Passenger door handle “broke”

[Wayne A. Pflughaupt]

Passenger door handle “broke.” Can this be fixed?



Regards,
Wayne A. Pflughaupt

My 2003 Cartier

 

[Action]

Nope. Unless the rod came off of the handle end.
And it does not look like that as the handle has a spring to return the handle to a clsoed position.

Replacement is the solution.

And I have found this is a common thing on some other rides. (Ford Fusion is my experience. I have replaced 3 of 4 on a certain Fusion)

Action

 

[Wayne A. Pflughaupt]

Does the entire door panel have to be replaced?

Regards,
Wayne A. Pflughaupt

My 2003 Cartier

 

[Action]

The solution is not expensive. Well at least not the part.

Door Handle Inside Interior Chrome Rear Driver Left for Ford Mercury Lincoln | eBay

<li> Fitment: 2006-2012 Ford Fusion 2007-2012 Lincoln MKZ 2006-2011 Mercury Milan 2006 Lincoln Zephyr</li> <li> </li> <li>Item Specifics: 100% Brand New Made of High Quality ABS Plastic Bracket and Durable Chrome Handle Replacement Direct Fit, No Modification Needed Replace Number...

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Action

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[Action]

Does the entire door panel have to be replaced?

Regards,
Wayne A. Pflughaupt

My 2003 Cartier

Usually. I have not done a Continental or full sized F/M.

The Fusion needed to have the inner door panel removed. And that wasn't that difficult either.

Action

 

[bbf2530]

Does the entire door panel have to be replaced?

Regards,
Wayne A. Pflughaupt

My 2003 Cartier

Hi Wayne. To my knowledge, the door panel does not need to be "replaced". It only needs to be removed in order to access and replace the handle itself.

Let us know how you make out and good luck.

 

[Action]

Thanks for the clarification.
I read that as remove not replace.

Action

 

[dave42]

Don't buy anything. Don't order anything. Let me tell you a little story. My front passenger handle did the same. My little brother pulled it too hard when the door was locked. So I'm searching online for info and found a short youtube where a guy's driver door handle did the same and he was looking for answers. But he showed that if you "flicked" inward the front inside edge of the handle with your fingers (hard to describe), it would pop back into place. Turns out this "fixed" it temporarily. It would work until someone pulled a little too hard and then it stuck again and needed to be re-flicked. Anyway, someone down in the video's comments mentioned what the cause and fix was. There is a little trapdoor behind the door handle, and after you hinge it open there is a large torx screw that has to be removed to remove the door panel. On a lot of cars this little hinged door is missing. Anyway, the plastic of the door panel surrounding the screw head cracks and breaks so that the panel can flex inward when the handle is pulled. The solution was a large washer. The original torx screw is just barely long enough to still reach the threads with this washer in place, which holds the door panel tight. Mine has worked fine now for maybe 5 years since the fix. For folks that are so anal about the looks of their car that they don't like the looks of the washer, what you need to buy is a new door panel. The handle itself is fine. Now, this was the case with my car and a few others, might not be the same for yours. Good luck.

p.s. another possibility if this is the problem might be to try to repair the broken plastic with some sort of JB Weld or something, but that is a high stress point.

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[bbf2530]

Thanks for the clarification.
I read that as remove not replace.

Action

Hi Action. Yes, that was my assumption.

Good luck.

 

[Wayne A. Pflughaupt]

Found the video, and it worked! But now the whole panel moves when opening the door, just like in the video. I think what happened is my grandson grabbed the handle to close the door, instead of the strap,, and broke it. I’m going to be taking the door panel off putting in some aftermarket speakers soon, so I’ll take a closer look at it then.

Regards,
Wayne A. Pflughaupt

My 2003 Cartier

 

[Wayne A. Pflughaupt]

This video shows how to repair the door panel hole.

Regards,
Wayne A. Pflughaupt

My 2003 Cartier

 

[dave42]

Yep, that would be an aesthetic fix. That video wasn't out there when mine broke . You can still use the washer until you take the door panel off to epoxy it.

