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Loose driver’s door handle
- Thread starter Radarnyc
- Start date
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.
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.
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.
@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.
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.
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Thanks guys. I’ll open it up and see what’s going on in there
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.
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.
The pivoting part of the handle has value as they do break, so don't trash the entire assembly.
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, probably done wrong by the window tinter 10 years ago?
The plastic inserts in the door panel that the screws screw into seem the same for both screws, (72124-SL0-003 as near as I can tell). 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
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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.
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- Joined
- 3 May 2020
- Messages
- 171
I was just replacing these bolts and the plastic grommets in my latest video. I took note of the following:
That all means that you shouldn't really be able to mix them up if you're being careful and have all original screws.
- 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.
