Broken door handles--within door
 

Have an 01 Tribute... Inside door handle broke about a year ago...been rolling down window and opening from outside handle...well a couple days ago, the outside handle broke...any ideas on a fix...son is mechanically inclined, we can buy parts & fix...what parts??

RE: Broken door handles--within door
 

Which door will not open??
Most common fault with Tribute doors not opening is a broken latch/lock assembly. It is not available as a separate part but will come with the inner and outer handles/cable which sounds like you need inner handle also. Mazda parts catalog simply calls it the door lock.
There are about 9 different part numbers depending upon application. Dealer should be able to determine correct part needed by the VIN. PM with the last 8 digits of your VIN if you like and should be able to pull up the right part. Prices range from $175 to $230.

RE: Broken door handles--within door
 

Ive got a interior drivers side and both for the pass side.

RE: Broken door handles--within door
 

To 01Trib,

I have a 2002 Tribute and the inside latch of the driver side door broke on me this past fall.

Fortuantely, I work at a company that has a lot of mechanics, and one of them concocted a fix to the problem. It saved me the $350 fee the dealer wanted to charge.

Like you, I had to roll down my door and use outside latch to open door, but what we found during the fix, was using the MANUEL LOCK button on the door latch on the inside, would have opened the door though it would have been ackward.

RE: Broken door handles--within door
 

I had the same driver's door handle problem. Cost about 250 to fix. What killed me is that there are about 6 plastic fasteners that needed to be replaced to hold the door panel together. 6 little pieces of plastic: cost? $60.00. My service centre was charged $46 by a Mazda dealer, for 6 little pieces of plastic!!![:@]

RE: Broken door handles--within door
 

I lucked out compared to some of you. My driver door handle broke while still under warranty. Took days to get a new one into the shop.

RE: Broken door handles--within door
 

The six retaining clips do not need to be replaced unless they were broken. The clips are a two part assembly. When removing the door trim panel 1/2 of the clip will come off with the door panel and other 1/2 will stay in the door sheet metal. Simple matter to remove the part from the door sheet metal and assemble onto the door panel before reinstalling. If trying to reinstall the door trim panel and not putting the clips together beforehand they will definitely break. Learned that the hard way first time I did one[:@].

RE: Broken door handles--within door
 

My '01 drivers door, inside handle failed few weeks ago. I pulled the cover behind the handle and found a broken block of plastic. Looks like part of the cam that actuates the cable pull (cable was fine).

Based on zekeindc's advice , I tried to open the door by pushing the manual lock back to the left. This was easy to do with the cover off, a bit harder when I put cover back on. I think I'm going to get very good at pushing the back of the door lock button w/ my right thumb to open door. I may even trim the cover some to allow for easier actuation. :-)

I can use to $ saved to buy new rotors and pads. They last about 30k miles. Pads worn, rotors at min. :-(

This has been a great car overall, still love it.

Jmat

RE: Broken door handles--within door
 

Had same issue with door handles. Driver side broke first, little plastic piecebroke off the inside handle.Inner handlecan be purchased separately from the dealer for approx $45-$50. Use Vin# as Huey indicated. I brought the inner handle to the parts counter so they could see exactly what itwasI wanted to order. I also at first rolled down my window and opened door from outside, then I wound up trading the left rear inner doorhandle with the driver handle until I bought a new one.It works fine but if youlock the door while you are inside, you have to manually unlock the door before you can open it to get out, as rear doors do not have the ability to unlock by simply pulling on the handle as front doors do.

I also love the car. It has 308,000 miles on it and still running fine, (knock wood).

RE: Broken door handles--within door
 

I had this same problem with the interior door handle, the handle broke right off.

I fixed it myself though, without taking the door panel off.

I bought the inside handle from the dealership for $110 (what a rip off, its all plastic!!!) and I took apart the molding to the handle. I then took a screwdriver and pried out the old door handle thru the molding (it is only held on with clips fastened to the door). I put the new one in, the only problem I really had was getting that little wire thingy into the new handle (fake nails and all[&:]) and I snapped it back in place, screwed the handle molding on and I was done. Took about 45 minutes. Dealership wanted to charge me over $300 to fix it.

There is no need to take the entire door panel off.

