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Step 7Fix the elongated cable
The outside door handle above the license plate is super cheapo plastic. Shame, shame on you Toyota! This handle cable assembly looks like some crap off of a Pinto or a Yugo or something.
And for your financial amusement, you cannot buy the cable without the door handle. What a rip!
Soooooo, I had to improvise. I looked over the assembly and decided to bend the tab that supports the cable rubber/metal endpiece.
I simply used a crescent wrench and placed it as shown and bent the tab to take up the slack in the cable. I bent mine about 3/16" as this seemed to be the right amount. If I bent it much more, I won't be able to get the solenoid/latch assembly back into the protective plastic cover and the outside door handle will hardly want to move. I measured two points on the cable and carefully monitored how much I was bending.
The lever system is made of cheapo cadmium plated metal and if you bend or force, something is gonna break!
This would require a trip to the dealer resulting in a big frown on my checking account...
I hate to think how many folks pay big money for replacement parts that probably were completely serviceable but for a little cleaning. If this thing gets stuck again, I would probably first try to just shoot the WD-40 up into the solenoid/latch assembly without taking everything all apart. Wonder if this is a trick that the repair guys know about.
And for your financial amusement, you cannot buy the cable without the door handle. What a rip!
Soooooo, I had to improvise. I looked over the assembly and decided to bend the tab that supports the cable rubber/metal endpiece.
I simply used a crescent wrench and placed it as shown and bent the tab to take up the slack in the cable. I bent mine about 3/16" as this seemed to be the right amount. If I bent it much more, I won't be able to get the solenoid/latch assembly back into the protective plastic cover and the outside door handle will hardly want to move. I measured two points on the cable and carefully monitored how much I was bending.
The lever system is made of cheapo cadmium plated metal and if you bend or force, something is gonna break!
This would require a trip to the dealer resulting in a big frown on my checking account...
I hate to think how many folks pay big money for replacement parts that probably were completely serviceable but for a little cleaning. If this thing gets stuck again, I would probably first try to just shoot the WD-40 up into the solenoid/latch assembly without taking everything all apart. Wonder if this is a trick that the repair guys know about.
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