98 LSC Door Outside Door Handle Broke, What Interchanges?

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MarkVIIIMarc

New member
It wasn't even a cold day, I guess my He-man strength was just too much for my passenger door handle and it broke.

Playing Mr. Mom on my off days I don't have much time for junkyard trips, but if the rain holds off tomorrow I just might make it!

Even though I'd love to take apart a MarkVIII as a learning experience since over the 6 years I've had the car I have not had to pop off a door panel, they are rare. I suspected and read some Continentals have the same handles. I can go with smart phone pics of mine and compare, but does anyone know what years or models I should be looking for to make the most of my time?

Thanks in advance.
 
S

steve

With "LOD" Since 1997
Try a search on here, lots of info on broken door handles. Typical it is the drivers side.
 
B

Bangster

New member
Front door of Continentals and Mark VIIIs. I always see the one piece handles in the later model Continentals, and always see the two piece (with the bolt on weight) in all Mark VIIIs.

My passenger side broke before my drivers side. I think that even though it gets about 10% of the use of the drivers side, passengers tend to not take the same care as drivers, I know my daughter yanks up on it and slips her hand off it, letting it crash back into place (over emphasized but you know what I mean).

Even though I drive an LSC and it is minimal chrome, I think the chrome Continental handles look great on it, they are a different profile and it looks like the narrow point these break at is not as narrow. I bought most that I could find that were in good shape, and originally put on a silver frost one (color of my car), but found good chrome ones and swapped them.
 
M

MarkVIIIMarc

New member
Agreed in that passengers are less careful. Also over the years I have probably pulled on the passenger side harder. Although I make an effort when the door is stuck to put as much pressure as possible on the window frame as thanks to the board I knew the handles were a weak point. I got a Continental handle from the salvage yard and have painted it black. Probably looks better than the rest of the car lol. Just waiting for some warm days to go install it as I have an Aurora to drive in the snow.
 
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billcu

Head Moderator
I wipe a rag with silicone spray on all the door rubber seals, it keeps them from sticking so tight, especially in the winter.
 
M

MarkVIIIMarc

New member
I have completed the swap.

The most time consuming part was waiting for the right time. Someone besides me had to be watching the kids for a few hours. The Aurora had to be running right, and I had to have a day w/o snow and rain in the event I did not finish. The Mustang gets the garage, no questions asked.

Non-scientifically, the Continental handle feels heavier than my Mark's old one. My Mark also had a seemingly removable weight on the forward end of the handle. The Continental was one piece. If the weight came off re-assembly would have been just a little easier.

The swap took me about 3 hours with 45 minutes of that blown looking for the lock cylinder's C clip I dropped.....

The plastic behind my door light where the long screw goes in was broken when I popped the light off but my door panel is in otherwise good shape so there is a chance more than 8 years and 100,000 miles ago someone else was in there.
 
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