Interior Door Handle Issue

[Frankie]

I foresee an issue with my driver's interior door handle:

When exiting driver's door, the handle must be pulled beyond normal travel before door pops open. I'd say the handle must be pulled about 80%. Other doors open smartly at about 40%. The day's coming when the door won't open.

I'm sure something inside is wearing out, but what? The pull cable? The lock mechanism (inside door cavity)? I want to be prepared.

[CPHES]

Likely the Bowden cable. There are threads on replacing it.

[peacoben]

I'd preemptively replace the cable, that's likely the cause.

[Frankie]

The cable, huh? I didn't know it stretched that much. That's an easy and cheap repair (#11) compared to the lock mechanism (#1):

722919

I'll preemptively replace it soon. Thanks for the tip!

[CPHES]

They do go bad. Did that on a R53 Mini.

[pyite69]

It is very easy to take the handle off and take a quick look. You just need a tiny flathead and either a Phillips or (IIRC) T20 torx depending on which model & year.

On the 1999 & 2000 cars I have, there is a groove on the inside part of the handle. If the cable slides out of this groove you will have to pull the handle much further than normal. If this is the case, you can wiggle the cable around and get it back in place. On my 2002 it seems to have a better version where the cable can't come out of the groove.

Luckily they made approximately a trillion of these doors. Parts are readily available and fairly easy to deal with. The door card is a bit tedious admittedly -- and make sure you don't touch the locking mechanism... it is a complete PITA to get back together properly.

Good luck!