I've recently acquired my first FD & the drivers side door handle was extremely stiff. After a few uses it seems to have bound up/become stuck. I asked the previous owner & he'd apparently not had any issues with it, though says it was replaced about 6 months ago.. It's not broken that I can tell & the release on the inside of the door works fine. I know the stock handles are notorious for breaking but is this typical as well & any suggestions? Thanks!

 

spray some wd40 at the key hole and it should free up. If not then I hope the handle is not jammed or broken inside. It's a typical problem with the rx7.

-AzEKnightz

 

Well, the key turns fine, it's the handle that seems to be jammed.. (though like I said, the inner release works fine) Is there info for freeing them up/replacement, somewhere? I scrolled through the FAQ thread & didn't seem to notice anything..

 

I know the key turns fine. But you need to use WD40 and spray into the keyhole, inside is where the mechanism is located and needed lubricant. I've repaired or fixed this problem for many of my friends doing this maintenance.

Try it first to see if it free up the handle if not you will need to disassemble the handle to figure out what's jammed inside.

-AzEKnightz

 

Gotcha & thanks again. If disassembly becomes the case, is there a thread/link to more info on the subject? (my apologies if I overlooked it in FAQ)

 

Not sure if there is one. However if my memories served me correct

1) there is a triangular plastic pieces behind the door handle inside on the door, pry it off because not to break it they arent very pliable.

2) there should be 2 or 3 10mm nuts that's holding onto the handle itself. Remove those and you should be able to remove the handle from the outside.

Very easy, let me know if you need any help. I can always find you alldata step-by-step removal/installation info.

-AzEKnightz

 

Awesome. Currently attempting to find a tube for the WD-40. Hopefully that gets the job done.. Regarding the non-pliable plastic piece, I can tell the previous owner's probably telling the truth about the handle having been replaced, as that piece has a small chunk missing where somebody obviously pried on it, lol.

 

disassembling the handle isn't too hard. Just pry (carefully) off the interior plastic that is behind the handle, you will then see a couple of nuts to loosen and the assembly will be pretty easy to remove with a couple more screws IIRC. Just be careful not to break any of the plastic clips. Once you get the handle off you should be able to tell pretty easily whether it is the handle or the lock mechanism (in the door) that is giving you problems. If it is difficult to unlock the door by pulling the rods (likely) then things will be more difficult because you are going to have to see what is mucking things up down near the lock mechanism (means taking apart whole door). Lubricate it all with the proper grease or anti-seize. WD-40 is good to clean things up but you need to get some grease back in there for lasting lubricant.

One question though. Is the handle just hard to actuate? How does it compare to passenger side? These cars have horribly designed handles in that the actuator takes a lot of force to function (thus leading to numerous broken handles). If they are both comparable, I'd be inclined to say that its just a FD handle. If the driver side is stiffer then passenger, the above cleaning/replacement might be in order.

Edit: AzEKnights beat me to it

 

This is a temporary solution until you get a new door handle but:

Remove the door handle from the door, looking at the mechanism, at the bottom right, there should be a screw that holds a "spring" in place. Unscrew the screw and remove the spring. This allows you to open the door with EASE! Replace the screw and then mount the door handle.

Keep in mind this is only temporary solution.

 

He's On Toroids, originally the drivers side was simply stiffer than passenger, but now it seems to be flat out jammed solid. I've not pulled tooo hard though as I'm afraid of breaking it. Definitely plan to pick up some aluminum replacements once I've got the coin. (which may be sooner than planned!) scribo, are there any drawbacks to removing the spring permanently? I'm disabled & easier actuation would be a plus in general, but I don't wanna **** **** up in the long run either.

 

I actually have no idea if there are any drawbacks but I can tell you that my door handle was like yours and now it takes little to no effort to open the door. Truthfully, I'm still waiting for my replacement door handle.. been using it like that for ~3 weeks now.

I found out about this trick from one of DaleClark's threads and he said the super resistant spring may be a safety feature to prevent the door from flying open if you were to get into a wreck..

 

I see.. I may wind up trying it on both - thanks again!

 

Letting it soak in WD-40 made it operable again, but still tighter than the passenger side. I've got a question about FD doors in general..

Do you usually have to shut them fairly hard/with some force? My door panel plastics (pieces that mount into the panel) are all pretty squeaky/loose on both doors & it's no doubt due to how hard you've gotta shut them to get them to fully latch. Will removing the spring scribo mentioned ease this somewhat, or maybe something else needs adjustment? When I release the trunk it pops pretty loud too, as if the latch mechanism's set realllly tight there as well. (which in turn seems to have made the 3rd tail light rattle on the inside, I expect due to being shut hard over the years)

 

It is not unheard of for 18 year old nuts and bolts to either loosen or rust in place if things are loose, tighten. In my experience, all the doors are pretty difficult to close. This is due to the Weather-striping that they used for our doors. I believe it was to cut down on road noise. Back when I DD my FD I got so used to it that I forgot it was stiffer then most cars. Whenever I would catch a ride with one of my friends they used to yell at me for slamming their door so hard. Just muscle memory I guess.

