2003 350Z Door handle not working. Anyone else have this problem?
 

I have a 2003 350Z and my door handle is not working for some reason. Both doors unlock when I disarm my car, but when I pull on driver's side door handle the driver's side door does not able. For the last couple of days I have been getting into my car through the passenger's side door and then hopping over the center console area. Has anyone else experienced this problem? How did you get it fixed? How much did it cost to get it fixed? Any help would be much appreciated. Thanks :)

the outside handle has a plastic piece on it that breaks. does the door still open from the inside? if so, and you have the key fob, push and hold the unlock button and the windows will roll down, then you can just reach in and open the door from that side.

replacing the handle takes sub 15 min, all you need is new handle and a 10mm socket.. but do not drop the bolt into the door....


how to
https://my350z.com/forum/body-interi...placement.html

handle
http://www.courtesyparts.com/nissan/...handle-outside

Thank you for the quick response Travlee! Yes, the door does open from the inside just not from the outside. Thank you for the links. You have no idea how much I appreciate your help :)

Totally this. ^^^

And to answer your question of "Has anyone else experienced this problem?"...

Only EVERYONE. And if anyone comes back and says "that's never happened to me.", I'd add "...yet.". Pretty well known issue that at some point becomes a "when, NOT if". Laff.... :icon17:

"Usually", however, the inside latch fails before the outside but cross that bridge when you get to it. (Hoping you're an exception and it doesn't fail though.)

My car had this problem when I bought it - passenger side as well. I believe a new handle mechanism was about $90 and it was not too hard to install. And, yes, DO NOT DROP THE BOLT unless you dont mind taking door apart and you will not like to have to do that.

Its VERY nice not to have to lower the window to open the door.:)

Only had this problem once after some genius from Mr. Tire used his retard strength and broke my driver's side trying to open it instead of trying the alarm on th key fob first.

After NISSAN told me it'd be like a $400 job to fix it, I learned immediately how after a few DIY tutorials on YT. :thumbup:

It's happening to me right now, actually. :icon22:

And doing it in public is LOTS of fun. It's like yeah, don't judge me.

When I first met my now-wife, she used to laugh at me for rolling down the window and reaching out to open the door from the outside pull. "Hey, babe, that's old school cool."

Her: "Well, I guess that's what one does when they're old."

Knew she was the one for me at that moment. Hahahahahahahaaaaaa! :icon17:

https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/my350z....e99cee3c8d.png
Haha! Sounds like she has a good sense of humor! :icon44: ..I remember when doing ^this^ was ''old school cool'' too!... Never again.

Oh god I just wanna say I love this thread.

Yeah. I've been a Z driver for three months and it's already happened to BOTH door handles.

The driver one was on the way out, so I replaced that... now that I've put in aftermarket seats, and the passenger seat juuuuust touches the door a bit... and now it's screwed as well.

just another $90 for eBay parts! :D

Look, I love my Z, but the interior has always left something to be desired. Flimsy door cards, panels that don't quite snap back into place, trim that cracks under pressure, gauges that tend to fog up (I actually replaced my center gauge lenses because the old ones looked like someone had smeared krazy glue on them as some sort of practical joke)...

Bear in mind mine was an old and mistreated shell that I got for $4000. It had since been largely resurrected to serviceable status. But I replaced the seats entirely with some decent suede ones from eBay. perhaps my story is extreme... but I'm sure we've all had a good laugh or two at dumb stuff that happens with our crappy plastic parts :)

Thanks to everyone that relied even the funny pics were appreciated!
 

Thanks for all the help everyone! I was able to fix my own door handle and seeing as I've never before fixed anything on my car with my own two hands I must say I appreciated all the replies (including the funny pics!).


HAPPY 4TH OF JULY EVERYONE!

Awesome.. Happy 5th!

Hey Travlee, what if neither handle works? I have a piece of coat hanger that I can hook around a linkage after rolling the window down. This allows me to manually actuate the unlock mechanism on my passenger door (2004). The door will work for a few lock/unlock cycles before binding up again in the locked position. If you've seen this one please let me know what to replace

-Mike

sounds like the interior handle is either broke or not connected.. hard to say. take the door panel off and inspect it

Darn that was what I was attempting to avoid. Will do. Thanks!

2004 350z don't won't open
 

My passenger door won't open from the inside or outside. Seems like the locking latch isn't going all the way back when I press the unlock button. Any advice for this

I I don't have a permanent solution just yet but right now I use a 6 or so inch long piece of coat hanger with a hook on the end of it to pull on the lock linkage as I manually unlock the door. I roll the window down and then go in there like I'm slim jiming the door to open it

Like Yosip said. Jimmy it open with a hanger first. Then remove the door panel and start inspecting for broken parts. Then repair/replace as needed.

lol.. That must be great fun to roll up in your awesome twin turbo Z only to have to pull a MacGyver to let someone in.. And you say to them, "This just happened today". :icon44: