Bear in mind there are a few different ways the handles can fail, so the information presented here may or may not be helpful in your case. You won't know for sure until you take the handle out of the door and inspect it.
Door Handle Repair Guide/Kit
I recently had my exterior drivers-side door handle break in the heat and discovered it is a common issue with the CRZ due to a poorly engineered part. I came up with a solution that matches the feel and function of the OEM part, and decided to share it here for anyone else with the same issue.
Tools:
If you don't want to worry about buying the individual fasteners or printing the lever arm, send me a DM and I will mail you a parts kit with some spares for $40
Printing Recommendations:
Material: ABS, ASA, or PC (PLA, PETG, and Nylon either have thermal issues or are susceptible to creep)
Minimum Total Wall Thickness: 1.5mm
Infill: 80% Hexagonal, Triangular, or Cubic
Step 1:
Remove the exterior door handle. There are many posts on how to do this and CRZOwner915 has an excellent video here. I do have some additional tips though.
Step 2:
Disassemble the handle. First remove the Phillips screw holding the cast aluminum block to the lever arm. You can then remove that piece. Now you should be able to push out the 5mm plastic pivot pin and remove the painted handle part.
Step 3:
To modify the original handle, cut off the original lever arm to where the plastic is solid. I did this with a Dremel, but use what you have. A hacksaw will work too.
![Wood Automotive tire Bumper Automotive exterior Helmet]()
Next you need to drill the post that's left 3/16" or 5mm right in the center about 8mm deep. Go slow and be EXTREMELY careful while drilling that the bit doesn't walk off center. If the hole blows out the side of the post, it will be difficult/impossible to salvage. I HIGHLY recommend that you first make a pilot hole with a smaller drill bit.
Step 4:
Using a soldering iron set to ~300°C heat and press the threaded insert into the drilled hole until it is flush with the top of the post.
![Bag Electric blue Wood Strap Natural material]()
After sinking the insert, it may bulge out the plastic on the outside of the post, so you might need to shave it down a little for smooth operation.
Step 5:
Install the printed lever arm using an M3x20mm button head machine screw, and reassemble the handle. Make sure the spring loaded white piece is on the proper side of the lever arm.
The final assembly should look something like this.
![Motor vehicle Bumper Automotive design Automotive fuel system Automotive exterior]()
I haven't had a chance to evaluate the longevity of the printed part, but it is significantly beefier than the OEM lever arm and worst case, it is easy to print a new one and replace it again with the modified handle. I'm aware how much of a problem the door handle mechanism is, so I wanted to share my solution before waiting a year or more to test the parts. If you have any additional questions, respond and I will be happy to answer! I hope this is helpful to someone.
P.S. If someone wants to send me their broken handle to take better pictures of the process, I will repair it for free.
Tools:
- flat head screwdriver
- #3 and #2 phillips head screwdriver
- 10mm socket and ratchet
- 5mm hex key
- 2mm hex key
- Dremel with cutoff wheel or a hacksaw
- Drill with 3/16 or 5mm drill bit (1/8" or smaller bit is also recommended)
- Soldering iron (temp control is preferred)
If you don't want to worry about buying the individual fasteners or printing the lever arm, send me a DM and I will mail you a parts kit with some spares for $40
Printing Recommendations:
Material: ABS, ASA, or PC (PLA, PETG, and Nylon either have thermal issues or are susceptible to creep)
Minimum Total Wall Thickness: 1.5mm
Infill: 80% Hexagonal, Triangular, or Cubic
Step 1:
Remove the exterior door handle. There are many posts on how to do this and CRZOwner915 has an excellent video here. I do have some additional tips though.
- Make sure you are using the right size driver on the phillips screws. they are torqued pretty tight and easy to strip. especially with an impact driver.
- Remove the phillips screw next to the locking mechanism plug to remove the assembly.
- Be extra careful when removing or installing the bolts that hold on the exterior handle as they can easily fall into welded interior compartments in the door and become impossible to retrieve (ask me how I know).
- After removing the locking mechanism, plug the connector back in to keep your alarm from going off.
Step 2:
Disassemble the handle. First remove the Phillips screw holding the cast aluminum block to the lever arm. You can then remove that piece. Now you should be able to push out the 5mm plastic pivot pin and remove the painted handle part.
