My E150 van has bowden cable that operate the latches. This means each door has two of these cables. The plastic colllar that holds it at the latch ages and breaks and then you can't open the darn doors. I have done some jury rigging but at witts end. I can't buy the bowden cables only at Ford but instead I have to buy the cable and the door handle and latches. Prices range around $150 for each door and my van has 6 doors. Obviously no sense going to dump since the cable plastic pieces would be more like aged and bad. Any help?

 

Had the same problem with a door I got at the bone yard to mount my A/C in.



Very frustrating.

I made some replacements out of aluminum; not pretty but they work.

Do you have all the old plastic parts?

 

I didn't describe the part that failed correctly. These cables that run between the door handle and the door latch have a very small piece of plastic that holds them into place on both ends.

 

That's the one I'm talking about...

fits over the cable on one end and into a 'holder' on the other end -- the cable runs thru it. It keeps the cable housing stationary while the inside 'wire' moves.

Do you have the pieces?

 

The pieces came apart and dropped to the bottom. But I went down today
and bought the repair parts for one door $59. It came with new latch and two of those cables. Some of the other doors have more hardware and run around $100. Maybe I can get my engr skills and figure out how to do what you did now that I know what it look like...Thanks..seems a shame that this little part fails. Probably vans all over america with the problem

 

You might try a bicycle shop?

 

That is a good idea....might be able to grinde that down to fit...thanks.

 

This is a cheap and easy fix... once you get the cables out of the door that is

 

Thanks for the reply sadly our 1994 Van has a blown head gasket and now
it sits. Going to give it away....we lived with those doors for years putting on one bandade after another.