1992 Astro can't open rear door

[h2ojerm]

I have a 1992 Astro van. I have been driving it for a few months. The right rear door handle has always been a little tricky. About a week ago it failed completely. Now I cannot open the door at all. It seems as if there is something broken internally. The handle just flops loosely back and forth. Any help would be appreciated.

[ihatemybike]

You'll have to remove the interior panel to open the door. Once the panel is off you can reach your hand in and release the door. There are two vertical rods inside. The closest one to you should be pushed up to unlock the door, the one closer to the outside of the van should be pushed down to open the door. With the door open you'll see a panel with four screws. Removing this panel will reveal the handle's mechanism and provide access to the mounting bolts. Pretty easy to swap out.

[Big_kid]

X2. I did this a few months ago on mine. I also cut a hole in the small cover and put an edge guard on it so I could lock the door manually. It's not pretty, but it's convenient.