Step 3:
To modify the original handle, cut off the original lever arm to where the plastic is solid. I did this with a Dremel, but use what you have. A hacksaw will work too.
Next you need to drill the post that's left 3/16" or 5mm right in the center about 8mm deep. Go slow and be EXTREMELY careful while drilling that the bit doesn't walk off center. If the hole blows out the side of the post, it will be difficult/impossible to salvage. I HIGHLY recommend that you first make a pilot hole with a smaller drill bit.
Step 4:
Using a soldering iron set to ~300°C heat and press the threaded insert into the drilled hole until it is flush with the top of the post.
After sinking the insert, it may bulge out the plastic on the outside of the post, so you might need to shave it down a little for smooth operation.
Step 5:
Install the printed lever arm using an M3x20mm button head machine screw, and reassemble the handle. Make sure the spring loaded white piece is on the proper side of the lever arm.
The final assembly should look something like this.
I haven't had a chance to evaluate the longevity of the printed part, but it is significantly beefier than the OEM lever arm and worst case, it is easy to print a new one and replace it again with the modified handle. I'm aware how much of a problem the door handle mechanism is, so I wanted to share my solution before waiting a year or more to test the parts. If you have any additional questions, respond and I will be happy to answer! I hope this is helpful to someone.
P.S. If someone wants to send me their broken handle to take better pictures of the process, I will repair it for free.
41 - 54 of 54 Posts
This is how my handle was failing too. Failure at this point also caused the handle swing arm section to scrape the handle base while in the open position. Fortunately though, after carefully reinforcing both pivot joints with PC-7 epoxy and super glue&baking soda. The handle now seems better than new.. The majority appear to break on the long arms of the pull-handle itself (the part that you pull out to operate the latch) while mine has a crack on the base of the assembly where the pivot rod for the pull-handle arms mount.
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8
Hello everyone,
I want to share my experience. Before I delve into that I want to thank Shovels for sharing the stl and for the comprehensive guide.
I'm in EU, so I will give some advice to European folks that might not have easy access to the materials in the OP.
I specifically used readily available items on Amazon:
I would also suggest to have on hand:
- Epoxy glue to fix some potential mess along the way.
- Dremel would be very useful.
My takeaways from following OP's guide:
- The man is machine, my end result is not nearly as clean as his.
- Printing ABS requires some tinkering if it's your first time, my settings where:
Minimum Total Wall Thickness: 1.4mm
Infill: 80% Cubic
Keep the bed heated at more than 100° or it will peel off during printing. - Every hole in the printed part was too small (not sure why), I was not in the position to redesign the stl project or reprint so I just slightly drilled the holes with a dremel bit.
- Drilling the pilot hole in the post was easy enough on my end. I would suggest to drill the hole as big as the smallest outer diameter on the insert. If the hole you drill is too small you will make a mess when heat pressing the threaded insert (more on this in the next bullet point!).
- I would suggest to heat the soldering iron to less than ~300°C. Start at 200°C and go up if you are not able to press the threaded insert into the drilled hole.
This was the most challenging part of the process. At this point I messed up, probably a combination of drilling the hole too small and heating the soldering iron too hot, there was just too much melted plastic coming out of the part and it was warping itself. I managed to set the threaded insert straight but there was a lot of extra material that I had to very careful remove with a sharp Xacto knife, sandpaper and a bit of Dremel. - I fixed the remaining mess with some epoxy glue in order to have the piece as sturdy as possible (I needed to fill some holes and make sure the threaded insert would not move.
- I tried to reinforce some reportedly weak points of the assembly with epoxy glue before screwing everything together.
- I did the "nut mod" during the reassembly process. Make sure to use a rightly sized nut just like the one shown in the video or you will risk to have the door shut without being able to open it from the inside or outside handle alike. Thanks OldSkool in helping me out with the fix of the fix.
The good news is that the end result was functionally very good and the only visible issue is a misalignment of the handle in the final assembly.
Not too noticeable when attached to the car (I will post pictures asap). I will update the post on the overall longevity of the mod as soon as I get the door working again.
Aluminium replacements are apparently available on Etsy for the faint of heart.
It shouldn’t be a problem if you do the paint correction from time to time
41 - 54 of 54 Posts
