1994 Cutlass convertible outer door handle woes

[Gwain]

I have a 1994 Cutlass Supreme convertible. The car is a 1 owner, Florida car.

 

The outer door handles have become completely inoperable on both sides.

 

I believe the problem is an electrical one and not a mechanical adjustment of the handles and door locks.

 

For a while the problem was limited to the passenger door only, and because of that the outer handle had been broken off and replaced. In the past month the problem has migrated to the driver's side door now, and has become ridiculous to have to leave a window down in order to get into the car.

 

Throughout all of this the inner door handles work perfectly to open the doors in all configurations.

 

I have read all of the posts regarding unplugging the Chime Box from the door lock circuit, but my problem does not seem to be related to the automatic locking and unclocking of the doors depending upon whether you're driving, in gear or starting or turning off the car.

 

There seems to be a secondary electrical circuit that controls whether or not the outer handles will open the doors. If it is very quiet, you can hear a distinct "click" if you try an outer handle, and the latching mechanism will simply not function using the outer door handles. The inner door handles however will easily unlatch either door in any configuration of key on, key off, car running, car stopped, in gear, not in gear, etc.?

 

I have a factory manual and have attempted to trouble shoot the elctrical circuits. Chasing electrical gremlins however is not my strong suit (I'm a "mechanical" guy)!

 

Any help at trouble shooting, diagnosing or repairing this problem would be greatly appreciated. I'd love to identify the relay, switch, module, circuit or part that will fix this issue (the wife by the way, is running out of patience)!

 

Thanks in advance for your interest in help.

 

Marc in sunny Florida - constantly locked out!

[rich_e777]

Problem is NOT electrical, it is mechanical. If the metal is not broken the you need to raise the tiny little cylinder on the threaded rod to the very top. If it is already at the top and the door still will not pop open then the brass slider has dug into the metal to much. Either way replacement is your only option. Nothing electrical in the doors aside from power windows and locks. Well 'Verts and some coupes had door speakers and the console has a little light.

 

The inner handles operate a separate setup to open the doors. Hey at least you can get into the car, a member a few weeks ago was/still is unable to open his. Pretty sure a rock or piece or rebar was out of the

question.

 

When or if you get new handles then round off the slider that makes contact with a lever with a weight at the end of it, this will drastically increase the life of communist Chinese's door handles. Ive been on my 4th set for a few years now.

Edited March 24, 2014 by rich_e777

[94 olds vert]

Adjustment is key to keeping these handles working properly. Never open the door from the handle, that's how they break and get out of adjustment. It's not very strong metal, and it will warp. I always grab the side or top of the door frame to pull it open.

 

Sounds like your handles need to be either replaced or adjusted.

[GnatGoSplat]

I agree with Rich. This is a mechanical problem. There is no electrical mechanism that allows the doors to be opened from inside, but not outside. The click you're hearing when you pull the handle is the seatbelt latch solenoid. It's part of GM's lame passive restraint system. It disables the inertia lock in the seatbelt so you can still open the door if you leave the seatbelt buckled. The keyring LEDs are also connected to this circuit if your car has that option.

 

It's definitely the door handle linkage adjustment. If you happen to have aftermarket door handles, I've noticed the adjustment is even more critical. On my aftermarket door handle, if it's just one turn off, the door won't open when it's cold. One turn off on the other direction and it won't open when it's hot. They do need periodic readjustment if you pull the door open with the handle itself, as inner part of the handle deforms over time. You can tell if this happens because the top of the handle tips out and no longer rests on the rubber stop.

[Nas Escobar]

Not going to add much that hasn't been said, but there's no such thing as an electrical problem causing the outer door handles to not open, but the indoor ones working fine. The only thing that's electrical on the doors are the locks, and they just move a lever in and out.

 

I can tell you haven't had the car for long... let me get you in a little secret... these door handles are heavily reliant on adjustment, and even then; it isn't a guarantee. My advice is simple... pop open the inside door cap on the side of the door, it's held in by 2 13mm bolts and 2 philips, then adjust the rod that attaches itself to the door handle. Play with it a couple times, make sure the rod goes all the way down when you pull on it from the outside lever, then close it, open it, close it, do that until you are satisfied with it. The door handle should feel like butter when you pull on it. If that doesn't solve your problem, your rod may be bent. Replace it, or reshape it and then it should work.

 

Sorry we're bombarding you with "it's mechanical" but the power locks have nothing to do with the actual handles. The clicking might be something else. But if you want, for security, replace both door handles as well. When I first bought my 94 CSC, my door handles did the same thing within 2 weeks of ownership. My doofus friend broke the handle trying to get in. Moral of the story? These handles are weak. Replace them if the handle and trim look cracked, adjust the rod, hoard an extra set, call it a day. Hopefully that helps you out.

[Gwain]

Hey, thanks guys for all the information and especially for the quick responses.

 

When I finish this road trip this week (the snow in Ohio and Pennsylvania was especially fun leaving the window down to get into the car - ), I'm a man with a mission to get this issue resolved.

