2 Door Handle Repair Options For Your Toyota
A broken door handle can put quite a damper on your day. With a malfunctioning handle, it’s difficult to enter or exit your Toyota. It can be pretty dangerous in an emergency situation.
Luckily, there are two different ways to fix this issue:
1. Take Apart the Door Handle Assembly and Replace the Faulty Component(s)
Image Credit: The Original Mechanic
If you have the right tools and a lot of experience and expertise, you could:
- Remove the door handle assembly from the door
- Take apart the door handle assembly
- Figure out what the faulty component is
- Replace the faulty component
This option is not for everybody. You would need to be diligent about keeping all the parts in the right places after disassembling the assembly. Also, you would need to know how to pinpoint the faulty component(s). That requires specialized knowledge in how a Toyota door handle assembly works. And then, the hardest part would be finding the replacement part. Usually that would mean getting a door handle assembly from a junkyard, and cannibalizing it for the part you need.
Replacing just the bad component(s) may save you some money, but you’ll end up spending a lot of time on this job. And you might not save much money. Door handle assemblies and sub-assemblies are pretty affordable to begin with. Depending on how much you value your time, chances are good it’s ultimately cheaper to replace the assembly or sub-assembly.
2. Replace the Door Handle Assembly or Sub-Assembly
While this process requires taking off the interior door panel and swapping in the new assembly, it’s still a whole lot easier than fixing a broken assembly. If you have a good tutorial that’s specific to your Toyota model and the right hand tools, you should be able to tackle this job without much trouble.
Finding Genuine OEM Replacement Parts
The first thing you want to do is to grab all the replacement parts you need. Aftermarket assemblies and components exist, but they’re inferior in quality to their OEM counterparts. If you want your new door handle assembly to fit right and last a long time, then we strongly recommend OEM.
At Olathe Toyota Parts Center, we offer wholesale prices for genuine OEM Toyota door handle assemblies, sub assemblies, and hardware. Look up your Toyota model in the catalog to see what we have to offer for your car.
Toyota doesn’t offer individual OEM components for the door handle assembly. You can see if you can find any aftermarket components, but chances are good the components aren’t going to fit well and they might not last long, either. It’s a lot easier to just replace the assembly or sub assembly.
If you need help finding the right OEM replacement parts for your Toyota’s door handle assembly, please contact us. We’re always here to help!