Someone else may be able to speak better to this (or at least confirm it) but I think they changed the design for the door in 94 a bit to account for the looseness of the plastics etc. The only thing that you can do for this is to pull it apart and tighten the old fasteners and get new clips.

And as I said above, and put some Lubricant/grease into the door mechanism. WD-40 is a degreaser. Over time, it won't keep things lubricated as well as real lubricants.

 

It sound like you need to open the mechanism up to check for any cracks inside the door handle. Sounded like you are in one of my situations before. Cracked at the handle pivoting point causing the handle to be jammed even with lubricant it will still be somewhat stuck.

-AzEKnightz

 

Cool, thanks for the further info guys. Definitely need to open up the assemblies & check things out. Think I'll try the spring removal too, at least on one side & compare. Also, I realize WD-40 isn't really a lubricant. The previous owner's confident the drivers side handle's not broken, as it's apparently only 6 months old & he barely drove the thing.. but I know that doesn't really mean anything. He's also starting to sound like somebody who may be a little mechanically inept.. though had rx7.com service it regularly & do all the mods/mechanicals, as well as took excellent care of the body, but just lived with little things like the panels & jacked up glovebox. (won't unlatch, & seems to only be attached/dangling off the latch, lol)

Regarding my door panels, I'm tempted to just buy ones that're hopefully in better condition/the CF insert set, but if being shut so hard is part of the culprit for the state of the originals.. well I figured it worth finding out if I could ease that a tad first. (the panel itself seems pretty tight until you get to the arm-rest area where the switches/cubby/handle etc. mount) I also realize they're 18yo, but have had bad luck attempting to tighten up similar plastics in the past & expect pieces in better shape would hold up better in the long run.

 

Ok, finally had time to check things out, as well as daylight. (attempted to do so last night but the sun went down too fast & I came in before I started losing stuff ) Once the 2 nut/stud things are removed behind the interior's triangular plastic piece, I'm not quite sure how to get the rest of the assembly out far enough to remove the screw in question, as I'm afraid of kinking the linkages if I twist it around enough to do so with everything attached? Obviously I'm overlooking something simple.. Also, FWIW, nothing appears to be broken.

 

i had a problem with the handle getting stiff...i had removed the "triangular" looking plastic piece on the inside and sprayed some white lithium grease...and it worked like new....but mine were just very hard to open not stuck like yours...i dont know for sure if the white lithium grease treatment will work for your situation...

 

Well, it's no longer stuck, though still definitely much stiffer than the passenger side & with no visibly broken or bent/bound pieces. Given my unique circumstance the spring removal sounds right up my alley, but again.. I'm not readily seeing how to get @ the screw holding it down without mucking up the linkage.

EDIT - oh yeah.. does anybody know if the black, inner covers are still available new, or is it a part you have to scour Ebay etc for? since one's already broke I'm tempted to get Evo-R's CF replacement, though am not positive I'll wind up with any other CF to match, since the arm rest/cluster kit is unfortunately so hard to come by these days

 

Hey, I read about your handle troubles. I had the same problem, but I found a long term solution

Take the handle out of the door, look up under the handle "paddle" from the outside of the handle. You'll see a small round rubber stop. Probably 1/4 inch in diameter. Notice how the handle paddle comes to rest on this squishy piece of rubber when the handle is not in use. What happens is the rubber gets depressed out of shape over the years, which allows the handle "paddle" to progressively start to seat lower and lower, eventually making it too hard to pull the handle paddle up to open the door.

When the rubber stop get squished like this, and the handle paddle seats too far into the handle surround, there isnt enough mechanical leverage to overcome the fulcrum of the linkages on the back of the door handle, to lift the handle and open the door.

The solution: turn the door handle over. Look at the back of it. Find where the little tail of the rubber stopper pokes through. Pull the little #$% rubber stopper completely out and toss it away. In the hole thats left, insert a screw. Screw it in from the backside of the handle, so the end of the screw pokes out to touch the backside of the handle "paddle". Voila. Turn the screw in or out to adjust how easy you want the handle to lift.

Dont wind it out too much, or the handle "paddle" will rise out from the side of the car too much, and will look ugly. Its been a permanent fix on my car and my dad's car. As taught to my Dad on his last trip to Japan. And the beauty of it is, the metal screw you insert, will never deform like the rubber bumpstop, so you'll never need to touch it again

 

Sweet, thanks for the info - I'll have to check into it. It seems to be somewhat more free simply from use & the WD-40. (picked up some lithium grease but always forget to grab it when headed out the door, lol) Easier is better though!

I'm also still possibly interested in how to get @ the screw holding the spring down, which scribo mentioned. As stated, I'm not seeing how to get the assembly turned around/free enough to remove it without bending the linkage.

 

I replaced mine with aluminum door handles as it was broken when I bought it. It was very hard to open the driver door, sprayed some in the key hole, listed the handle and sprayed under there and some where the door actually latches. It is much much easier to open and close now, when I close the door from the inside I roll the window down and then close using the actual door. The plastics are to brittle to use the inside handle and not worth the risk of having to replace them.

 

Thanks for the tip - I wish the previous owner/s had done the same with mine. Even the passenger side interior door handle is basically ripped out.