Door handle release screw problem [solved]

[RedRider]

So I went to swap out the door handles (five doors). Ran into a snag on one of them. When I tried pushing the new door handle onto the door, the internal mechanism shifted inboard and the loose 5mm release screw came out altogether. It fell to the inside of the door but I was able to fish it out.

I made the unfortunate mistake of clicking the mechanism back into place before putting the screw back in, thinking I would just be able to screw it back in afterwards. Nope! I realized too late it is supposed to be a captive screw. So for comparison, one of the working doors looks like this (see how the black part is on top of the screw):

And the problem door looks like this now:

So how screwed am I? Do you think there is a way I can reproduce the initial conditions where the latch mechanism was pushed inward, so that I can try to get the screw back in and sandwich it in there? I tried pushing on it a bit but didn't want to go too crazy with it. No luck. I figured there might be a trick to disengage it.

I have the workshop manual and I see all the steps to take the latch mechanism out and it doesn't look like a fun time so I'm looking for any guidance to avoid that.

Thanks all.

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[Ducati1098]

You’ll have to pull the whole door latch/interior door handle assembly out. There’s no other way.

 

[RedRider]

Well @Ducati1098, I'm happy to report there is another way. This method surprisingly worked well and only took about an hour. I'm posting it here in case some future victim runs into the same problem.

1. Take a long flat screw driver to pry with and a hex key inserted into the screw hole. Use leverage on the screw driver to pop the mechanism out.

(hold onto the hex key while prying. I didn't hold it just to get the photo)

2. Insert a smaller hex key into the gap to keep the mechanism from clicking back into place while working.

3. Tape up the 5mm screw on the screwdriver/socket driver so you can work with it without it falling off into the door cavity.

4. For the next step, I removed the door and laid it on the ground. This is probably optional but did it just in case anything came loose, it wouldn't be a pain to retrieve.

Tighten the screw. If you apply some downward pressure and leverage while tightening, it should go in straight (won't cross-thread). The taped down hex key should help prevent the latch mechanism from snapping into place while you tighten the screw.

Remove the screwdriver once the screw is tightened down. I had to use pliers on the socket and tape to wiggle it free from the screw. It should look like this:

5. Remove the hex key and use a long screw driver to pry down on the ajar mechanism taking care to set the screw head underneath the black part. It will take some jimmying but it's not too hard.

It may be worth noting that I had the plastic key cap plate on the door exterior removed the whole time. I think, but not positive, that the key cap plate engages with the interior mechanism to help keep it from moving around, so it may be important to remove it while trying to pop the mechanism back in place so that it has a bit of wiggle room.

It should look like this after prying it back into place:

From here, re-insert the key cap plate on the exterior and follow the process in this video to get the door handle reinstalled:



6. Success:

 

[Ducati1098]

lol wow. Honestly can’t believe you got that to go back in. Well done

 

[AtomicKoalaJelly]

Out of curiosity, I haven't had to deal with a door handle on a Bronco at work yet. That looks an awful lot like the ones that you typically only turn a few times to loosen and release the handle instead of completely removing it on most vehicles. Was that this screw?

 

[RedRider]

Out of curiosity, I haven't had to deal with a door handle on a Bronco at work yet. That looks an awful lot like the ones that you typically only turn a few times to loosen and release the handle instead of completely removing it on most vehicles. Was that this screw?

Yes. It's that same screw.

 

[EtchaSketch]

I am just encountering this issue as well. I went to take the handles off to do a decal across that area, and in pulling the handle outwards, one of my screws fell into the door. I took the interior panel off and no way to get it via there, and even took the whole door off and with jelp tried shaking the door to try and get theis screw to fall out, nada. Do you know the name and or part number for this? Ive tried searching FOrds parts and the only diagram i found close, was no help.
Thank you in advance for any help!

 

[Ducati1098]

I am just encountering this issue as well. I went to take the handles off to do a decal across that area, and in pulling the handle outwards, one of my screws fell into the door. I took the interior panel off and no way to get it via there, and even took the whole door off and with help tried shaking the door to try and get this screw to fall out, nada. Do you know the name and or part number for this? Ive tried searching Fords parts and the only diagram i found close, was no help.
Thank you in advance for any help!

It's not available separately from Ford. You would have to order a whole new door latch assembly to get that bolt unfortunately.

 

[EtchaSketch]

Ouch, that sucks. Thanks for the fast reply!

 

[EtchaSketch]

It's not available separately from Ford. You would have to order a whole new door latch assembly to get that bolt unfortunately.

So i was able to get that 5mm bolt out of my door, i have the "washer" part seated correctly but for the life of me and my (not ford) mechanic brother, we can not get the door handle itself to stay on. I back the 5mm bolt on the side out to where i hear a click, and push the door handle in, it usually takes a little force, and i sometimes hear it "click" in, and i turn the 5mm bolt all the way in, and pull the handle and i comes right off sgsin. This part i have circled sounds like it clicks in, but it is just not staying in.
Any ideas? Is there a trick to seating this part?

 

[Ducati1098]

So i was able to get that 5mm bolt out of my door, i have the "washer" part seated correctly but for the life of me and my (not ford) mechanic brother, we can not get the door handle itself to stay on. I back the 5mm bolt on the side out to where i hear a click, and push the door handle in, it usually takes a little force, and i sometimes hear it "click" in, and i turn the 5mm bolt all the way in, and pull the handle and i comes right off sgsin. This part i have circled sounds like it clicks in, but it is just not staying in.
Any ideas? Is there a trick to seating this part?

Sometimes you just need to mess with the bolt location. Either back it out more, or less until the handle clicks in all the way. It also helps to add some inward pressure to the handle (directly towards the door) while you're turning the bolt back to to make sure it latches in correctly.

 

[EtchaSketch]

Unfortunately, we tried that. We noticed that the white plastic parts inside of the door itself (part of the handle assembly) moves in or out, depending on how far you have the 5mm bolt turned in. We were able to get the handle itself all the way in against the door (sometimes with pressure and other times without), but it just wont stay "locked" in. Sometimes we even heard/ felt it click into place, and we thought that we finally got it, but, it just doesnt stay when we try to open the door.
Thinking about it, the only thing we didnt try, was having the handle in place (with or w/o pressure) and backing the 5mm bolt out, to see if it somehow clicks into place. I'll try that later today, just to see if that works.

 

[Ducati1098]

Unfortunately, we tried that. We noticed that the white plastic parts inside of the door itself (part of the handle assembly) moves in or out, depending on how far you have the 5mm bolt turned in. We were able to get the handle itself all the way in against the door (sometimes with pressure and other times without), but it just wont stay "locked" in. Sometimes we even heard/ felt it click into place, and we thought that we finally got it, but, it just doesnt stay when we try to open the door.
Thinking about it, the only thing we didnt try, was having the handle in place (with or w/o pressure) and backing the 5mm bolt out, to see if it somehow clicks into place. I'll try that later today, just to see if that works.

Yeah if you remove the handle and look inside the door with a flash light, you'll have a good idea of when the door handle will be able to go in when moving the bolt. The bolt needs to be in a specific spot in able to get it to lock in.

 

[EtchaSketch]

Yeah, we looked at it, many times. I've looked at other threads and videos and no one says that there is any special trick to getting it back on, and we're boggled at what we "arent" doing right.
I'll uodate you when i get a chance to get out and play with it.
Thanks Eric

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