Door handle on 1994 geo metro will open from inside of car but not outside?

Answer 1

Generally there are rods which push the latch opening lever down to open the door. In the most trivial case, the rod which connects to the lever of the outside handle fell off the hole, or the plastic retainer broke off. If you want to fix it yourself you'll need to remove the paneling and plastic weather piece on the inside of the car door to access it.

There are several descriptions on the web how to remove the panel, so here it will be reviewed only briefly. Put the window crank handle pointing up, hold a cloth below to collect the spring, and use an old sock or shirt sleeve to push the spring down by sliding the sock behind the handle and pulling down each end of the sock, alternating left and right side until the spring flows down into your trap. The next obstacle is the plastic bezel of the interior handle which is easy to click back in place, but somewhat tricky to remove without breaking it. Force it gently from different sides with a screw driver, also pull the handle and pull the bezel forward. Remove the plastic covers over the screws of the arm-rest handle. Unscrew its 2 screws, as well as the 2 screws on the bottom of the arm-rest pocket. The latter 2 screws may be rusty and if so, you may need some spry to loosen them before you've ruined their philips heads. Pry the plastic buttons of the panel open with a flat screwdriver wrapped in a rag to avoid scratching. Pull the bottom of the panel off, and then lift the top out of the window. Open the top side of the plastic sheet enough to be able to work comfortably with the latch and its two handles. A flash light may be helpful to see better inside the door without removing the seat belt mechanism.

If the rod is out of the handle lever, reinsert it and make sure the plastic retainer clicks to hold it in place. Should the plastic retainer be broken or hard and brittle from age, it must be replaced with new or a good used one. Temporarily you can tie the rod in place to the handle with a copper wire, garbage tie, or elastic from the panties of your passenger:)

If the door gradually became harder to open, the driver gets used to pull harder instead of investigating the problem. This may result in one side (usually the back lever) of the exterior door handle to break. Even the nut of the handle mounting screw could break off from the plastic handle body. This twists the rod when the handle is pulled to open the door, and the rod may not be able to push the latch opening lever all the way down. If so, the exterior handle must be replaced even before the other side breaks, too. Prior to removing the door handle, you must disconnect the opening rod from the handle lever. Then remove the spring retaining the lock cylinder. Put some cloth to catch the spring and avoid fishing it from behind the seat belt mechanism with a magnet on a copper wire:) Remove the cylinder,, unscrew the 2 screws and the handle can be pulled from the outside. Mount the new or good used handle with the two screws. Put the spring on the cylinder and push the cylinder back in place until the spring clicks. Pull back to check it will not fall out. Connect the rod to the handle lever.

Regardless, whether the handle had to be replaced or not, do check the proper function. Pull the interior opening handle and watch how far down the latch opening lever is pressed. Next pull the exterior handle and watch the latch opening lever again. If it does not go as much down as from the inside, then that has to be remedied, otherwise the problem will remain or reappear shortly. That may have been the very reason for the gradual tightening or complete failure of the exterior opening function.

The first way is to disconnect the rod from the handle, then unwind the end piece 2-3 turns to effectively make the rod appear longer. If there is no room for further adjustment, the next option is to carefully bend open the two knees of the rod at slightly wider angles, so as to restore the initial length of the rod (from repeated long-time use, the aging knees bend slightly, the rod gets shorter and cannot push down the latch opening lever far enough. Be careful though, because if you force the knees too much or overshoot and need to adjust it forth and back a couple of times, then the rod may break, or crack and break later after you have mounted the panel back. For these reasons, if you can find such rods, it may be better to just replace them with new.

Check for proper operation as described above, then put the panel back in place without actually mounting it and test all functions with both handles, locking and unlocking from the inside and with the key. If everything is OK, lubricate all moving parts with lithium or graphite grease or with colloidal zinc paste used for Al to Al electrical connections (Ideal Noalox or similar--BTW, apply a thin layer Noalox on the battery and starter electrical connections, too; extra thick layer can leak to cause a short circuit), tape the plastic sheet back in place, mount the panel, making sure the its top end enters between the window and the door, then align the bottom and click all plastic buttons in. Apply grease on the threads of all 4 screws, mount the handle with the 2 longer screws, then 2 shorter screws in the side pocket. Finally, put the retaining spring into the window handle, put the plastic fender washer on the crank axis, with the window closed point the handle slanted forward and up and press it into the axis until the spring clicks in place. Pull back to check that the handle will not fall off. Phinally Done.

There's a myth that those who can't do, teach others. Well, there are some exceptions. (I, very modestly, can both do and teach, can't I;)