RE: Broken door handles--within door
 

I have a 01 trib and the passenger handle broke a month ago. the driver side went the following week. I took the thing appart and found the plastic assembly broken. Have been opening using the manual lock ever since. The cost to replace is in the hundreds which I do not think is worth it. I will continue souring dump yards for crashed tributes.
ek

RE: Broken door handles--within door
 

FREE FIX !!! I fixed the door handle problem myself. No parts. There is a hook-like configuration in the rear of the handle. I created a place for that hook to grab and move the lock button the necessary distance to open the door. To repair, remove the door handle assembly. You only have to remove the assembly, not the whole panel. Here's what I did... I drilled a small hole through the back of the lock button where it is beefy, directly under the point where the cable connects. I inserted a small threaded bolt through the hole from the top of the lock button. I used 1/8"bolt that measures about 1" long. Any longer and it will interfere with the other mechanisms. I had to grind down the head flat at the top (to clear the assembly housing) and I also ground it down to clear the re-enforced area on the lock. I pressed the bolt through the hole (tight fit, but you want it snug). I re-installed the assembly and it works like a champ! I consider it better than factory an really easy. I will gladly detail further if you would like to email me amp1117@yahoo.com

RE: Broken door handles--within door
 

Sounds like tonyp may be onto a free fix that will work. If you want to just replace with the updated OE part that has been redesigned and beefed up about a dozen times for this problem and others then still does not need to cost an arm and a leg to do. If the problem is only with the inner handle and not outer then the little plastic hook breaking is all that is wrong and a replacment inner handle will solve the problem and most probably will never have an issue with it again. Inner handles retail for $82.39 per side or a bit less at $65.91if ordered from www.onlinemazdaparts.com. For drivers front door use OE part number ec01-59-330p. For passenger front door use ec01-58-330p.

RE: Broken door handles--within door
 

I have had several requests to further detail the door handle repair that I came up with. I'm sorry that I didn't post photo's. I feel that I did detail the repair sufficiently and further suggest that you print and read it while you have the handle assembly in your hand. Still have trouble, just email me or send me your phone number. I'll be glad to assist. amp1117@yahoo.com

RE: Broken door handles--within door
 

This seems to be a common problem. Both my husband and I drive 2001 Tributes and can't open the door from the inside (driver's side).
You should file a complaint with the NHTSA:
http://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/ivoq/

Maybe they will do a recall and we can all get it fixed for free!

RE: Broken door handles--within door
 

'01 Tribute here also. Had the same problem. Handle just popped one day as I was opening it from the inside to get out. Did the window roll down - open from outside thing for a while before I finally got it fixed. Luckily I have a great mechanic and it only cost me about $110 and $80 of that was for the parts! I try to avoid the dealer at all costs!!

RE: Broken door handles--within door
 

Thanks to all who responded. Took vehicle to dealer to get an estimate. They said around $300.00 bucks!-whew! They also removed and kept the defective linkage! I didn't realixe this until a few weeks later when I took off the door jam. Gonna try the junk yard route.

RE: Broken door handleswithin door
 

Good info! Just had my inside driver's door latch break......looks like the problem with mine was the plastic hook of the manual lock button has broken. I'll see if I can repair it myself, as $300 for a replacement of small plastic pieces is just too high....

i had the same ting happen to my passenger inner door and it happen after my wife open the door at the same time i was using the electronic lock to unlock the door. anyways i found a temporary solution you have to remove the cover thats inside the door handle and then you can pull the lock twards you and itill open the door youll see it when you open the other doors and the lock moves twards you with the handle.

Add me to the list with a broken driver side (inside) door handle on the 2001 Tribute. I am getting by using my thumb and pressing the lock button in while pulling the handle. This works for me but my wife hates it. Also confuses mechanic and car wash guys cause I see them rolling down the window. It took me a bit to realize that the design is for that lock button to move with the door handle to open the door. Once I saw that I was set.

$300 is a rip off for what is clearly a poor design. One of these days I may try one of the fixes here.

Peter

3 Broken handles
 

I have a 01 tribute. My outside drivers door handle broke a couple months ago then two weeks later my passengers outside handle broke so I had to reach up from the back seat to open my front doors. Then today my inside drivers door handle broke. The mazda dealer can order them but not in my matching color they don't make them anymore and the outside handles have to be painted to match. It is looking costly. We are mechanically inclined but need a diagram or something of the way the outside handle hooks up there are some springs and things and the dealer will not assist at all the say we have to bring it in and pay them 185 to fix. Please help

Inner door handle fix
 

To fix the inner door handle I followed the advice of tonyp and it worked great. I used a spare screw from an old electrical outlet it is 3/4 inch long with a 1/8 inch diameter. The screw head fits in the top of the plastic mechanism as if it was made for it - no grinding down required. The whole job took twenty minutes. I had tried temporary fixes before with duct tape but the screw fix seems like it will last better than the original or any replacement part and it is free! Thanks Tony.

