Subw00er

Anyone have this problem? Today I went to open my door from the inside and it still has a springy feel but it seems like its not connected internally anymore. I had to roll down the winidow and open the door from the outside! Did something come loose? The locks still appear to be working via he remote, and flipping the lock latch seems to work ok - just the door handle doesnt work.

Ideas?!? Is this a common problem? HELP!

xviper

You're going to have to take the inner door panel off and peel back the plastic moisture liner. Then look at how the door handle works and see if there is a rod that connects it to the latch mechanism. Lift up on the outside door handle to see what needs to move. The inner door handle should be connected to the same mechanism by a rod to make the same movement.

ps. If the car is still under warranty, don't mess with it. Let the dealer do it.

Subw00er

It is still under warranty, but right off the bat the service guy was saying stuff like if it has been tampered with or if the car was jimied it would not be replaced. (It hasnt been messed with, just stopped working!). So I got really bad vibes from him. On top of that, they cant see it for over a week. Is it going to void my warranty to take the panel off?!

centralcoastbuc

Your two choices are take it to a dealer or pull the panel. It will not void your warranty to pull the panel. It will void your wananty if you break something while messing with it and it is obvious. If you have pulled interior panels before, just do it. If not, take it to a professional. Maybe there is another dealer farther away that has a better attitude?

xviper

If that is the only dealer near you and you don't wish to go to another one, don't mess with it. It sounds like this dealer is just waiting for any excuse to charge you to fix this. If they see that you have removed the door panel (and there will be telltale signs that you did) you may only be making things worse.
If you must look into it yourself, be prepared to go the whole route and fix it yourself.

slalom44

This Service guy probably has gotten into an argument in the past with a customer over a similar situation, and he'd rather tell you this than stiff you with a bill once he found that the door had been jimmied.

This problem happened to me before with a car I had a long time ago. I locked myself out, and a Security guard tried to jimmy the door open with a piece of steel strapping. The end result- he disconnected the linkage between the handle and the lock mechanism. The handle did not work until I took the inner door panel off and reconnected it (as Xviper suggests). As I recall on this vehicle (Dodge Rampage), the linkage is designed to snap in and out of a socket, making it relatively easy to pop out if someone tries to jimmy the door open, or if excess force is used (such as trying to force the handle open when the door is locked).

If someone actually tried to jimmy your door open and you didn't know it, then it is possible that he popped that linkage off. If the Honda mechanic finds signs that this was done (even if you weren't aware of it), then he will probably charge you for labor.

But if you were to take the door apart yourself and find that the lock mechanism itself is defective, then you could run into a problem convincing Honda that you didn't do it yourself since you took the door apart.

You could call the Service guy back and tell him that you plan on taking the panel off to see if you can fix it yourself, and cover your butt so that if you find something defective it will still be covered. If he says he won't cover it if you take the panel off, then I'd definitely let him handle the problem.

Subw00er

All good suggestions, I think I'll just take it to the dealer.

UPDATE- the interior plastic door handle was broken just beyond the pivot point inside the door. $60 part replaced under warranty.

aralls

Guys, I just had this happen to me last week. I heard something snap as I pulled the inside door handle, then couldn't get out without rolling down the window and opening it from the outside.

That night, I pulled the door panel and looked inside - there was a tiny purple piece of plastic at the bottom of the door. After some internet searching, I found the right part number:

72139-sr0-a01 (violet snap)

It's about $4 online plus twice that in shipping if your local dealer doesn't carry it. Here's a pic of the broken one: