Problem with door handle (outside) on a 246GTS

I fixed one of those last week. Took about 45 minutes.

(A lady came over, tried to open the locked door, nearly twisted it off.)

1. Take your lower inner door panel off. this requires about 6 peripheral screws as well as 2 screws in the door pocket. Also two small screws in the chrome cover of the inside door release.

2. Look inside, maybe with a flash light, and you will see a cable (like a bicycle brake cable)
coming down from the door handle clipped to a rod that has a interference nut.

3. using 2 wrenches (13mm IIRC) loosen the nut.

4. using needle nose pliers, pull the cable through a bit, maybe, 5mm and re-tighten the nut. At the same time use your other hand to push the outside handle to the position you desire.

5. try closing the door. If it will not close, loosen up the cable just a bit.

6. If it closes correctly, tighten up the interference nut fully.

7. While you are there, lube all your pulleys for the window mechanism.

 

IIRC when this occurred on my car the cable had broken.
I replaced it with a length of bike brake cable I had lying around after removing the door panel as described above.

 

and while you're there spray some rost-off on the entire shaft.

As I recall, It can get frozen in place by rust, too.

Uro, I had to do the same fix three or four times, including once at a concours when the Freaking Judge tried to open the locked passenger door.

DM
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The cable cam may be rotating on the threaded shaft. It may not be the cable slipping on the cable-stop. Simply removing the panel, finding a good light, and studying the mechanics will solve the problem. Study it until you understand everything, and then study it again. It is very simple once you see how everything works.

The shaft attached to the chrome outside latch may be bent, or the sleeve going through the door skin can be crimped. If you really want to do it right, remove all of the parts (a weekend afternoon project), study them, and reassemble.

Jim S.

 

I have a similar problem. Passenger door sometimes closes perfectly, sometimes it is not in line with rest of body (not fully closed), and it has swung open once. The interior lock button sometimes goes up and down smoothly, and the door closes when the lock button is working, but sometimes the lock button will just freeze, and then you need to put just a bit of force on the door to close it. I'm wondering where is the easiest place to start? If that doesn't work I'll remove the door card and study the mechanism.

 

Jim knows - Word of wisdom, let me add a photo which may make it more clear
At the base of the handled shaft is a cam with cable stop that feeds the cable through a small pipe to the lock pivot. There are two common adjustments;
1) cam position and
2) cable tension

If you love to squirt lubricants down that shaft they may end up on your jam nuts and easing their fastening ability. Clean and tidy with light grease is a far better way. Always remember that the cam is giving you a mechanical advantage, so be gentle when pulling on the door handles. Unlike tennis, you do not want to follow through on each stroke.

The interior door handle is connected to a different and separate pivot in the lock system, so it is normal to act indepoendent and not be affected by your problem

Your situation sounds different. From an armchair "guess" and not seeing the door, this appears to be a door alignment issue. The catch is a two stage take up with the striker and from what I read, you are only tripping the first stage.

Your issue of the door lock knob could be a positioning from rear of lock cylinder or connection. Are all of your plastic rod clips still unbroken? If not you'll need a clip for an 8.5mm hole and a 5mm rod, tyipcally 1990s Toyota truck or Lexus use these, the yellow in the photo
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This is a separate topic from the above handle issue, I can think of two reasons why the lock button freezes
1) misalignment with key cylinder rod (highly unlikely, huge slop there)
2) Return arm obstruction - striker may have only partially engaged; closing the door only moved past one of the two ratchet clicks

Completely arm chairing this without seeing the car, yours sounds like a door alignment issue causing incomplete striker engagement as indicated by the lock obstruction. Kneel down to about lock level then open and observe the door closing slowly. Look closely for the striker centering as the alignment post nears the receiving hole. You want everything to line up. If that post is "ramping up" on contact then you have found something. There are four M6 screws on the striker base that allow it to be free to move around to fit the post. Loosen these and align. You will probably do this 3 times before you are happy with how it looks so do not be worried if your first try is an almost.

If that doesn't work, then there may be a search for sag in the hinges, but that is just so negative a topic we shouldn't go there yet