The spring that retracts the outer door handle has come loose.
Does the handle have to come off to reset the spring?
Thanks for any help.

Commerce,

I hope you get a great answer, cause my handle is loose as hell, too. The best I could find in search is: https://www.fiero.nl/forum/A...130314-2-118747.html

Good luck and post how you finally do it!

Larry

quote Originally posted by commerce: The spring that retracts the outer door handle has come loose. Does the handle have to come off to reset the spring?

The good news is that you have two ways of dealing with this.

The bad news is that you either need to remove the outer door skin... or the interior panel.

But yes, the door handle needs to come off. I suggest you do it from the inside.

[This message has been edited by Patrick (edited 07-07-2015).]

I did have to remove the outer door skin. Which isn't that difficult as long as those torx bolts (or whatever they are) cooperate.
The door handle seems to be some sort of cast metal. The clips which hold the return spring in place are cast into the handle. They had broke off on one end and left the spring loose. There was enough of the clip left to reattach the spring by bending it over the spring. It works fine for now, but will probably new one.

quote Originally posted by commerce: I did have to remove the outer door skin.

That's one way of removing the outside door handle, but it's not absolutely necessary. The handle can also be unbolted from inside the door.