oldcars

I pulled into my driveway and went to open the door. The door handle made a noise, and now flops around as if it connected to nothing. I rolled the window down and used the outside door handle to get the door open. How hard is it to get the driver,s door panel off to see what is happening. Remember, I am 81 years old and and recovering from a broken vertabra in my back, so I do not do body contortions or much bending over at all.

MikeJ65

It's not too bad, probably the hardest part for you will be the screw at the bottom of the silver trim. You have to pull the mirror triangle trim, a screw behind the SRS trim (turn the trim ccw to remove), and the silver trim piece. Then release all of the push clips around the perimeter and lift up on the panel. To completely remove it, unplug all of the connectors from the door module. You normally have to reglue the strips that hold the push clips as they usually come loose.

tonylinc

There is a little part in there that connects the handle to the lock/unlock mechanism. I had to replace this on my SL600, the part is not very expensive. I wish I still had the part number for you. After doing this I realized that it places more stress on this little piece if you open the door while it is still locked, so now I always use the door unlock button on the dash before opening the door. Be careful, that triangle piece by the mirror is around $200 to replace if you happen to break that! It can take a few tries when reinstalling the door panel to get things lined up perfectly, but if I did it, it isn't that difficult.