Slow day at work....haha

 

First, pull the inner door panel and check to make sure everything is hooked up properly. Visual inspection and a little elbow grease are usually the best remedies to fixing a problem like this.

 

That's awwreet, dude. At least yer not bumpin' threads from when my cars were new.

 

Does anyone have an illustration of what it's supposed to look like inside the door? What's the likelihood something loose can be be re-attached, versus something broken for which I'll have to find a replacement part? Thanks for the replies. The last two times a mechanic went inside a door on my car, there were screws left over when he finished.

 

Just take out the 2 10mm bolts holding handle on, you will be able to tell in 5 seconds if broke or unhooked

 

On either the inside or outside handles, the weak links are the nylon parts that either hold the cable releases onto the handles or trigger the latches. Over time, they get brittle and just snap. Really shoddy design when the same piece could have been made never-needs-replacing by forming the little parts out of aluminum or heck, pot metal.

But as Travlee said, only way to tell is to remove the handles. The exterior handle takes less than five minutes, the interior panel, maybe 10 minutes (maybe not the first time but once you learn how to remove the door panel, it's quick.)