door handle woes

[GranPrix]

I have a 95 grand prix se 4 door. My driver side door handle still works but feels like it is out of adjustment. It is still works but you have to pull up very far, farther than the travel for the handle allows for it to actually engage and open the door. Passenger side front is the same way. Is there some kind of adjustment for the door handles on these cars?  rear door handles dont feel like this but they are hard to pry open which I believe is due to the sagging body from the rusted rocker panels.

[Schurkey]

I don't know about '95, but I broke a lot of door handles (shitty metal on both Genuine GM, and Dorman replacements) on my '92 Lumina Euro 3.4 until I grabbed the metal rods the door handles activate, and pulled 'em back into proper shape.

The metal rods aren't stiff enough, they bend, and then the door handle has to be abused to get the door latch to work.

Edited September 26, 2024 by Schurkey

[GranPrix]

thanks for the reply. I have to open the doors for passengers when I give people rides because no one else can open them!

[Amanita]

The sedans have an issue with broken door handles as well? Damn they really didn't do a good job with the 1st gen w-body doors did they?

[GranPrix]

The handles are fine on mine, but on all 4 doors the rods were bent and were making the door handle not want to work the way it was supposed to. was an easy fix

Edited September 28, 2024 by GranPrix

[Schurkey]

On 9/27/2024 at 8:14 PM, Amanita said:

The sedans have an issue with broken door handles as well? Damn they really didn't do a good job with the 1st gen w-body doors did they?

Absolutely.  The handles are made from crappy metal.  Even so, they work OK but only if the rods they activate aren't bent.  And the rods are also not sturdy enough.

In short, the rods are the primary problem, but the handles suffer the consequences and take the blame.  This is made worse in freezing weather, when precipitation causes ice to form along the door seals, "freezing" the door shut.  Not only do you have to pull on the door handle to unlatch the door, but you've also got to pull on the handle to break the ice "gluing" the door shut.  The handles are not sturdy enough, which is the secondary problem.

Edited October 1, 2024 by Schurkey