Door Latch Actuator Adjustment
 

Neither of my doors currently open.

I broke my driver's side plastic handle, and in the process of using my passenger's door handle a few times found that it will no longer open my door either (but the handle isn't broken).

After climbing through the hatch, I replaced the driver's handle with an aluminum one. First, it was a pain in the butt to get on. How do you get the steel piece to fit down next to the handle without really wedging it in? I plan on doing my passenger door this weekend and would like to make it an easier production.

The real problem is that even after the replacement door handle, it appears that the assembly isn't pushing the rod down far enough to unlatch the door. I can do it by pushing the rod down manually, but my handle bottoms out before it opens the door. From what I can tell, this is also my problem on the passenger side.

How do you adjust the rod? I've seen accounts of just bending it. Is that the best solution? I could also make a new actuator that lengthens the distance between the handle and spring loaded piece. Neither seems like an elegant solution.

If bending the rod is the best bet, how do you get it out?

Have the same issue on my psg side currently, haven't had the chance to get into it too deeply.

I've removed the exterior handle, but even when I push down on the rod it still won't open.

I'm going to mess with it further in the next few days. I'll share what I find.

Reviving because I'm having this exact issue. Would love to be able to open my drivers side door more easily so I don't risk breaking something every time.. anyone got thoughts? I'm able to open the door just fine from the inside, no issues. It's just the exterior handle.

Trying again, still haven't fixed this. Tried to get at the mechanism from inside the door after removing the door card and it was pretty impossible to access. Unless I'm missing something.. anyone able to shed some light?

Looks like this is a common problem on these cars. My driver side door opens with no problem, but I have to literally slam it in order for it to close.

I think my issue is slightly different, because it's the opening which is giving me trouble. I mean closing it does too, but that's been discussed ad nauseam. Air pressure blah blah blah

Have you checked the external plastic handle? They tend to brake over the time. You have to take off the small plastic cover from inside, then unbolt the two bolts and then the handle housing will come off. Any small crack on the plastic handle may cause you problems.

Like a woman, it is all about lubrication, provided all the components are there.
With an FD, you simply have to take off the exterior door handle from time to time and LIBERALLY lube the fuck out of it...drench it with Water Displacement formula #40 (WD-40), PB Blaster, etc and then lube it up with white lithium grease (from an aerosol can). All those little levers get to binding a bit over time and there isn't MUCH room between 'working' and 'not-working' when it comes to travel they are capable of.


Sometimes one of the little rods will actually come off the exterior door handle's internal mechanism...there are little 'keepers' on the rod ends that fail...and that is easy to see with the handle off, though sometimes you DO have to take the interior door panel off, too.


Now, if you have one of the lever ends broken, it's a whole different deal, requiring hardware replacement.

Bringing this back from the dead. I've recently starting having the exact same problem as OP describes with my passenger door. The interior door pull works great. The exterior one, not so much. You can get it to open if you really crank on it, but I'm afraid that'll cause the plastic handle to break.

I disassembled the whole mess and lubed everything up. It appears that years of spring tension and actuation have caused a lot of play in each of the moving parts such that the handle pulls in further at rest than it's supposed to and at the same time, doesn't push the rod down as far as it should when the handle is fully actuated. I fixed the over-retraction problem by putting in a shim as described in other threads. I also lubricated all the moving parts.

Still, the rod just isn't being pushed down enough. Another 1/8" is probably all it needs. Is there a known fix, or should I just replace the whole handle assembly?

Thanks!

How often does the passenger side get used? It seems a bit...odd...for this problem to come about "out of the blue", so to speak.


What's changed from when it worked good to now? Anything? Have you done any work of any sort that could have caused the issue?


You may need to take the whole door lock assembly out and take it apart and see if there is something broken inside...maybe some little piece of plastic or other crap is interfering? I mean, if you've got the little aluminum rods all adjust right and they have the correct travel...there isn't much left to consider.

How new is your door handle? They do wear out. A new door handle solves all kinds of problems.

I want to say they're under $100 from RHDJapan.com.

Dale

I use the passenger side more for loading things in and out of the car than for actual passengers.

Not much has changed. I installed some new door speakers 18 months ago. But that's all at the front of the door and not anywhere close to all the handle stuff at the back. I did disassemble, lube, shim, and reassemble the entire handle. Door still won't open correctly though. This is with the original 1993 handle.

I can't tell from the P/N and the pictures could be deceptive... Is this item just the handle or does it include the entire assembly (as pictured?)

https://www.rhdjapan.com/mazda-oem-r...ndle-fd3s.html

Thanks!

Just to follow up, I contacted rhdjapan and they indicated that the above part was just the handle and not the assembly as it shows in the pictures.