My 1998 Sebring LXi coupe with the V-6 has an interesting problem. I unlocked the car, and, when I was opening it, the drivers side door handle broke. No problem, I thought, and went to the passenger side. Same thing. Now I'm stuck with a car with two broken door handles. Is there any way to get the rear seats down so I can open the doors by crawling through the trunk? I have new handles already, but if I can't get into the car, they are doing me no good whatsoever. Thanks in advance.

 

A bit messy , but it does work....

Go to the hardware store, and buy a small roll of Bailing wire--(.090 should suffice) ,a jar of vaseline and 3 0r 4 wooden paint stirrers.

across the top of the PASSENGER DOOR, smear a generous amount of vaseline , and .using a screwdriver and some paper towels, pry the top edge of the door away from the body, and wedge the paint stirrers into the top edge of the door. Make a loop in the wire, and feed it thru the seam, and "HOOK" the inside DRIVERS SIDE door handle......The locks release when pulling the inside handle, but Im not sure if that holds true with passenger handle...(Hmmm...I'll have to try that sometime..)

By the way.....The vaseline and papertowels...are to protect the paint while you Pry the door frame....If the paper towel "SLIDES" around , it wont Mar the finish. just fold it in half and place it under the screwdriver shank Before Muscle-ing it.

 

Well...I almost did that exact thing. I took a wire hangar, unfolded it, and made a loop out of the hook end. I fed it through the window, and got it over the interior handle. After getting it down low enough, I pulled, and, voila! Open door. I am now in the process of getting in the new exterior handles, and that is turning into a bigger hassle as well. Guess the Mitsubishi builders have much smaller hands than the meat-hooks I've been 'blessed' with.

 

gato_solo, did you install the new exterior handles yourself?

My passenger door handle broke this afternoon. I too have a 1998 sebring. I removed the door panel and tried to get a view of what needs to happen to change the handle. It was not clear to me. It appears you need very small hands.

Did you use any tricks to get the job done?

Thanks
smack

 

1) learn to 'see' what you cannot see.
2) learn to swear in japanese...
3) keep lots of gauze and bandaids available.

Only partly serious.
I too fall into the 'meathook' category, and I had to do the driver side--when it was still my friend's car. An absolute PITA cause it was so hard to reach!
Gotterdun tho!

 

You have to have the window up, and you need, as leeb says, a first aid kit. You WILL get cuts or abrasions. There are no real tricks to this, except getting the doggone clip for the lock attached, unless you have the proper tool for opening the clip. I had to use needle-nose pliers, and it wasn't fun. If you cannot swear in Japanese, Italian will do in a pinch nowadays.