Discovered one day my drivers side rear door wouldn't open. Searching through here, I was lucky to find the tip about leaning into the door while lifting the handle and I was able to get it open. Pulled the panel and found nothing broken or disconnected. Could this just be a case where the handle itself is just worn out? I can see when I lift the handle, there's a lot of travel up the long slot the linkage slides through, but no obvious way to adjust it. It was getting dark so I didn't remove the handle. If I take the handle out, will the problem become obvious? It takes so much force on the handle to open the door that I'm sure it's going to break anyway. Using the inside handle is almost as bad, but I can see better (earlier) movement in that slot under the outside handle. Thanks!

Wanted to post a follow up. I ended up taking the door amount and removing the handle but found no obvious problems with anything. I ended up spraying penetrating lube on all the mechanisms and removed the door latch and sprayed that as well: Problem solved. Anyone else out the that has this problem might want to try that first. When the latch is removed you can reach most of the internal linkages too.

I have found your particular problem solved by simply adjusting the door "catch'. It may be the door jam stud is in or out too far.

See Art Bernstein's pictorial guide to 240 door handle maladies at:

Some Notes on Door Handle Repair

It usually just takes some fiddling around to make them work properly. Just deal with it before you do break the handle and have to go find a replacement.

John

Thanks to all. I found Art's guide after I posted this. I'm also thinking it's one of the pivot points that is gone. I tried adjusting the latch post on the body all the way out hoping it was just adjusted to close too tight, but it still takes the strength of a gorilla lifting up on the handle to open the door. If I hadn't read in here about leaning into the door while lifting the handle, it would still be stuck closed.

Actually there is an easy way to adjust that link from the outer handle to the latch assembly. The top of the rod is threaded and the cross pin can be screwed up or down. 240 door handles are notorious for failure at one of the pivot points of the outer handle. When that happens it takes more stroke to get the door open. My money would be on a handle repair/replacement in your future. Lubricate the door latch assembly too. -- Dave