1999 Toyota Corolla, Driver's Door Won't Open After Replacing Interior Handle

by Julia
(Tucson, AZ USA)

1999 Toyota Corolla
All of the interior door handles have broken one by one and I've been able to replace them myself. However, when the driver's handle broke, I replaced the handle yet it still will not open. Someone told me the wire rod that opens the door may be warped. My question is, can I fix this myself? If so, how do you "un-warp" the rod? Thank you.

Steve Says,

It is very unlikely that the rod is "warped". It is possible that it is bent, but even that is unlikely. If you really think this is the problem then probably the only thing that might work is if you remove the rod from both sides of the car and make sure they both match.

The most likely cause of your problem is something else inside the door that is not working correctly. It is possible that one of the other rods or plastic connectors have broken or you could have a problem with the latching mechanism. It probably has to do with the plastic connector that is on the rod that goes from the handle to the latch.

To check this just remove the handle that you replaced and try pushing and pulling on the rod that connects to it. See if it will operate the latch. If it does not then you will have to inspect further to see what is going on.

I hope this has helped. Please post the fix when you figure it out.