1994 Aerostar XLT 4.0L Extnd Van
I pulled on my door handle at the side sliding door and pulled the front part of the handle right out of it's fitting.
Looks a little complicated and I don't want to mess with it and then can't close the door at all.
Can anyone advise me as to how I can re-fit this back in to work correctly or where would I look for a replacement...???
THANKS and a speedy reply would be appreciated...MDD

 

I had the exact same problem and fixed it today. My side door typically freezes to the rubber door gasket. Apparently moisture likes to get in there and once it goes below 32 outside the rubber and door get stuck together. I was used to the problem but got really mad a few weeks ago and yanked too hard on the door and broke the handle. The good news is that my local Ford dealer had a replacement handle in stock for $20!

Replacing it was not too hard. The toughest part is removing the interior panel. While the screws are easy to remove, the hooks that help hold the panel in place are a real pain to detach without special tools. Since my van is ten years old and past its prime (but still looks decent in general), I just used brute force to tear out those panel hooks. Maybe there's a more civilized technique but I don't know what it is. I only removed the lower panel, which makes removal a bit tricky since the top part underlays the upper panel. But with enough wiggling around you can jimmy it loose. When finished it screws back into place just fine.

Remove any insulator material that might obscure your view of the "underside" of the side door handle, and with a flashlight you can shine a light on the hexnuts holding the bolts on each end of the handle. You can get a socket wrench in there, using an extension, and get those loose. Best to use a little something sticky on the socket so you don't drop the hexnut. In fact, when replacing the new handle, be sure to put a rag in the door a little lower through the holes to catch the replacement hexnuts if they fall off. I lost one inside the door but saved my old ones so no real harm done. Getting the hexnut on the forward bolt is a little tricky, you have to tip the handle at a bit of an angle for it to get threaded properly.

If you pulled out the door's bodywork a bit when yanking on the handle like I did, make sure you bend it back into place before restoring the new handle. I also put a little caulk under it. And to resolve the freezing problem I made sure to clean the inner side of the door and rubbed graphite powder on the rubber gasket, which seems to do the job.

I was happy to solve this problem today. However, now my rear hatch is stuck, the lock clamp jaws won't budge, and I'm at a loss as to how to resolve this, which is what brought me to this site. Hope my solution posted here to the side door is rewarded with same from someone else for the hatch!

 

THANK YOU for your posting. I will call the dealer today and get on it this weekend.

 

I picked up a handle at the local pick-up part for a couple of dollars and I learned how to change it at the same time.

 

i changed mine a few weeks ago not very complicated outside handle 20.00 inside handle 9.95 from Ford

i bigest problem is getting the pannel off
just be patient there are screws hidden in the carpet along the bottem