Hello all

This weekend I finally fixed my heater in the Z. While the replacement was going on I somehow broke the door handle on the Z. What I mean is that when I pull up on the door handle from the outside the handle has nothing attached to it. I figured out that the wire that holds the two parts together (that being the handle and the rod that opens the door) have seperated. Has anyone ever had this issue and how did on fix it? The door opens from the inside fine just not the outside.

Jan

I was going to post that you could just swap your handles, but your car is a 280. I know that on the 240's the handles are interchangeable, so maybe it is the same with the 280.

E

There is a rod that attaches to the handle inside the door. It is held to the handle by a plastic clip (at least it is on the older models). You need to remove the door panel and get to the inside of the door. Hopefully the rod just slipped out and can be put back in. If you get hold of a diagram this will be simple to understand.

Was it the driver's side door?

The actual metal handle on mine broke a few years back (at the most inconvenient time too). Basically, underneath all that nice chrome on the outside, there is a really low grade pot metal (for lack of a better word), and it has a pretty rough unfinished surface. That rough surface ended up letting a crack develop through the arm on the back side of the pivot point (roughness results in more stress concentrations). When I got it taken apart I could see the telltale striation and cleavage marks on the crack walls, just like in my materials lab in college. It was a textbook failure by fatigue crack growth.

The drivers side door tends to break like this because it gets heave'd on the most.

Anyway, if you can swing it/find it, try to get the Nissan genuine door handle replacement. I bought a reproduction from Black Dragon that was made in Vietnam or Thailand, and the fit was awful. The only thing that was nice about it was the chrome on the outside. The rubber gaskets have already crumbled, and it never quite fit right. I'm gonna have to take it off and take a grinder to it to make it function without a hitch -- I may as well buy a new one!

Well bad news. According to my mechanic (and what I though originally) the door handle is broken on the inside. Basically where the handle connects to the rod it spit. Does anyone sell these anymore?

Jan

Like EScanlon said, just swap the LH and RH handles. They are the same and each has two arms (the part that broke off). Only the rear arm is used on each handle, so when you break one, you can swap the two sides. You will now be using the two arms that have never been used. Of course this only works if they have never been swapped by a PO. I've had to swap them on quite a few Z cars.

Edited December 9, 201014 yr by Jeff G 78

Like EScanlon said, just swap the LH and RH handles. They are the same and each has two arms (the part that broke off). Only the rear arm is used on each handle, so when you break one, you can swap the two sides. You will now be using the two arms that have never been used. Of course this only works if they have never been swapped by a PO. I've had to swap them on quite a few Z cars.

Say what? I sort of understand what your saying but not really. A picture or drawing would great if that can be done.

Thanks

Jan

I don't have a picture handy Jan, but I'll try to explain.

If you look at the handle, there is an arm at each end of the handle facing inwards which is what always breaks. To save money, Nissan only tooled one handle with two arms that can be used on either side of the car. Only the rearward arm of each handle is used on each side of the car. When you swap the two handles side to side, the forward arm becomes the rearward arm. That broken arm will no longer be needed since it will be the forward arm when mounted on the opposite side of the car. The only thing you need to do is swap the little plastic keeper over that the rod goes through. Once you or your mechanic looks at it, it will be obvious how it works.

If you still don't understand, let me know and I'll take a picture of a spare handle tonight when I get home.

EDIT: Gotta love google images. I found this...

It shows the two arms and the little plastic keepers. You broke the RH arm on your driver's side, but the LH arm is still good.

Do you understand now?

Edited December 9, 201014 yr by Jeff G 78

Sort of.

Black Dragon sells the door handles for cheaper than you can re-Chrome them.

http://www.blackdragonauto.com/features/z/ZDHO.htm

Pretty funny that they are priced different for the two sides.

Are 620 door handles the same as Z's? Have a friend that apparently has a bucket full of 620 handles...

Jan