Loose driver’s door handle

[Radarnyc]

The upper right side of the driver’s interior door handle is loose. Has anyone fixed something like this and can explain some ideas on a fix.

 

[Honcho]

It's probably missing mount screws near that area- there should be eight screws: 4 gold and 4 black. You need to remove the trim panel behind the lever to check.

 

[Old Guy]

It is really hard to tell what is 'flexing' in your photo.



This above shows the door handle assembly removal in the service manual. If the part that is flexing appears to be the complete handle assembly as shown in the diagram then Honcho is probably correct. Somebody lost or forgot the two screws at the very front of the handle assembly. You have to lift the release handle to get at those two screws.


The worst case is that somebody attempted to remove the inside door handle without referring to the service manual and missed those last two screws because they are not visible unless you know to 'lift and look'. After removing the 6 obvious screws they may have attempted to complete removal of the assembly by just yanking in which case they may have broken the area around the mounting holes.

Download the 1991 service manual (links in NSX Prime library) and in the body section covering the doors you will find instructions on how to remove the trim piece on the inside of the door handle that Honcho is referring to. With some soft plastic wedge style trim tools it only takes a minute (once you have figured out where the retaining catches on the trim piece are) and this will expose the mounting screws and you can see whether anything is missing / broken.

 

[fastfwd]

4 gold and 4 black

@Radarnyc if you remove any of those screws, remember where the gold and black go. They're not interchangeable, but they're not different enough to prevent you from damaging a mounting hole by forcing the wrong screw into it.

 

[drew]

remember where the gold and black go.

It's worse than that for OP, as the whole assembly and fasteners are highly suspect. And swapped and subsequently buggered retainers might very well be this issues root cause.

 

[Radarnyc]

It's worse than that for OP, as the whole assembly and fasteners are highly suspect. And swapped and subsequently buggered retainers might very well be this issues root cause.

Thanks guys. I’ll open it up and see what’s going on in there

 

[Radarnyc]

Confirmed. Ordered a NIB from eBay:Japan.

 

[Old Guy]

Indeed. Given where the fracture line is, it does look like somebody tried to remove the door handle with those last two screws still in place. Don't need a service manual, just pull harder school of disassembly.

Without knowing what the EBay Japan vendor price was, the lowest cost reliable source for NSX parts is usually Amayama.com. Amayama supports the complete NSX parts catalog for right hand steer cars. Fortunately, 99% of the right hand steer parts and part numbers are identical to the North American parts.

 

[drew]

The pivoting part of the handle has value as they do break, so don't trash the entire assembly.

 

[Wild Turkey]

It's worse than that for OP, as the whole assembly and fasteners are highly suspect. And swapped and subsequently buggered retainers might very well be this issues root cause.

Were OP's installed wrong? Ironic that this thread has multiple notes to put them back as they were, but no clarification on the right way to do it. "Back the way they were" is not always correct in my experience, unfortunately. The SM is similarly unhelpful, as are the parts diagrams as near as I can tell. My recollection is that the 4 gold screws are rearward, holding the gold metallic section of the handle assembly, and the black screws go into the plastic (forward) section. But my '01 right door was the opposite, so?

The plastic inserts in the door panel that the screws screw into seem the same for both screws, 72124-SL0-003. My screws still seemed to have good purchase after a previous owner put them in backwards. OP should probably check them carefully as well, and replace any suspect inserts. It's hard to tell from the pictures at:

Door trim for Honda NSX 1 generation, restyling 12.2001 - 12.2005 - Honda Car and Auto Spare Parts - Genuine Online Car Parts Catalogue - Amayama

Door trim for Honda NSX 1 generation, restyling 12.2001 - 12.2005. Buy OEM spare parts online. Low prices, proven reliability, fast shipping from Japan

www.amayama.com

(90132SE3003 (6 pieces?), and 90131SL0000 (8 pieces)?). Holding them up, they look the same diameter to me.

 

[drew]

The interior door handle fasteners are cadmium/yellow (5x14, p/n: 90131-SL0-000) on the plastic part and the black ones, (5x16, p/n: 93903-45380), are for the sheet metal.

 

[Wild Turkey]

Confirming @drew 's clarification, here is a picture of the two screws, where you can see the shoulder on the gold screws to prevent overtightening on the plastic.

 

[Chris_Lum]

I was just replacing these bolts and the plastic grommets in my latest video. I took note of the following:

• The gold screws with the shoulders will not easily slide into the rear metal portion of the handle. It's very close and they might fit if you force them, but they won't just slide right in.
• Also, the height of the shoulder is taller than the thickness of the metal part (the plastic part, where the gold screws are meant to go, is thicker than the metal part, where the black screws go). So if you were to put the gold screws in the rear part of the handle, it could potentially create a loose feeling handle due to the gap created by the shoulder being thicker than the metal handle bracket.

That all means that you shouldn't really be able to mix them up if you're being careful and have all original screws.

 

[Wild Turkey]

I was just replacing these bolts and the plastic grommets in my latest video. I took note of the following:

• The gold screws with the shoulders will not easily slide into the rear metal portion of the handle. It's very close and they might fit if you force them, but they won't just slide right in.
• Also, the height of the shoulder is taller than the thickness of the metal part (the plastic part, where the gold screws are meant to go, is thicker than the metal part, where the black screws go). So if you were to put the gold screws in the rear part of the handle, it could potentially create a loose feeling handle due to the gap created by the shoulder being thicker than the metal handle bracket.

That all means that you shouldn't really be able to mix them up if you're being careful and have all original screws.

You shouldn't really be able to mix them up, UNLESS a previous owner installed them backwards & you put it back the way you found it. The previous owner of my '95 (or his mechanic) installed both sets backwards, my '01 had one of each, and my friend's NSX were both backwards when we did his window fixes. So 16% were correct when we got them (not many original owners left anymore). My gold screws installed with no resistance at the back on mine, probably because they'd been installed there (multiple times?) before. I'm glad @Kaz-kzukNA1 caught my mistake.

With respect to the shouldered screws not tightening, that might only happen if the shouldered screws were being screwed into a metal base. I've seen this when rubber washers on motorcycle fairings are missing, so the plastic is loose because the screw only tightens to the shoulder. But in this case, the screw screws into a plastic insert, which seems to deform when the shouldered screw is screwed into it, allowing the screw to be tight.

Hoping this means your video on Hugo/Wayne's window fix is coming soon?

 

[Chris_Lum]

You shouldn't really be able to mix them up, UNLESS a previous owner installed them backwards & you put it back the way you found it. The previous owner of my '95 (or his mechanic) installed both sets backwards, my '01 had one of each, and my friend's NSX were both backwards when we did his window fixes. So 16% were correct when we got them (not many original owners left anymore). My gold screws installed easily at the back on mine, probably because they'd been installed there (multiple times?) before. I'm glad @Kaz-kzukNA1 caught my mistake.

With respect to the shouldered screws not tightening, that might only happen if the shouldered screws were being screwed into a metal base. I've seen this when rubber washers on motorcycle fairings are missing, so the plastic is loose because the screw only tightens to the shoulder. But in this case, the screw screws into a plastic insert, which seems to deform when the shouldered screw is screwed into it, allowing the screw to be tight.

Hoping this means your video on Hugo/Wayne's window fix is coming soon?

Yeah I mean, anything will fit if you force it I ended up not making a video for the window fix for various reasons. I’ll have to DM you about it later to pick your brain.