Interior Chrome Door Handle

Hi,
I have a quick question. I have a 1986 190E and my interior chrome door handle on the passenger side is "loose" meaning that there is some play before the handle opens the door when you are pulling it. How can I fix this?

[darius]

Barabbus,
That handle is directly connected into a pulling rod that actuates the door opening lever. I assume that if it has play in it, it might have stretched or slipped slightly in the hole it seats into in the chrome handle.
If this were my 190E, I would take the handle panel off and inspect the interior of the handle and the rod itself for problems. It may just need to be re-seated. Removal of the panel is easy - For no power seat controls -
Remove 1 screw (door latch retaining black plastic piece).
Remove 2 pieces of plastic - one at door latch on side held in by aforementioned screw and the other above the interior door handle.
Remove 1 bolt - holds on top of handle
Slip whole handle console forward and out and slip off the connecting rod.
(With power seats, there are 5 more pieces of plastic and an additional 3 screws.) Email me, if you need to.
Anyhow...take it apart and look at it.
G'Luck!


------------------
John J. Meadows
'83 300D 3.0L 260k mi.
'85 190E 2.3L 99k mi.

Yes, I do have power seat controls. Could you tell me how to do this w/ power seats? Thank you very much for your time. Scott

[darius]

Ok Scott,

Same procedure as before...just that before you can lift forward and out the handle console, you have to disconnect the power seat controls. Remove all 3 seat control buttons (they pull off) and take off the plastic retaining circlip around the bottom of the seatback button. Now, remove the whole black backing to the control panel.
Remove the two or three screws (just the ones that are holding in the control box) and let it dangle loose.
Now, pull the handle console forward (toward the hole you just made) and out. Remove the control bar from the chrome handle rear and inspect.

Ok, here is my caveat. I am not a pro mechanic and I am reciting this from memory, not from the manual, etc. So, if anything doesnt seem to be working, take your time and don't break anything.


------------------
John J. Meadows
'83 300D 3.0L 260k mi.
'85 190E 2.3L 99k mi.

[bhatt]

I had the same problem with my 300SD on the driver's door and did what I used to do with other cars: bend the metal rod.

Since there is some play in the metal rod, bending it effectively "shortens" the rod (straight line distance from end to end is now shorter) and removes the play. I noticed that MB lock rods are VERY strong. You'll need two strong sets of pliers. Hold w/one and bend with the other. Don't overdo it or the latch will remain partially "open". Just bend enough to remove the play. Mine door rattled all the time until I finally bent the rod and fixed it.

I believe Ford actually recommends this as a fix in their Explorer service manual (that's where I learned it..)

Neal

------------------
---
Neal Bhatt - bhatt@ic.net
'83 300SD 190k

Thanks for the replys and info!