[mjs9811]

The door handle grip broke on my '03 Murano and I just went through a successful repair. I wanted to share in case anyone had the same experience.

First off, I find it ridiculous that the door handle is so poorly engineered that it can break. I'm at 102,000 miles; yes it's high, but no reason for the thing to break off during normal use. I had to use the remote to roll the windows down and then reach in to open the door. Very frustrating.

Anyway, I didn't want to spend a few hundred dollars on the repair, so I decided to go at it solo. First, I bought the part from CourtesyParts ($90 for part, tax, shipping). I was all set to take the door panel off, but it turns out it's much simpler.

See the attached picture. There's an access hole for a bolt that holds the lock assembly in. If you unscrew the bolt, you can take off the escutcheon cover, take the whole lock out, and then simply slip the end of the grip into the door. The grip has a hook on the end of it that catches a latch. Just make sure the hook wraps around the latch bar and you're all set. It was much easier than I thought it would be.

A couple of things to watch out for:

- when you unscrew the bolt, you obviously don't want it dropping into the door innards. There are plastic protrusions above and below the bolt so it makes it hard to get out unless you have the right tool. I actually unscrewed the bolt and left it there (without taking it out of the car) and I was able to do the repair. By the way, it's a large torque bolt, but I was able to undo it with a flat head

- the escutcheon is a pretty flimsy piece. It has two small plastic teeth that hold it in place and I actually broke them both accidentally. Not wanting to pay an extra $20 for the part, I just cleaned the area and used some adhesive goop to stick it back on. Just make sure you don't goop over the key slot

All in all, I was very happy. Time to go to CarComplaints.com and post there as well (along side the 10 other people who had the same problem).

Mike

 

[mjs9811]

Picture for broken door handle...

 

[njjoe]

:29: Nice job!

Thanks for sharing your experience.

-njjoe

 

[benhui86]

kind of off topic but I just noticed from the reflection...what rims are you using? looks interesting

 

[mjs9811]

Funny about the rims...I noticed the reflection when I took the picture.

Anyway, the answer is "I don't know". I bought the Mo in 2005 from the original owner who put custom rims on. I don't even know the brand. The logo is an "H" with blue bars as the left/right side of the H and a red nasa-like swoosh as the horizontal cross.

Thanks for asking.

Mike

 

[ekaxel]

Good Job! Too bad you didn't post before you bought the $90 part. I have one down in the parts bin I probably would have parted with a lot cheaper....

 

[Mr3Putt]

Hey, I'm not alone....

Yesterday, when opening my door I noticed that my "escutcheon" (word of the day) is loose.

The operations part of the door handle seems fine.... so far.

Two Questions:

1. How does the escutcheon attach to the door?

2. Is my otherwise still operating just fine door handle ready to fail? Is it's operation somehow related to it's neighboring escutcheon?

I see the OP used the technical term "adhesive goop" to reattach his. Being Macgyver at heart, I have many types of such goop at my disposal. Did you just do a surface mount? Or did you do something laproscopically through the access hole?

Enjoy these photos....

If you look closely, you can see my mismatched garage crocs.

I have used electrical tape to hold my escutcheon in place until I get instructions from my boardmates.

Got Snow?

 

[njjoe]

Got Snow?

To hell with your escutcheon (I always liked that word) problem. What I want to know is how you got that 6" disposable snow blower to handle that 24" wall of snow.

-njjoe

 

[Gonzo]

A friend on mine has model like that and he tells me that it actaully works very well. Go figure.

 

[nitely]

My drivers side door handle has been misaligned like that since '05. the handle is lower than the escutcheon. The handle just sunk in about 1/8 inch or so one day and stayed there. It does not come off though--thank god. not yet anyway.

 

[mjs9811]

Mike here (the OP). From the picture, it looks like the whole lock assembly is loose. The escutcheon is just the flimsy piece of chrome that covers the lock assembly. When my handle broke, the flimsy piece of chrome came off too (only because I taped the chrome handle to the chrome escutcheon until the part came in, and I inadvertently ripped them both off when I pulled the handle out of habit). At no time did I have a problem with the lock assembly.

For the lock assembly, I undid the screw (accessed through the "bolt access" hole pictured in my photo). This allowed me to remove the whole lock assembly. I'd start there if I were you. Looks like you might just need to replace/tighten that torx screw you'll see when you pop off the plastic cap covering the bolt access.

For the escutcheon, when I broke it, I snapped the two plastic teeth on the right side that hold it in place. I don't know how yours is still attached to the lock assembly...mine popped off pretty easily. I used some plumbing adhesive, gooped it on the inside surface of the chrome escutcheon piece, and then pressed it on to the metal lock assembly. Nothing scientific...just surface (although I did put some masking tape over the key slot to make sure I didn't get any goop in there...not that I ever use the key, but you can't be too careful!).

Hope that helps!

Mike

 

[mjs9811]

Oh, and for the short answers to 3Putt's questions:

1. How does the escutcheon attach to the door?
- assuming you mean the "lock assembly", not "escutcheon", one torx screw access through a hole on the door side (to the right)

2. Is my otherwise still operating just fine door handle ready to fail? Is it's operation somehow related to it's neighboring escutcheon?
- I'm pretty sure the answer is "no". The handle has a hook that pulls the door release bar internally. The integrity of the door handle piece of plastic is independant of the escutcheon/lock (other than the fact that they've both been attached to your Mo for the same amount of time!)

