Friends,

I went to open my drivers side door and it felt a little soft. the next time it came off in my hand. I have searched the forum for a similar situation and how they fixed it but I came up empty. (If I have missed it please give me the link)

Has anyone replaced the handle before? with the help of the forum I am a doing good on DIY's but were should I start? Is this a fix for a shop? Where can I find a matching handle? There is no damage to the door.


thanks for your help!
Daniel


P.S. I do not have enough posts yet to use pictures yet however if you want to see it (danieldennis...net/test/broken.jpg and broken handle2.jpg)

Very common problem. The handles are just plastic that fatigue over time. Just try to take it easy on them. Replacements are about $30 and the only tricky part is attaching the cable onto the latch. Not too bad but you may have to unclip the door panel from the bottom.

I have found the so called replacements but on the 540 they are painted to match the car. Is my only option to buy the replacement and have a body shop paint the part to match the car?

Inside or outside handle? PS, the inside drivers broke on my 528 2 years ago, and the outside on the 540 this year. Oh, and the 528 also broke this year according to the guy I sold it to.

Common problem, replacing either one is largely the same process and not too hard as long as you are comfortable taking apart your door panel, but the outside one requires paint.

It is the outside. where did you find the replacement part? How did you get it to match the paint?

Mine did this as well. I used a hook to pull the little latch thing back into place...it's came out 3-4 times, but hasn't for a while now...

Mine did not come loose it broke. The handle was in my hand. If you read the first post I think you will be able to see a picture. It is not imbedded in the post because I am a few short posts from receiving that ability.

Thanks everyone for your help so far. But has anyone worked through this problem and how did you find the part, match the color and install it?

Mine broke too. 36.00 at Pelican Parts, stealer was much more. Horrid design IMO.