 

You've all convinced me to give up on the electrical gremlin chase and just get the #$%^^@@ handles adjusted properly!

 

Since I see you guys are all 94 owners, and all but 1 having verts, let me spend a moment to share some background:

 

Nas Escobar - I bought the car new 20 years ago off the dealer's lot. A treat for me and my wife as we had just moved to Florida from Michigan. My wife really loves the car, full size, trunk space (I restore Fieros - not much room for luggage - )! While my 3 boys and I really used the "convertible" aspect; she's not so big for dropping the top. (Though when I weekend clean the car and drop the top, she never hesitates to drive around all the day).

 

Anyway, she's got 220k on the clock, and while the engine's still running strong, a couple years ago I picked up a 20k 3.4L for a transplant when I get around to it. Put the second new, rag top on a couple of years ago, upgraded the radio to an HD/CD set-up with hands free bluetooth, and last year completely refurbished the suspension from front to back.

 

I've taken to gathering a collection of the original dealership special Kent-Moore tool details from Ebay and the like to go with the car, and the special spring compressers and cartridge strut tools (never had rebuilt a cartridge strut till last year) came in handy for the suspension work.

 

Other than replacing the alternator and fuel pump I've never had any serious problems with her.

 

I own 2 Oldsmobiles and of course my "stable" of Pontiac Fieros, so you can see I'm committed to "obsolete" GM cars!

 

Thanks again guys. I'll post my results in a week or two for closure on this topic.

 

Keep them 94's road worthy. Marc in sunny Florida

[Nas Escobar]

Hey, thanks guys for all the information and especially for the quick responses.

 

When I finish this road trip this week (the snow in Ohio and Pennsylvania was especially fun leaving the window down to get into the car - ), I'm a man with a mission to get this issue resolved.

 

You've all convinced me to give up on the electrical gremlin chase and just get the #$%^^@@ handles adjusted properly!

 

Since I see you guys are all 94 owners, and all but 1 having verts, let me spend a moment to share some background:

 

Nas Escobar - I bought the car new 20 years ago off the dealer's lot. A treat for me and my wife as we had just moved to Florida from Michigan. My wife really loves the car, full size, trunk space (I restore Fieros - not much room for luggage - )! While my 3 boys and I really used the "convertible" aspect; she's not so big for dropping the top. (Though when I weekend clean the car and drop the top, she never hesitates to drive around all the day).

 

Anyway, she's got 220k on the clock, and while the engine's still running strong, a couple years ago I picked up a 20k 3.4L for a transplant when I get around to it. Put the second new, rag top on a couple of years ago, upgraded the radio to an HD/CD set-up with hands free bluetooth, and last year completely refurbished the suspension from front to back.

 

I've taken to gathering a collection of the original dealership special Kent-Moore tool details from Ebay and the like to go with the car, and the special spring compressers and cartridge strut tools (never had rebuilt a cartridge strut till last year) came in handy for the suspension work.

 

Other than replacing the alternator and fuel pump I've never had any serious problems with her.

 

I own 2 Oldsmobiles and of course my "stable" of Pontiac Fieros, so you can see I'm committed to "obsolete" GM cars!

 

Thanks again guys. I'll post my results in a week or two for closure on this topic.

 

Keep them 94's road worthy. Marc in sunny Florida

 

94 is the year to have. Original dash with the driver's side airbag. Some of us were lucky to have SWRC's. Mine has em. Doesn't work though since the radio isn't factory, but it could work if I wanted it to.

 

WOW that I would have never guessed. You went 20 years without door handle issues? That's amazing. Most of us got our cars 2nd hand with door handles that ended up being bad. Rich_e777 is already on his 4th set, I'm on my 2nd set (counting the originals), I'm running 1995 door handles (seems better built), and almost all new users come on here with door handle issues. It's rare to find an original owner on here, but congrats on keeping the car for 20 years. That sure is a long time to keep a car.

 

Do you have pics of her? I also wouldn't touch the engine if it's still running strong. Keep that spare engine till it does go bad. It's hard to find parts for this car soooo it's a good idea to hoard stuff that might come of use in the future. If I had a garage, I would buy a donor car for when my car fails.

[Vince G]

I have the same issue, but it is related to the door locks. The outside door handle on the passenger side works fine after I replaced the handle, but the drivers side has to be opened from the inside, but here is the catch, it works fine until the doors are locked and then they no longer work. If I take the door apart and reset the hardware it will work again until the door locks are actuated and it doesn't matter how the locks are actuated, automatically or manually I have isolated the problem to being one of the door hardware (which is actually plastic) that is busted up.

 

The problem is, the parts are no longer available and I can't find anything in the j/y either. I bought this car new in Sept 1994 and I sure hate to part with it over a issue as simple as a door opening from the outside. It has 170k on it and has never had any repairs to this day. Everything but the convertible top is still original. My wife and I both love the car. I'm considering installing an old fashioned "electric: door lock like we use to do when we customized cars back in the 50's and 60's.

 

A little background on me. I owned and operated a auto repair shop until 2001 when a Tornado destroyed and I took that opportunity to retire. We spend most of our time in the Motor Home these days and if I had known then what I know now I would have retired 10 years earlier.

