don't want to mess up the wiring so I couldn't even get the window down. Please help! Thank you![/Women aren't helpless]

 

Door panel will be secured on with some screws and possibly some plastic cheap tabs.

It can be a pain in the arse doing this.

Look around the outside of the door panel and locate any screws, remove them.

Look around the inside door handle area for screws, remove them as well.

Get yourself a flat head screw driver if panel is stuck on with plastic tabs and start popping them out.

If you have electric windows/locks, etc, be careful not to damage wiring when pulling door panel off. Remove panel enough to get your hand back there and disconnect the plugs from the panel.

With the panel off, you will see plastic covering the door, just peel this back.

Now you see the inerds of the door. Doesn't look fun, does it?

Look for obvious signs of brakeage. Replace what you see is damaged or loose.

 

Like HotinOKC said only I would use an door tool. You can get them cheap at Oreilys, autozone, pep......Ususally in the help section. It is about a 3x6" peice of metal with a U cut out of one end and the other end is folded over. It is realy made to remove the window crank but it works great on popping those plastic tabs off. If you break a few of them in the proscess they can be found in the help section too.

 

Hi:
One of the family cars, .... Camry 98 had the exact same problem last summer.

In the beginning, it seemed quite easy, but we found it very hard to tackle it. Then, we asked the local repair shop which charged about $250.00 for its parts and labor. It took about one hour, $125 in my recollection.

In my experience, a broken door handle does not come cheap unless you can do it yourself.

 

Definitely worth trying provided you're careful as Hot says. Could be you just have the linkage loose from the handle.

 

Thanks for all replies. It's actually my Honey's Tahoe. He Bought a 350Z and let me "borrow" the Tahoe because my Blazer's air conditioning doesn't work. Since the handle broke while I have it, it's only fair for me to fix it before he takes it back for the winter. I gave my Blazer a tune up (wires, rotor, cap, etc.) so I figure I can do it!!

 

not cheap evan if you do do it yourself .

door handles broke on my 95 t100 pickup , toyota wanted 100 each for OEM parts . I went to ebay bought two for 60.00 (aftermarket) they broke in less than a year so it was off to toyota for the real thing