Door Linkage issue 1996 Regal Gran Sport

[wherewasi]

1996 Buick Regal Outside door handle doesn’t work. I have the interior panel apart. The door handle is not able to push the pins/linkage down far enough to open the latch jaws. I have found that if I move the linkage downward to a lower starting position then the handle CAN engage the linkage properly. The problem is that the linkage does not reposition itself properly after the door was opened. I can’t see the linkage inside the door because it’s blocked by sheet metal. I can feel it if I reach in there. Should I cut away some sheet metal to get a look. I feel like a spring is missing or some other tiny piece of hardware is broken. The car is old and I don’t want to spen a lot of money on a ‘quality of life’ type of repair. That 3800 engine still purrs by the way with 140K on it. Anyway, any help is appreciated. Thanks. Tom

Topic

[MARK FELDSTEIN]

I wouldn’t start cutting anything just yet. First you need to visualize as much of the inside door panel and door opening mechanism as you can. That would include raising the window as far up as it can go, removing the plastic splash cover, etc. There are usually multiple connections on the door handle locking button. One to the door lock button, one to the interior handle, one to the lock mechanism. You may have pushed on a second rod that operated the handle whereas a different rod of the mechanism fell off or disconnected.

You might have to hold the window at the top of the frame, use duct tape or something and then lower the window frame itself or the window regulator unit. That should allow you an unobstructed access to the handles and the linkage assemblies.

Once you do that follow the rods from the inside part of the door handle and see that everything is hooked into it’s respective slot or keeper. My guess is you’ll find one has popped out, probably the one that’s the linkage you moved downward to open the door. It’s probably accessible from an access hole in the existing sheet metal of the door. May be covered by something like splash cover or something else. You should also gently tug on the connecting rods and make sure they’re all connected. Sometimes too, the attachment point on the inside of the handle breaks for one reason or another, rust, maybe corrosion or just metal fatigue, the rod falls down into the door interior.

If you can find a copy of the service manual on this Buick, check the diagrams in the Chasis/body sections and you’ll see how it all links up and where. You shouldn’t need to cut anything to get to where you need to reattach something.

One last thing, run a magnet or visualize the inside bottom of the door panel and fish around for loose hardware like nuts, fasteners, springs, etc. I don’t recall any springs involved here except in the handles themselves, but you never know what you might find down there.

Sparks

[wherewasi]

Sparks,

Thanks for the response. I took your advice and didn’t start cutting. Instead, I took the upper control rod off the door handle an it had an adjustment to it… literally screwed the connector to the end of its play and that was enough to maske the whole thing work after I put it back together.

Thanks again… I’m pretty sure my suggested procedure (ready:fire:aim) was not the way to go here.

Tom (wherewasi)

[MARK FELDSTEIN]

Stellar job Tom ! Nice going. ;>)
Sparks.

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