Broken Interior Door Handle

[campbeam]

Has anyone else had a broken interior door opening handle? This is the first time for me in many years. Happened one late Saturday night which was not that cold. All that I can think of is that I was distracted talking to the girlfriend, fully opened the handle and it very easily and quickly snapped off.

As a quick fix, I tried using superglue [didn't work at all] then using araldite which only lasted a few uses. I was trying to avoid having to remove the door trim which I had not done before.

Prices on eBay for a replacement pair from the USA were not attractive so I persevered with a broken handle for a few weeks. I was going to re-glue the door handle but another part of the plastic moulding had broken off. Finally, I did the rounds of the local wreckers and got one for $20. One of the advantages of going to wreckers and removing the part is that you can practice/learn how to do it. Discovered that I had to remove the interior door trim [learnt quickly] instead of just one screw. In hindsight, I should have done a Forum search.

http://au.toyotaownersclub.com/forums/topic/52560-door-garnish-removal/?tab=comments#comment-555353

Fitting the replacement part is a quick 10 minute job which I had to redo as the window rubber section had to be reseated.

Rather than throw away the broken door handle, I have re-araldited the broken pieces together plus also filled the hollow section with araldite [Selleys Ultra Clear ] to re-inforce it. Learning from all of this is that there was not a quick fix solution without removing the door handle.

[Tony Prodigy]

Gotta love the wreckers. 

We have Pick'N'Payless here in Blacktown City where you pay a cover charge to get in to see the old girls. You even bring your own tools lol !

On a serious note, you are correct in that if you find a suitable donor car that hasn't been molested to buggery, you can actually see how it comes out before you do the guess work on your own.

Thumbs up for me.

[campbeam]

Donor vehicle was a red 2007 Aurion Sportivo. Chromed door handle was a perfect fit to my 2006 Aurion ATX which I now prefer to the original black plastic. Thinking about going back for the passenger door handle as a standby spare.

[Tony Prodigy]

You might as well make them all chrome.