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[Azjaeger]

This is a stupid design, much like cable door window regulators instead of scissors design which always break cables while scissors design lasts decades. The handle is part of the door panel and it flips a release on the actual door. The Vics and GMs have rods going to the handle which is held to the door by a screw and easily replaced. This design is becoming more common on many cars and the factory fix requires replacing the entire door trim panel. Some aftermarket kits are becoming available but they require cutting and riveting and gluing and the one for the Townies does NOT have the cutouts for the heated seat switches in the supplied panel. This sort of thing must save the factory a dollar per car in labor time or something.

 

[KBoyle]

This is a stupid design, much like cable door window regulators instead of scissors design which always break cables while scissors design lasts decades. The handle is part of the door panel and it flips a release on the actual door. The Vics and GMs have rods going to the handle which is held to the door by a screw and easily replaced. This design is becoming more common on many cars and the factory fix requires replacing the entire door trim panel. Some aftermarket kits are becoming available but they require cutting and riveting and gluing and the one for the Townies does NOT have the cutouts for the heated seat switches in the supplied panel. This sort of thing must save the factory a dollar per car in labor time or something.

This is a stupid design, much like cable door window regulators instead of scissors design which always break cables while scissors design lasts decades. The handle is part of the door panel and it flips a release on the actual door. The Vics and GMs have rods going to the handle which is held to the door by a screw and easily replaced. This design is becoming more common on many cars and the factory fix requires replacing the entire door trim panel. Some aftermarket kits are becoming available but they require cutting and riveting and gluing and the one for the Townies does NOT have the cutouts for the heated seat switches in the supplied panel. This sort of thing must save the factory a dollar per car in labor time or something.

That’s ridiculous, I couldn’t believe they don’t make them for heated and memory seats!

 

[Action]

This is a stupid design, much like cable door window regulators instead of scissors design which always break cables while scissors design lasts decades. The handle is part of the door panel and it flips a release on the actual door. The Vics and GMs have rods going to the handle which is held to the door by a screw and easily replaced. This design is becoming more common on many cars and the factory fix requires replacing the entire door trim panel. Some aftermarket kits are becoming available but they require cutting and riveting and gluing and the one for the Townies does NOT have the cutouts for the heated seat switches in the supplied panel. This sort of thing must save the factory a dollar per car in labor time or something.

I know this is an older post but likely the reason for many of those changes is not cost it is the government.

Strange I know. The original design of Town Car has roots a long time ago. The car was not expected to last or be in demand as long as it was. (30 years) And unlike Mustang, the company always knew the model (full sized platform) would end and not come back. Some parts of the car were made as a work around to an old platform design that is never getting updated. Other parts may have been used as a field test. It worked in design, it worked in testing. Time to put that out just on certain models.

Then there is the government. Specifically, laws regarding fuel economy. You see in addition to meeting customer expectation, all car manufacturers have to meet government regulation. (There is a monetary penalty for not meeting either one) The bigger and heavier a vehicle the less fuel efficient the vehicle. I am guessing that the cable design is far lighter than the metal scissor design. That weight reduction of even a few ounces is a home run in the vehicle design world. (Some automotive careers have been made on this) If something like that had a failure rate that was above the metal scissor design and still very low (like a couple of percent) the decision may have been made to continue the design and work on improving it. A cost cut is not usually the consideration. And the cable design was used on far more models than Panther platform.

Action

 

[2 Abrahams 4 Me]

Hey Town Car Cult. So I had the same problem and after looking on line/YouTube/on this forum I fixed the door handle permanently today. Super easy fix took about half an hour and cost $5. What you need is 6mm thread 30 length bolt and some washers. I used a big space washer as the base and then a few smaller ones and then a 6mm lock washer at the end. You have to take the panel off to "reset" the door handle. Once you remove the panel the handle falls right back into place and isn't stuck open. Then just screw in the bolt that goes right into the door and build up the small gap with a few extra washers. I now understand when I saw the YouTube video why the one guy went ahead and did the rest of his doors before the handle was out of position. This avoided having to take the panel off. Yes.....you have to remove the panel in order to get the handle back in its correct position and not stuck open.

