Outside Door Handle Sticking/ Hard To Open

The Nissan Versa Tech Discussion forum is the place to discuss Versa performance modifications and maintenance.
DriftQueen99
Posts: 10
Joined: Sat Feb 02, 2019 7:50 am
Car: Nissan Versa

Post

Hi there. So 2 years ago I had replaced my passenger door lock actuator as it had stopped working but it needed as it controls the lock position in trunk. After replacing I noticed my door handle was tough to open and you had to pull quite hard, easy to open from the inside. I have just been dealing with it as I don't use that door often but when I do I just tell people to pull hard. I have tried spraying both penetrating oil and white lithium in the locks/ handle but nothing seems to help.

I will be taking apart the doors again soon to upgrade my speakers and was thinking I should try to fix the handle while I'm at it. Would tightening the screws to the handle too tightly cause it? Could it just be the part I bought? Something in the handle? Any suggestions would be helpful as I don't want to have to take the door apart again.


2016 Versa
Posts: 30
Joined: Tue Feb 12, 2019 5:21 am
Car: 2016 Nissan Versa SV
Location: Russellville, KY

Post

I will be taking apart the doors again soon to upgrade my speakers and was thinking I should try to fix the handle while I'm at it. Would tightening the screws to the handle too tightly cause it? Could it just be the part I bought? Something in the handle? Any suggestions would be helpful as I don't want to have to take the door apart again.



I'd just take a good look at all the linkage while I had the door apart to see if I could find anything that has excessive wear.

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amc49
Posts: 1183
Joined: Mon Jun 19, 2017 7:24 pm
Car: '11 Nissan Versa
'17 Nissan Altima

Post

Many latch assemblies are multi-compartmented now with all the parts they have inside. Meaning no amount of spraying lube will get to certain parts inside. On other brands I have taken the latches apart but commonly you destroy them to do so and then you have to engineer a way to get them back together after regreasing them to work right again. Haven't done Nissan type yet but at some point I will and figure out how when I do it.

If the latch has an internal problem like that then the normal fix is to replace it but the price of the assembly is what made me go into the Ford ones on my cars and I figured out how to rebuild them to work good as new for like $5 apiece. The latch from Ford goes for $150 or so, so a big savings there.

If the issue is the external downlink to the latch that can be fixed with spray lube but the link can often have a worn connector or close to need replacing before the handle goes back to working smoothly. Depends on how the whole thing works, every design is different and has different weak points.


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