DIY Fix: Door Handle not retracting

[toddquinlan]

Could someone please post a photo of the little hole where you are supposed to squirt? And is Silicon spray better tha WD40? I thought WD40 leaves a residue eventually?

I am with you, not because of residue but WD40 has no longterm lubricating abilities. I will try white lithium grease.

[tiitsu]

Thanks for the comments!

After further investigation, I’d say it’s not possible to effectively grease the mechanism from the outside without first removing the handle. Attempting to grease it from the outside could easily cause a mess inside the lock. Using pressure washing will only make the entire assembly wet on the inside.

I raised the pin shown at the top of the picture (highlighted in the green square), and while I didn’t spray WD-40 myself, someone could try applying it to the pivot point at the top side of the handle. However, this might only get WD-40 to the pin, and there’s no grease present in the first place. That doesn’t seem to be the issue with the lock.

I’ve also highlighted (in red) the areas where there are direct holes leading into the handle. These demonstrate how easily water can enter the lock assembly when washing your car. Spraying WD-40 into these holes won’t help either, as it won’t reach any meaningful parts of the mechanism. If someone manages to get their lock working by spraying from the outside, great job! However, based on this assembly how it looks like, I wouldn’t recommend it.

When looking at the assembly, it doesn’t appear weak or like something that could easily break otherwise. That said, I’m not a mechanical engineer, so I can’t make a more informed judgment on its durability.

The only proper way to fix this issue is to disassemble the lock. While inspecting the mechanism, I noticed another potential issue under the actuator: a small microswitch (blue box). It appears to check the actuator's position and could be part of the problem. Here’s a link to that part for reference: [Alps Alpine SSCN110101 Microswitch](https://tech.alpsalpine.com/e/products/ ... SCN110101/).

I plan to attempt fixing my lock assembly at some point and definitely will fix it if other one brakes as I'm not going to pay that 1100+ euros again.

In this picture actuator is removed and microswitch is seen.