6 fasteners in total to remove the panel. 3 at the bottom, the one where the door handle is the 2 pull strap fasteners. Mine came off no problem, no extra tools required. The YouTube video where they epoxy the back and then use the original T30 screw is only if you want to use the little cover to hide the screw. If you were going to do it that way so you could put the cap cover back on what I would do is super glue or epoxy a washer on the back of assembly to give it some stability. If you don't care about what it looks like you don't have to bother with gluing etc as the screw goes right into the door and the washer(s) in the front are what holds everything in place. I will be doing the rest of the doors in the near future on my daily driver Town Car.

Hope this helps. Easy peasy job. In fact I found it easier than the reseal on the air intake gasket. Half hour and you done if you do it with the washer and screw/bolt being exposed. My door handle looked like the one at the top of the thread and would not go back into position. The little jiggle thing video didn't work for me. I don't think the jiggle thing will work if the back of the housing is broken like mine was.

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[04TC]

That actually looks really nice and shiny! Good job.

 

[TcLincoln2007]

Hey Town Car Cult. So I had the same problem and after looking on line/YouTube/on this forum I fixed the door handle permanently today. Super easy fix took about half an hour and cost $5. What you need is 6mm thread 30 length bolt and some washers. I used a big space washer as the base and then a few smaller ones and then a 6mm lock washer at the end. You have to take the panel off to "reset" the door handle. Once you remove the panel the handle falls right back into place and isn't stuck open. Then just screw in the bolt that goes right into the door and build up the small gap with a few extra washers. I now understand when I saw the YouTube video why the one guy went ahead and did the rest of his doors before the handle was out of position. This avoided having to take the panel off. Yes.....you have to remove the panel in order to get the handle back in its correct position and not stuck open.

6 fasteners in total to remove the panel. 3 at the bottom, the one where the door handle is the 2 pull strap fasteners. Mine came off no problem, no extra tools required. The YouTube video where they epoxy the back and then use the original T30 screw is only if you want to use the little cover to hide the screw. If you were going to do it that way so you could put the cap cover back on what I would do is super glue or epoxy a washer on the back of assembly to give it some stability. If you don't care about what it looks like you don't have to bother with gluing etc as the screw goes right into the door and the washer(s) in the front are what holds everything in place. I will be doing the rest of the doors in the near future on my daily driver Town Car.

Hope this helps. Easy peasy job. In fact I found it easier than the reseal on the air intake gasket. Half hour and you done if you do it with the washer and screw/bolt being exposed. My door handle looked like the one at the top of the thread and would not go back into position. The little jiggle thing video didn't work for me. I don't think the jiggle thing will work if the back of the housing is broken like mine was.

Hi. I know it's been a while, but maybe you'll get this. Thanks for giving the screw size. So let's say you use the flick method described in this thread and pull the panel surrounding the interior handle towards the interior of the car and then the door handle goes back into position. Do you still have to remove the entire door panel to put in the screw with the washers washers, or you can just keep the door panel in open the trap door, put the washers on your screw and screw it in. Thanks again!

 

[2 Abrahams 4 Me]

Hey TC2007. From what I remember taking the panel off was only necessary to get the door handle back into position. Once it "resets" you don't need to remove the panel any further. Again, with the rest of the doors, where the handle was fine I just replaced the bolt, did not have to take the panels off. Hope this helps.

 

[TcLincoln2007]

THANKS! MUCH APPRECIATED!

Hey TC2007. From what I remember taking the panel off was only necessary to get the door handle back into position. Once it "resets" you don't need to remove the panel any further. Again, with the rest of the doors, where the handle was fine I just replaced the bolt, did not have to take the panels off. Hope this helps.