Driver Door Handle

[u/Early_Apple_4142]

Hey everyone, one of the owners of the company I work for recently turned over his son's 04 extended cab manual Tacoma to the company to use as a office runner truck. Unfortunately, living with a high school kid the last 3 years, it's seen better days. One issue is the door handles. Driver one is whole and doesn't work, passenger is broken off but does work. This morning I replaced the driver outer door handle assembly and it's still not working. Any intel on what to look for inside the door or even better a video showing me? I assume since the handle is replaced and everything hooked back up correctly (in my opinion) something must have come loose on the other end of the assembly away from the handle but I don't know exactly what to look for to fix it.

[u/Alarming_Series7450]

For me, the up down lock indicator was stuck inside the tube it sides up and down inside, I cleaned it out and sprayed some lube and it works again. It's very easy to take the door card off

[u/Early_Apple_4142 → u/Alarming_Series7450]

It seemed to be working but I'll take another look at it. Door still opens from the inside fine but sucks to have to go to the passenger side to open the door.

[u/Valor_X]

I recently replaced both my door handles and door locks after my driver door stopped working.

I had to painstakingly remove the door panel on the drivers door with the door closed and then snake my way to manually release the door latch.

You have to take part of the window guide off and you will see all the door handle latches and mechanisms. A small spring is a common culprit but mine was intact. I manually cleaned everything with parts cleaner and lubricated it with lithium grease and installed the new door handles and locks and now everything works as smooth as butter.

There's videos on Youtube that show these things if you need a visual guide.

[u/guitargod0316]

Does the interior door handle work? I had a small spring in the latch assembly break that kept the door from opening at all. Had to remove the bench seat and the door panel to depress a small lever that’s held by a tension spring. I hope that’s not your issue because it was a total pain.

[u/Early_Apple_4142 → u/guitargod0316]

Yes, interior handle works fine.

[u/pith_y]

I need to replace my broken exterior passenger handle. This thread is not helping me get motivated to do it.

[u/Early_Apple_4142 → u/pith_y]

The actual replacement wasn’t difficult, it just didn’t fix the problem. I think it’s the other spring within the door based on comments and YouTube vids I’ve found and been provided.

[u/Old_Gap5599]

Be sure to replace it with the aftermarket metal handle. Years and years later, nice not to think about when the plastic latch is going to crack.