Driver Door handle loose / floppy

[jhasti]

My 2005 997 S door handle made a snapping sound one day, and form then on it wouldn't automatically return to the closed position. It stayed loose, and when I would shut the door from the inside it would swing around and usually activate the micro-switch that lowers the window. It does appear that once you get over a certain speed the window will raise to the normal closed position automatically.

I searched the forums for comments and found some on 996 and on 986s, and some of people telling others to search for the problem (I tried their searches and didn't get anything but their original post).

In any case, PAULSPEED has an excellent tutorial on removing both the inner and outer door panels in the 997-1 DIY tutorial forum.

I removed the interior door panel, and the return spring (tensioner spring?) is a heavy duty spring wrapped around a post that is on the interior door panel. My spring was intact, but the plastic bracket that the post and spring attach too is cracked and the end of the spring had slipped out of its position. This bracket is hold in place by three small torx screws and appears to be reversible so that it would fit either the right or left hand door.

The part appears to be

997.555.381 z0

Pelican parts says that 997.555.381 has superseded to 997.555.38102 "door hinge" for $12.75 but there are no pictures. There is also a 997.555.38103 but I don't know the difference.

I put the end of the spring back in place and so far seems to be holding, but I will order a replacement part for when I need it.

It only took about 20-30 minutes to get the interior door panel off. (I had to do it twice because after getting it together the first time, none of the electrical switches in the door would work - so I removed it again and reseated the main electrical connector and everything works fine)

[PAULSPEED]

The hole door latch assembly was like $75 from Sunset

Imports.

Paul