360 Door handle failure

When I bought my 04 360 spyder my dealer warned me that the door handles were a weak spot. 1 1/2 years later it happened. Despite the fact that my passenger-side door never gets any use, the handle now no longer unlatches the door. If it happened on both sides with the top up, I'd be locked out. It this common? Is there a fix that will avoid repetition. Any advice appreciated. Thanks.

 

Never heard of that.....it borderlines absurd to ridiculous...but if it happened to you, then get it checked-out.

 

door pull is actuated by a cable. if the cable snapped off, the door won't open. maybe it's the cause?

i've not heard of this as a common issue though. can the door be opened using the exterior door pull?

 

It's the exterior door pull that's the problem. The interior release continues to work fine.

 

Has happened to me twice now on the passenger side (which hardly gets used). I have been told it's common.

 

It *is* common. While reviewing the paperwork for my spider when I bought it, I found the driver's side door latch handle (outside) had been fixed twice under warranty.

C.

 

It's the cable. A $35 part. My drivers side snapped, so I took the door apart and replaced it. Then I took the passenger side door apart and replaced that one simply for preventative maintenance. It's a pain in the tushy but doable. The problem is, in order for the slack to be just right for the mechanism to work properly, the sleeve for the cable has to hang down slightly, vertically. When the door area gets wet (washing, etc.), water seeps into the door handle and right down into the sleeve, eventually causing the steel cable to rust out and snap. A piece of shrink tubing between the end of the sleeve and the connector would act as a barrier, but this is just speculation. I didn't actually do this. Thought about it though. I was just in a hurry to get the car back together and drive it.
If anyone wants to do this themselves, PM me as there are a few tricks.
Hope this helps.

 

Sheesh....the fun never ends, we may as well own English cars!

 

This is not a huge issue, if you feel competent, take the door card off (pull up on the triangle end of the arm reat of the door, dont be shy - give it a tug, undo the philips screw underneath it, undo the allen key bolts on the silver part of the door cars and the 3 philips screws underneath, take the speaker out, and under the handle there is a phillips screw, undo that and take it out. Lastly the black rubber in the door shut, at the top of the door card, held in by two black clips, take out. Now lift the door card up, taking care to disconect all cables. Prise the white foam off the door, and reach up to the outer handle [from inside the door] and simply clip the cable back in to the handle puller [you may need a torch], and re assemble) < from many times it happend to me on my old spider, did it that way, never happend again.

Happy fixing

 

in 4 months my driver door outside latch has stopped working twice. Both times was the same problem. There is a small plastic elbow that connects the cable to the inner door pull. This little tiny plastic piece has broken both times. I looked at it once and came to the conclusion that if the cable is loose or not adjusted properly then it puts alot of pressure on this tiny little elbow and it breaks. Last time it broke we adjusted the cable to be fairly tight. So far no problems.

 

This is all very helpful and much appreciated. I'm under warranty and so will let the dealer fix it but will print and keep the DIY advice. Thanks to all.

 

How dare you Sir! This "racial profiling" is intolerable! ;-)