Mike

 

[Mr3Putt]

Thanks for all the replies. For now, I have taped the thing back on using black electrical tape. One of these days, when I don't have to shovel the freaking driveway again, I will attempt the fix.

In answer to Joe's question regarding my minimite snow-blower, let me tell ya it was no picnic moving that blanket-o-fun. I had to use the undercut method. That means I would plow into the snow, pull back, the top layer would fall, then blow that away. If you look closely, you'll see the "snorkel" on the machine barely clears the snow.

Lather, rinse, repeat about 9,000,000 times. It took about 3-4 hours to complete the task.

I went through two tanks of gas doing that job. I hadn't used two tanks of gas total in the 10 years prior. Thanks to my real estate negotiating skills. The snowblower came with the house. After all the big stuff was agreed upon, I got the seller to throw in the snowblower and lawnmower.

The car covered at the end of the driveway is a Scion TC. The top of the window on that shed is about 6 1/2 feet from the ground. Do the math, that was alot of snow!

 

[trevmiesterj]

The door handle grip broke on my '03 Murano and I just went through a successful repair. I wanted to share in case anyone had the same experience.

Anyway, I didn't want to spend a few hundred dollars on the repair, so I decided to go at it solo. First, I bought the part from CourtesyParts ($90 for part, tax, shipping). I was all set to take the door panel off, but it turns out it's much simpler.
See the attached picture. There's an access hole for a bolt that holds the lock assembly in. If you unscrew the bolt, you can take off the escutcheon cover, take the whole lock out, and then simply slip the end of the grip into the door. The grip has a hook on the end of it that catches a latch. Just make sure the hook wraps around the latch bar and you're all set. It was much easier than I thought it would be.

A couple of things to watch out for:

- when you unscrew the bolt, you obviously don't want it dropping into the door innards. There are plastic protrusions above and below the bolt so it makes it hard to get out unless you have the right tool. I actually unscrewed the bolt and left it there (without taking it out of the car) and I was able to do the repair. By the way, it's a large torque bolt, but I was able to undo it with a flat head


Mike

Anyone with an 03-04 Mo that has the outside door handle breaks off, I will confirm this is how to fix it. I compared the broken door handle with the new one and it appears the newer handles have been remolded so the weak portion on the latch side should hopefully longer be an issue.

Mike-I wished I had this post when the driver side handle broke off in 09. You are the MAN for figuring out such an easy installation solution-my mechanic and I spent a lot of time on the first replacement door handle and this one was a snap to install.

Thanks a Million,

Trev

 

[coronamurano]

Sorry to bring this thread back from the almost dead but my wife has an 03 murano and her front passenger side door handle broke off as she was trying to get something out of the car. I've never seen a handle come off of a car like this before but it seems that it happens with the first generation muranos.

This handle doesn't have key hole / lock attached. Is it the same type of fix for this? The other examples I have seen were only for driver side doors.

Does anyone have the part number for this handle? I have attached some pictures of my handle.

Thanks

 

[jet2020]

I just had this same problem with my 2006 Murano. Was happy to find this thread which led me to the access hole for the lock cylinder. Really quick fix once you know about it.

Also, the star head size is a T30. And the little plastic protrusions seem to be there to keep the bolt from falling out when it comes loose. Sucks that it happens but at least they made it easy to fix. I just tightened the bolt back up and everything is fine for now.

 

[shamanstar]

Wow! I feel dumb now! I came here looking for an answer after my door handle broke for the second time (a different door this time). I paid like $250 to get it repaired last time. Now, I see that I just need to buy the part (if my glue job doesn't work- I'm thinking that it won't) and then the installation is cake! Thanks guys!

 

[Patrick]

The door handle grip broke on my '03 Murano and I just went through a successful repair. I wanted to share in case anyone had the same experience...

Mike you rock. Thanks for the advice. Just completed successful replacement on wife's 03 murano driver-side door handle. Thanks to https://www.courtesyparts.com/


I've found advice on this forum for a bunch of issues and finally bit the bullet and signed up. Below are 2 issues I cant seem to kick/ find solutions for. Any thoughts?
-Passenger door lock will not unlock when remote unlocks. Its not 'sticking'
-CD player has skipped since we got the car. Regardless of weather, run time, or CD condition (New CDs, Old CDs, burned, etc)

 

[KathyTampa]

Door Handle Broke Off~Drivers Side

Hi all...

My driver's side door handle broke off in my hand (2007 Murano).

I saw the post quoted from a "Mike" about how to fix it (once you have the part) and it said, "See attached picture" but there was no picture to be found.

Can someone help? I don't want to pay a Nissan dealer over $300 to fix this if I can do it myself. I'm a slightly mechanically-inclined woman.

Does someone know how to do this?

Kathy

 

[mjs9811]

Here's the post with the picture:
http://www.nissanmurano.org/forums/66-problems/14162-broken-door-handle.html#post152297

Mike