I too had my driver's side door handle fail recently. I ended up at a local Mazda/Toyota junk yard for a cheap ($25) replacement door handle assembly from another '01 Tribute. As soon as I got it home, the same broken part fell out of it!!!!!
Needless to say, I took it back and they gave me one from an '02 Tribute. It is much sturdier than the '01 part and the piece that broke off the first two is at least twice as wide as the original. Perhaps that will last as long as I own the car! Lesson learned - don't use a junk yard part if it's from another '01 Tribute!

The fix that Tonyp suggested is quite clever and I would have probably tried that if I couldn't find a junk yard part. He was most courteous in exchanging a few emails to help me understand his fix better so I can use it in the future, if necessary. He doesn't even own a Tribute any longer but was kind enough to still offer assistance!

My first post:

I have been using my thumb for the past two years to push the locking mechanism to open the driver side door on my 01 Tribute. I refused to pay almost $ 200 the stealership when I called for a quote. Until this morning, I was browsing through the forum and came across the broken handle thread and saw the the clever post by tonyp. I tried it and it worked. It took me less than 15 mins for the process.

Thanks Tonyp.

RE: Broken door handles--within door
 

My 2001 Tribute door handle just bought the farm this morning... Planning on trying tonyp's fix. If I have time, I'll try to take photos. Either way, I'll post back my results.

If you do Tonyp's fix, please snap some pics and post them.
A picture's worth a 1,000 words......

Tonyp is top banana
 

My door handle broke yesterday and I came across this thread with Tonyp's fix. I tried it thinking I had nothing to lose. Not only was it quick and easy, but it works great, and I believe it will be stronger than the original design. FYI, as someone else mentioned, if you use a threaded 3/4" electrical socket screw, it will fit perfectly without any modification to the screw or the lock unit. Thanks to those that posted the info (saved me somewhere between $80-$300)!

Driver's side door handle not working
 

Ditto for me as well. I have a 2001 Tribute and my inner driver-side door handle stopped working. For a few days I was exiting through the passenger door, and then in a conversation with somene -- where I explained the issue they told me to roll down the window and pull the exterior door latch to open the door -- which works. I have since then read this forum and tried the zekeindc fix which works. You have to press a little hard to the left portion of the door lock, but it does works.

Of interesting note I just had my outside passenger door latch fail. You can't open the passenger door from the outside. When it failed somene was trying to open the door at the same time I was unlocking it with the fob. You now have to open the door from the inside by pulling the inner door latch.

Before reading this forum I would have expected the combination of these two items to be some wierd electrical problem. But now from reading this forum it is clear that at least my driver's side door is the result of a cheap latch design in the 2001 Tributes. I will go ahead and implement the tonyp fix.

Thanks for this forum. There are some great posts. -- you guys saved me a good chunk of change. I think the irritating thing is that this should be a "free" manufacturer fix, although I've had this problem before with regard to other poorly designed parts with other manufacturers so its not just Ford/Mazda -- it is endemic that every manufacturer doesn't want to foot the bill for poor design, unless they have to.

On a closing note -- I do love my 2001 Mazda Tribute. I have 120K miles and have had zero major issues. So my only gripe are the poorly designed door handles/locks. ;-)

John

Fixed with one plastic tie in 10 minutes
 

The in door handle of my tribute 2001 broke today and found this forum fortunately. After i read tony's posting, I was trying to fix it as he suggested, but it was kind of tricky for me to make a small hole and putting a screw into it. Instead I realized that I could fix it with a small plastic tie and it worked.. :)

What I did is simple.. Tie together the cable and the hook of the door handle after removing the assembly, so that the hook will pull the cable when you pull the door handle. Let me know if you need more info. jasonlife@gmail.com

I like my tribute 2001 mostly, but it has very rough idle on cold start during cold season. Anyone has the same problem on cold start during winter.

Jason

I had the same issue. I pulled out the "low idle throttle control" (real easy to do) and cleaned the carbon off of the small shaft. Put it back on and ran like a champ.

DIY Tribute Front Inner Door Handle Repair
 

I repaired our 01 Tribute driver's door handle by disassembling the handle and epoxying the broken molded plastic cam back into place. I'm not sure how long the repair will last. But it's time to sell the car.

Clearly the early 01 and 02 Mazda Tributes have a few hidden defects that were fixed in later versions.

The plastic door handle cam is one of them.

To fix the handle, I needed to remove the door panel and then the handle assembly. Then I carefully removed the long rivet hinge pin that the door handle hinges upon. To remove this hinge rivet, I squeezed and repeatedly crimped the deformed end of the rivet with a vise grip until I could reshape its mushroomed head into a column. Then I filed it until it would pass through the hole and allow the handle to be removed.

When I took than handle apart I found the broken chromed plastic cam piece lodged inside the assembly. I used epoxy to glue the cam back into place. And then reassembled the handle assembly.

