When you pull the door panels off to among other things fix broken outside door handles, you have to remove the small black plastic trim piece inside of the interior door handle to get at the screw behind it which is the last thing holding the door panel on after you've removed the armrest and passenger pull strap...

I think the Haynes manual calls this the "escutcheon"...

I can imagine it's held in by a clip on one side or something like that so if I randomly pry at it I can easily see it breaking... The only insight in removing it the Haynes manual offers is to "remove the escutcheon"... ok great, but how?

Can someone offer a tip or hint as to which side to attack it by?

Thanks,

-e

On the back side of it (towards the rear of the car) there is a small indent. You might have to pull the handle back to see it. Using a small screw driver pry it out.

Those door external handles break easy of you force the handle from the outside. The diecast metal is very weak.

Either the lock mechanism is full of dirt, or the lock plate isn't adjsted properly. This is the usual cause of the lever breaking on the cavity side of the door handle.

You can do one of three things.

Not on budget - Buy and fit a new handle (not very expensive from MSA or VB..somewhere around $15.

Have budget but want less work - pull the door handle and make up a steel repair brace and fit it to the broken flange.

Have budget and time - swap door handles as they are fit on both sides and then you will have a non-broken one.

I did the 2nd option but I will be buying new ones when I get the car repainted. My handles are scratched to bits but I need was sick of using the passenger side to gain entry.

I would urge you to remove the entire door lock mechanism and wash it out and re-grease it. It will work like new. It doesn't take long.

Yeah good point on removing the whole mechanism and cleaning and re-greasing it... with the door closed and locked, from the inside I find there's a lot of slop in the door lock pin (better name for it?) that sticks out of the top of the door panel...

ok cool - thanks all.

I'll do my best, then again I saw that the escutcheon is $2 and change from midwest Z so if I DO break it, then it's ok....

thanks again,

-e