Hi, is it possible to change the rear door handles on a 2001 P38 ? I took off one of the door cards this afternoon but I can't see any way off taking off the handles. I saw a mention on the "Landyzone" that there is a metal frame that is riveted to the door frame that has to be drilled off and removed before the handle can be accessed.

When I looked inside the door frame the handle fittings seem to be right inside a folded section of the door, and I can't see any way of getting inside this piece of the door frame.

Any advice would be welcomed as I have new handles for the two rear doors, and the front passenger door. The drivers door is a separate issue as it appears that there is no real means of changing the handle and keeping the keys original. I have bought two replacement key fobs in the last two years, and the last thing I want is to find that they are now useless as I would have to fit a new barrel etc.

I am hoping that, even though the handle isn't pulling home fully, the handle will keep working with the key fob until I have to get rid of the motor [thank you Government !!!].

Pierre3.

Same as the fronts, undo the bolt that you can see with the door open, slide the handle forwards and pull it out.

The lock barrel is held in by a roll pin.
I'm not saying do it, but I've heard of fold drilling pin out the using a new one to lock it in again.

Hi, I would just like to check a couple of things. In regards to the back door handles, with the door card removed, and the inner covering pulled away, when I look straight at the back of the door handle the only fixing that I can see is a small bolt, maybe M6 or M4, screwed into the plastic of the door handle. What am I missing in regards to taking out a bolt and just removing the handle ?

As I mentioned before, the window motor frame [I think] covers the access to the handle from the inside. I spent two hours looking through the .pdf Rave manual but I can't find the relevant section on the rear doors [or the front doors, come to that !]. I notice that the workshop manual is listed numerically - would it be possible to either send the rear door diagram or else the particular section number so that I could look it up ?

I'm not quite sure what this means "I'm not saying do it, but I've heard of fold drilling pin out the using a new one to lock it in again." Sorry !!

Pierre3.

There's no need to take the door card off, just open the door. There's a Torx headed screw that goes through the door into the back of the handle. Remove that and slide the handle back and it pulls out. With it partially out you can disconnect the rod that connects it to the latch.

It's in RAVE under Chassis and Body, Repair, Outside Handle - Rear Door. That tells you to take the door card off but that is only if you want to replace the gaskets behind the handle, if you just want to take the handle off, there is no need.

The bit you want from Rave are these 4 pages
Rave Extract

If you pm me your email, I can email it across directly if you want. Its section 76 Chassis and Body that you want.

I've no idea what fold drilling pin out means, I suspect its a typo/autocorrect sabotage. (Maybe fold should have said folk?)

I know when I changed the rear door locks on the Disco 2, you had to take the upper window frame out to do it. I've no idea if the p38 is the same as I've not got one here to look at.

You have to take the window frame out if you want to remove the latch, but if you just want to swap the outer door handles all you need do is open the door.

Hi guys, thank you so much for your help.

Yes, all I want to do is fit new door handles because the old one are almost white !! I just want to improve the look of the vehicle.

I will have a look at the manual as well. I thought that the door card had to be removed to replace the rear handles.

I am presuming, having read a lot of posts, websites, etc. that I need to take off the front door cards, particularly the passenger side door, to fit a new handle ? I have read the threads here and on "The Other" website and I know that there is quite a bit involved in repairing the drivers' side handle. I have bought a new spring repair kit [as per the "sticky" on this forum] but it looks like I may have to repaint the handle rather than trying to replace the handle.

Anyway, I will be happy to replace the rear handle first, before I do the front passenger handle.

Thanks, again.

Pierre3.

On the other side some of them need to ask for advice before changing a light bulb so can make everything seem difficult. Repairing the handle is a bit fiddly but there's a sticky on here (https://rangerovers.pub/topic/360-stiff-door-handles-solved-and-painless) on how to do it. For the front's, you can take the handles off without removing the door cards. Once you've taken the Torx screw out, you need to slide it back to release it, pull it out as far as it will come, disconnect the rod from the lock (on the drivers side anyway), then pull it out further and rotate to release the rod for the handle.

Good news, and thanks to everyone for helping.

I changed the two rear handles, and the front passenger handle, this afternoon. It took about two and a half hours to do them all, but a couple of problems cropped up.

The rear handles, as advised, were very easy to replace, and took about 40 minutes to do both. Unfortunately, I can't do a copy and paste to put a picture here, but the handles that I needed for a 2001 P38 have a small arm sticking straight out from the back of the handle, and a pair of long nosed pliers are needed to pop the lock mechanism arm off the arm on the back of the handle, and then just squeeze the lock mechanism arm back onto the new handle. As I was advised - easy peasy.