If this hadn't been a Sunday, I think I would have gone to the dealer to purchase the new handle. But we'll see how long this lasts with gentle use. And maybe it will last long enough to trade this lemon in for a new car.


http://www.renderview.com/Mazda/handle1.jpg

http://www.renderview.com/Mazda/handle2.jpg

http://www.renderview.com/Mazda/handle3.jpg

Here are some other problems we've had with our Mazda Tribute (2001 ES)

Headliner has sagged above the rear hatch back window and will no longer stay in place.

Hatch back struts no longer hold the door up.

Then there are the seat belt retractors; their electrical connections repeatedly failed and raised a dashboard airbag warning light. The dealer fixed these 3 times under warrantee before a final repair (out of warrantee) involved soldering the connections.

The rear hatchback lock solendoid has failed and no longer locks/unlocks the hatch.

The OBD warning says the throttle body has an issue. It keeps raising a check engine light suggesting that it needs to be disassembled and cleaned.

The leaky brake master cylinder needed to be replaced at 80K miles.

The power steering hose assembly where it attached to the power steering pump failed due to vibration. The fix included a new supporting bracket assembly. Clearly a Mazda re-design necessary due to frequent failures.

The factory sunroof electric switch has become intermittant, sometimes failing to close the sunroof, and thus untrusted. A web search reveals many other folks have also suffered this problem.

But our biggest repair was a complete transmission rebuild at 75K miles ($3500.00). Our is the 4WD with electronic overdrive. The transmission repair included a new recommended but optional rebuild kit that improves the deficient distribution of transmission fluid inside the transmission. we alsoreplaced all new transmission solenoids and torque converter (the transmission left my wife stranded 40 miles from home. The repair shop told us it was full of metal filings. A web search als reveals that many folks have experienced the transmission failure in the 01 and 02 model year.

Lessons learned for me personnaly are to never again purchase a first model year of a new car design. And this will be our last Mazda.

I have issues with the driver side rear door. Both inside and outside handles are broken. How do I get the door open to replace both handles?

DaveB, The surfmaz too has a case of brokenhandlelitis! I have taken a looksee
at the area in question coz i plan to pull a tonyP on it. But my question to you-or anyone else is that the interior handle body (as in your photo) seems to be attached to the door body rather securely, with what looks like double sided tape?? or something. can't see anymore screws etc. How did you pop this part off please? I dont want to force it if i am missing something.

Cheers:confused:

Thanks, tonyp
 

Another happy tonyp customer! Worked out very well indeed.

Description:
2001 Mazda Tribute inside door handle fix, thanks to tonyp. The angle(s) may not be clear unless you're holding the assembly in your hand (very easy to remove, btw). I shot these to illustrate the general area where I drilled and inserted a screw. I just happened to have on hand enough of these Phillips-head machine screws with a plain shaft, no threads, on the first 1" or so out of a 2"screw. It took just two tries with a Dremel to get the right length and the head cut roughly in half to fit just so (although I'm sure many could get it on the first try). I used a small blob of epoxy to hold it in place, probably optional if you're better than I (not difficult!). Again, this will make much more sense if you can actually hold the entire assembly in your hand, completely disconnected from the door.

I can see the zip-tie method working very well, too. I prefer metal -each to their own :D

Very easy fix and took maybe 1/2 hr. Very glad to have my door handle back; it completes the project. I just installed all new speakers and used expanding foam to further insulate all the doors - what a difference!!

Hover over thumbs to view, click to enlarge.

Tribute door not opening / broken handle in & out
 

thanks to Zekeindc! This trick of using the manual lock to open the door works great. About 2 years ago the same thing happened to the driver door & I paid better than $500 to have it fixed---because I could not open the door to get at the mechanism. I am very well mechanically inclined. the dealer made a BIG issue of opening the door. LOL.
I can now shop for the parts I need to repair. Thanks again.

Hi: i to am having trouble with a broken handle off a 2001 Tribute.
could i get a copy of the original info sheet on what TonyP did up.
Thanks GordS

I'm no professional, but i changed out all my interior door handles myself.
Check out this vid. It will guide you accordingly.
To find the parts, click here.. Might need slight modification.

tonyp's magic screw works for Mazda5 doors!
 

Thank you, tonyp, and the rest the forum, for helping me fix this. I have a 2008 Mazda5, and the interior driver's door handle cable popped off and won't stay on. Just screwed in a wall plate screw into the plastic "chrome" door handle (pictured below), and it works to restrain the cable. I didn't have to drill or alter the screw. No more rolling down the window to let myself out!

https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.maz...6b5be01f5e.jpg
Standard wall plate screw used to keep cable from slipping out of interior handle.