Driver's door exterior handle suddenly quit
 

2001 996 C4.
Anyone ever tackle their exterior door handle not working? Any advice? I had the car all day today. My wife took it out (problem! jk) and came back saying she couldn't get in the car. Had to come in through the passenger side.

The window drops when the exterior handle is engaged, but the latch is not activated. The interior latch DOES work just fine. I can hear it operating the latch, but the exterior is silent when pulled, not engaging the latch mechanism.

If you've fixed this one, then please Reply as I would appreciate it very much.

There is a little clip that connects the outside handle to the internal mechanism. It sounds like yours - either broke or has become un-clipped. You'll have to get in there to see which. I would bet it is just un-clipped. I can't see why one would ever break but I guess it's possible.
https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.6sp...621477171d.png

This happened to me with my 996 right after I got it in 2010...I forget exactly what was broken (5 yrs later) but I was able to pull off the interior door panel and reclip or reattach "something mechanical"...it was pretty obvious for me once I got the door panel off.

Good Luck!

You guys are great. Thanks for the responses. I will attack my door panel this weekend. Last weekend was the t-stat and water pump (stupid bolt placement!). Youtube video was 8 minutes...time fixing due to that bolt placement was 8 hours. But I have no leaks!

you might consider going to your Porsche Parts place before the holiday...if I remember correctly the spring in the door handle (accessible from the inside door panel off) snapped off at the coil in my case...it was like a $20 spring. 1/4" dia and a few in. long...but of course a crucial pcar part :)

Only attempt this if you have a nice parts guy who will take returns! hilarious

These door handles and door lock mechanism take a lot of use and abuse over the years and can experience many different failures over time. Best thing to do is to take off the panel and see what is going on inside. This tech article can help with the removal and taking a look to see what is going on in the inside.

-Luccia