How difficult is it to replace the inside door handle on an 02 Convertible? Any tricks anyone care to share? Thanks in advance for your assistance.

 

I just changed the passenger side on my '01 Limited. There are really no short cuts. The job should take about an hour to do. The tricky part for me was removing the red reflector lens at the bottom rear of the door panel. I broke one of the four tabs on the lens. I think there was a total of 7 screws to remove. 1 in the handle, 1 in the arm rest cup, 3 on the bottom, 1 behind the red lens and 1 behind a removable cover above the speaker. The cover looks like part of the door panel but it pops off. There are also door panel clips that mount to the door panel and push into to the door. When you get the screws out, pull the panel out a bit to see where the door panel clips are. Grab the door panel in the area of the clips, pull the door panel away from the door with firm and steady pressure. If you yank on the panel, the panel may break. Pull the bottom of the door panel away from the door (Toward You) and lift UP to unlock the top of the door panel. Once you get the door panel off, there are 3 Torx screws that hold the door handle cup from the back side of the door panel. When you are installing the door panel you must put the top of the panel on first. I hope this helps and is not to confusing for you.

 

Ribguy, thanks for the instructions. Once I got started they were very easy to follow. Could not believe the price the local dealer wanted for the handle, list was $142.00 part number 1AG41YBP-AA, decided to check out the local salvage yard and found one for $5.00.