Door handle blues - 1987 type 44 ... success at last

[Dave C]

I thought I'd relate the outcome of my door handle adventures.  

First my door handle lever broke, so I replaced it. 

Then the latch on the clip for the operating rod broke.  The clip is
not available from the dealer except if you purchase the entire
operating rod for about $12-15 ... special order of course.  Kurt's
advice, copied below  was right on with re: to a fix with wire.  I
used  a 28 gauge steel wire.  Copper would likely be more readily
available, but wouldn't be very strong and may not stand up to the
twisting, etc.  I first removed the plastic clip and twisted the wire
loosely in place.  Installed the clip and then twisted it snug with
needle nose pliers.

In the process of all this I cleaned and lubed everything.  After all
that, and upon reassembly, I found something is still binding. 
Further inspection revealed that the control valve, the blue plastic
gizmo in the door that's part of the vacuum system, was the culprit. 
Something inside had failed and was putting a load on everything else.
 I replace the control valve and now all is good,  In hindsight I'd
say the broken door handle was caused by the faulty control valve. 
Cleaning, lubing, etc was never going to help that.
- -
Dave C.



On Thu, 27 Jan 2005 14:37:11 -0500, Dave C <dconner at gmail.com> wrote:
> Sounds perfect ...  I'll give it a try.
> Thanks!
> Dave C.
> 
> 
> On Thu, 27 Jan 2005 13:19:49 -0500 (EST), Kurt Deschler
> <desch at alum.wpi.edu> wrote:
> > You can use thin steel wire to replace the plastic clips on the operating
> > rods. Put the twist on side of the connector that faces away from the
> > ball.  The wire will stay in the notch that the clip sat in. You can press
> > the connector on with needle-nose pliers.
> >        Kurt
> >        87 5kcstq
> >        89 200tq
> >        00 s4
> >
>