Door latch problem

**Seamus** · 04-28-2011, 02:32 PM

Ok, so this happened 3 times already. Sometimes when I open the door, the cable for the door latch gets screwed up, jamming the handle and trapping me in the car. I see where it's coming off, it seems like it slips past the plastic casing around where the end of the cable connects to the latch. It happened today, so I fixed it again, and it just broke again. Anyone else have this problem?

**greemero** · 04-29-2011, 06:44 AM

This has happened to me 3 times over the past 2 months. The first time I just slipped it back into place. That lasted about a week. Next, I used a gasket sealer to hold it in place (it was all I had at the time). That lasted about 2 months.

Then, when it did it again this weekend, I figured it was time for the big guns. I cleaned everything up good, scuffed up the surfaces and used some JB Weld. Hopefully this will hold up much longer.

**Seamus** · 04-30-2011, 12:19 PM

Originally Posted by greemero

This has happened to me 3 times over the past 2 months. The first time I just slipped it back into place. That lasted about a week. Next, I used a gasket sealer to hold it in place (it was all I had at the time). That lasted about 2 months.

Then, when it did it again this weekend, I figured it was time for the big guns. I cleaned everything up good, scuffed up the surfaces and used some JB Weld. Hopefully this will hold up much longer.

i didnt have any of that stuff on me, so i put an alligator clip around the clips. So far so good. Lets hope it lasts

**greemero** · 05-02-2011, 08:04 AM

Well, the JB Weld didn't last either. Decided to break in a pouring rain, so I'm not too happy today.

My guess is the problem with adhesives and such is that there needs to be some rotation between the cable and the latch, and the adhesive prohibits this. I'm wondering if I could get some small zip ties in there.....

**greemero** · 05-02-2011, 07:47 PM

I'm intrigued by how you could have used an alligator clip in there. It doesn't appear to me that there's enough room for that. Did you have to break off that plastic backing piece that is on the end of the cable?

**Seamus** · 05-02-2011, 08:09 PM

Wow idk why I said alligator clips. The right name is foldback clips I guess. http://www.office365.co.uk/im/pim/250753.jpg

I put a medium size one on around the clips that hold the cable in, then took off the things to open the clip as they get in the way. It was tricky to get the door panel back on, but so far so good

**Batterss** · 06-30-2011, 12:25 PM

Originally Posted by greemero

I'm wondering if I could get some small zip ties in there.....

When I pulled my door panel off, I found that the lower retaining clip on the back of the panel for the cable end had cracked. Because the plastic was broken, it could no longer be used to apply pressure. I could not do the paper binder clip method of repair.

Last year, NJ03XC reported that he paid the dealer $600 for a new door panel. If his clip broke like mine, then I can understand why the dealer would say that the only way to repair it is with a new panel. This is all one piece of plastic riveted to the door panel.

greemero mentioned zip ties and that led me to come up with this fix.

I drilled two small holes in the solid plastic handle frame above and below the clips. I chose the location of these holes based on the articulation of the handle – made sure the zip tie would not interfere with the range of motion. The zip tie closes to complete a ring around the cable housing so that is cannot back out of the door panel box.
Pics below show the steps. I will post back if this ever fails.

**Seamus** · 06-30-2011, 12:41 PM

I tried everything and it just keeps breaking. I'm looking out for a used door panel, $600 is rediculous

**greemero** · 07-01-2011, 07:42 AM

What I ended up using was a mini c-clamp. My problem was that part of the "lip" on one of the tabs had broken off allowing the cable to slip out. Much like the foldback clip method, the c-clamp keeps pressure on the tabs. I initially just used it as a temporary fix because I didn't have any of those clips that were big enough, but it's been 3 months now without a problem, so I'm just going to leave it like that.