[Schurkey]

Not that this is relevent to the original question, but be completely assured that the four-door door handles are not one bit better than the two-door handles.

 

The ORIGINAL GM door handles are total pot-metal weak-ass junk. The aftermarket crap--which sometimes improves upon the factory weaknesses--is even worse.

 

I actually keep a right- and left-side door handle in my garage for WHEN they break. That way I don't have to hunt one down at the Dorman display. It occurs to me that I should order some extras before even the aftermarket discontinues them.

 

STOCK UP, men.

[Nas Escobar]

I have the same issue, but it is related to the door locks. The outside door handle on the passenger side works fine after I replaced the handle, but the drivers side has to be opened from the inside, but here is the catch, it works fine until the doors are locked and then they no longer work. If I take the door apart and reset the hardware it will work again until the door locks are actuated and it doesn't matter how the locks are actuated, automatically or manually I have isolated the problem to being one of the door hardware (which is actually plastic) that is busted up.

 

The problem is, the parts are no longer available and I can't find anything in the j/y either. I bought this car new in Sept 1994 and I sure hate to part with it over a issue as simple as a door opening from the outside. It has 170k on it and has never had any repairs to this day. Everything but the convertible top is still original. My wife and I both love the car. I'm considering installing an old fashioned "electric: door lock like we use to do when we customized cars back in the 50's and 60's.

 

A little background on me. I owned and operated a auto repair shop until 2001 when a Tornado destroyed and I took that opportunity to retire. We spend most of our time in the Motor Home these days and if I had known then what I know now I would have retired 10 years earlier.

 

The stuff from the 88-97 Olds Coupes interchange with the verts. You might want to swap out the door latch. Might be the issue. I personally sealed my passenger's side door by accident for 45 minutes when I changed the locks on my car because of the way my lock rod was bent. Long story short, I had to cycle the lock from the outside numerous times to get it to unlock, adjust the rod and then it was good. The door opens wonderfully to this day.

 

Another thing you could do and I've contemplated is converting the whole assembly to electric. Door poppers and electric door locks that way a remote simply unlatches the door for you and you just open it up and get in. A lot of us might end up doing door poppers if the aftermarket discontinues the door handles.

[jman093]

I have the same issue, but it is related to the door locks. The outside door handle on the passenger side works fine after I replaced the handle, but the drivers side has to be opened from the inside, but here is the catch, it works fine until the doors are locked and then they no longer work. If I take the door apart and reset the hardware it will work again until the door locks are actuated and it doesn't matter how the locks are actuated, automatically or manually I have isolated the problem to being one of the door hardware (which is actually plastic) that is busted up.

 

The problem is, the parts are no longer available and I can't find anything in the j/y either. I bought this car new in Sept 1994 and I sure hate to part with it over a issue as simple as a door opening from the outside. It has 170k on it and has never had any repairs to this day. Everything but the convertible top is still original. My wife and I both love the car. I'm considering installing an old fashioned "electric: door lock like we use to do when we customized cars back in the 50's and 60's.

 

A little background on me. I owned and operated a auto repair shop until 2001 when a Tornado destroyed and I took that opportunity to retire. We spend most of our time in the Motor Home these days and if I had known then what I know now I would have retired 10 years earlier.

 

If driver works fine from the outside until the door is locked and unlocked, you probably have one of two problems. First, it may be that it is overly adjusted to the point it is preloading the latch. If this is the case the door won't unlock all the way. You know how the door won't unlock if someone is pulling on the handle? It's the same thing. The latch is being pulled on all the time. Not enough to open the door, but enough the lock won't unlock. Generally if this happens it won't open from the inside handle either, but if it's right on the edge, I could see this happening.

 

The other problem may be the door not unlocking all the way because of a slop in the linkages/rods and/or a weak actuator. You might take the panel off and see if you can "unlock it more" at the latch and if it then opens from the outside. At one time I had a write-up in the FAQ about getting rid of some of that slop in the linkages.

[GnatGoSplat]

I actually keep a right- and left-side door handle in my garage for WHEN they break. That way I don't have to hunt one down at the Dorman display. It occurs to me that I should order some extras before even the aftermarket discontinues them.

 

I've been lucky, I haven't broken a door handle on my 89 Cutlass in the 20-years I've had it.

 

My trick is to NEVER put force on the handle. I pull it till it unlatches and then grab the pillar to open it.

 

Wife has broken a couple door handles though, one on her 94 and the 88 she had before. Then I tease her about not opening it the right way.

[rich_e777]

I've been lucky, I haven't broken a door handle on my 89 Cutlass in the 20-years I've had it.

 

My trick is to NEVER put force on the handle. I pull it till it unlatches and then grab the pillar to open it.

 

Wife has broken a couple door handles though, one on her 94 and the 88 she had before. Then I tease her about not opening it the right way.

 

That's the best way I found as well, let the door pop open a bit on its own then find another place to pull it open.

[oldsl67]

I guess i'm really lucky, my 96 coupe has 280,000 and still has the original ones.