The front passenger handle was a little more difficult, but not much. The only thing was, I did need to remove the door card because the lock mechanism release arm has a "Z" bend head and I could not get it free from the mechanism on the rear of the door handle. I took off the door card and then I could see the release arm connected to the main lock mechanism, in the door, using an orange plastic clip. This just popped off by putting my hand inside the door, and then the handle could be removed.

The only thing was that the new handle didn't have a spacer that is fitted to the screw hole on the handle, and I had to persuade it out of the old door handle. And finally, the threading inside the handle hadn't been fully threaded in the factory, so it had to be tapped so that I could screw the fixing screw in fully. A bit annoying, but nothing difficult.

Fortunately, I had only one clip break on the back of the door cards - one on the top of the passenger front door, up beside the locking button, where there is a metal clip on the door card, broke as I was trying to get the metal clip inside the door frame, but I don't think that it will make any real difference as the panel is held firmly with the metal clip.

So all that I need to do now is fit the spring repair kit to the drivers' door. I think that after I fit the spring repair kit I will have to paint the door handle, because I don't want the hassle of buying new key fobs and then having issues with the metal keys being different etc. etc.

It is probably not possible - but could I take the existing handle apart and just replace the actual pull handle part ? One of my old ones is still pretty good as far as the colour is concerned but would it be possible to split the handle and put the good one in place of the discoloured one ?

Pierre3.

Yes, you can split the handles.

When you remove the spring return cam bit (that gets replaced in the kit) you can then remove the rest of the handle from the back part, where it's usually held captive by the cam/spring return part.

Hard to explain in some ways - but yes, it's possible - I've done it a number of times when one part has been more worn that the other - just required a new cam/spring return/roll pin on reassembly

Hi Marty, good to hear from you.

I will take out the handle next week, and have a look at it. It probably makes sense to try to disassemble the old handle that I took off the car first, just to ensure that I can get the pull handle part out cleanly, and without too much fuss.

Pierre3.

One question that I have - I am presuming that the front door, driver's side, handle and lock barrel are totally separate from the remote fob motor, with the exception of the rods attached to the handle.

If one bought a new drivers' door handle then only the key itself would be different from all te other keys, but the fobs would remain the same ? I was considering just buying a new handle and using a new barrel and key, and keep the new key blade in a "safe" place, just in case of emergency. I think I am right in saying that the only time I would need it would be to do the programming of the key fob ? But would it work ?

Does the BeCM just need the door key barrel send the same code [left turns and right turns] and the BeCM recognises the code regardless of the type of key in the barrel ?

Maybe it would be easier to do this rather than try to change the lock barrels from an old handle into a new barrel ?

Pierre3.

The lock barrels are easy enough to replace. They are held into the handle with a single roll pin.

Either drill out the old roll pin, swap the lock barrel over and fit another pin, or do what I've had to do a couple of times and cur the corner tab off the lock barrel where the roll pin goes through to be able to release the lock barrel. On reassembly, I've then carefully drilled another hole and put a small fine thread screw in to secure the barrel to stop it from twisting out.

I personally would go the route of swapping the lock barrel, rather than having a different key blade for the door vs the ignition etc.

In answer to your question though - the remote fob would still work as it's coded to the BECM, there's nothing electronic in the locks/doors etc other than the microswitches in the door latch.

EDIT If you're going to the trouble of buying a NEW door handle/lock - then you should be able to order one from Land Rover, to your VIN number and it will come with the door lock etc which is coded to your vehicle and existing keys. It might be worth at least giving LR a call and seeing what price a new door handle/lock barrel is for your vehicle vs the cost of even a second hand one off eBay, and then the time to faff about with it.

Marty, thanks for your comprehensive reply. It would make sense to order a new driver's side handle with the barrel, if LR still do them matched to the VIN.

As I have always had a good relationship with Rimmers I will email them first, and see what they say.

Pierre3.

No longer available. I tried to get one a couple of months ago

Thanks for the information. I have emailed Rimmers so I may as well just wait for them to come back to me, with the same news. Pity, I would liked to have got all four door handles the same.

It looks like I am back to the two options - [1] paint the existing handle, or [2] follow MartyUK's explanation and take the handle apart and fit the best of the old pull part of the handles that I have already replaced. One is quite good so if I can swap the pull section of the handles over it probably won't really be noticed.

I have to fit the well-known spring repair kit so I will have a look when I take out the existing door handle.

Pierre3.