Tailgate door handle broken

[vette eaterr]

HI, I have a 1995 Trans Sport and the rear door handle broke. The black handle that you use to open the door tore out and all I'm able to do now to open the tailgate is to use the key has a handle and I've already gone through 2 keys doing this. I've been looking around and the only thing I can find is everyone wants to sell me the entire rear door for $300. Does anyone know a source for this part. I tried to find someplaces hoping they would have a messed up rear door, such as a wreck, where the door was unsellable and let me get the handle, but that has failed as well.

Thanks
Bob

[knuckle ears]

My handle did the same. I managed to get just the handle and lock cylinder only from an auto wrecker.

In between waiting and finding one I used a flat blade screw driver along side the key when it is inserted. I would turn the screw driver instead of the key. This saved the keys from breaking.

[vette eaterr]

Ya that's what I've been doing, I just broke the keys when I forgot my screwdriver.

[Jeffrv]

The black handle on my 1995 Transport also broke. Door handle and key cylinder are all one assembly, about $85 Canadian from dealer. They installed it, rekeyed lock to existing key, , for about $200 parts and labor. BTW they also advise the door handle is to only operate the latch, NOT to pull open the door, use the hand hole over the licence plate. Apparently, as we have all found out,, the metal in the handle is not strong enough to repeatedly lift the weight of the door, hence the advice..two hands to open the door!

[shaneland]

I hit the local junkyards often and I will look for the key handles. I have replaced both on my 2 silhouettes. The handles breaks from over torquing and lack of lubricant. Keys are not guarenteed to come with it though. But if you have keyless you can just unlock with the remote then open easily.

[canaris]

I replaced mine..I bought from the Pontiac dealer..total cost wiht rekeying..75 dollars....I changed it myself it is fairly easy...once you remove the plastic back cover off the rear hatch...it's all there..very simple...

[dorkdriver2]

Does anyone know how to re-key the new lock for the tailgate? I have the same problem.

[canaris]

The rekeying was done by the pontiac dealer when I bought the rear hatch cylinder.... the guy did it on the spot..it took him 30 seconds...he slipped in the original key and added the corresponding tumblers.

I am sure it won't cost you more than $15 to have it done...

[dorkdriver2]

Thank You!

[Dhood]

Originally Posted by canaris

I replaced mine..I bought from the Pontiac dealer..total cost wiht rekeying..75 dollars....I changed it myself it is fairly easy...once you remove the plastic back cover off the rear hatch...it's all there..very simple...

I just took out the old cylinder and put it in the new latch. We use the remote most of the time anyway.

Don't forget to reinforce the latch inside the door with a silicon adhesive or RTV sealant. When you use the back latch a lot it wants to strip out the hole in the fiberglass. Adding the sealant will make it harder to remove the latch in the future but will save the fiberglass by distributing the torque you put on the latch.

Also, the stock liftgate struts were too small on our 94 pontiac van so I replaced them with larger diameter struts. Now the tailgate practically pops up all by itself, hardly any lifting at all. Got the new struts off a newer van in the junk yard.