ok, on my passenger door, the outside handle is broken off, and the inside handle is broken off. the outside mirror is also off. (and no, i don't have a clue how it happened, i bought the car like this..) basically, i can't open the door. the lock will slide, (it's manual everything) but the inside handle is busted out so there's nothing to pull on. i have new handles, i just don't know how to get the old one out without taking off the door panel, which i can't do since it won't open. i have the armrest off, and the plastic panel that goes around the inside door handle..

i don't want to cut up my door panel, they aren't in bad shape.. does anyone have any ideas or tips?

thanks..

 

Can you get a pair of pliers (needlenose or Vice-Grip) in and grab the remains of the interior door handle?

I know that interior handles breaking off are a common problem, since people like to yank on the handles themselves to open & close the doors. There's a reason that the Camaro and Firebird come with big, fat door-closing handles...

 

well, problem with getting pliers and doing it that way is there's nothing to grab. it looks like they broke the handle off, then somehow tried to rig it with a screw, and broke off the part behind the plastic cover.. i need to get a camera and put up a pic..

 

sounds like a great opportunity to shave the handles off

 

The rod from the outside handle should be pushed down to open the door. If the handle is gone, look in the holes for the handle and find the rod. Stick a screwdriver or something else in there and push it down to pop the door open.

 

take as much of the door panel off from the interior, i dont know what it woudl be like to do it with it closed though but i think it will come off with lots of work and swearing, then from there it should be simple

 

Actually, you should be able to unscrew the interior trim panel covering up the door release. It's secured by two Torx T10 screws in two opposite corners (be careful you don't try and unscrew the plastic imitation screws, you'll just snap them off and make it look ugly).

Once you take that off, you should have no problems using pliers to release the door.

 

it's open, thanks everyone for the help... i ended up managing to pop off the door rail on top, had to spray a bunch of w-d40 on the latch, after that soaked in for a while managed to get the pliers on the bar and get it open. thanks everyone...