8th August, 2001 - I had the same problem while on holiday. Initial stipdown and diagnosis was in a shopping centre car park, for which I received very strange looks from the locals, and one woman asked me if it was my car !! :-)) (When was the last time a potential car theif took an hour to repair a car before stealing it ?)
Procdedure:
1 Open door (from inside, as the handle on the outside is broken !) :-)
2 At the trailing edge of the door there is a small cross head bolt, remove this.
3 The door handle then slides towards the front of the car about 1cm. (It can be very tight, and may need a stout smack with the base of the hand at the rear of the handle to move it.)
4 Ease the handle out of the door to check the problem. On my handle, the actuator arm that pivots down to uncatch the door had one of the lugs snapped off. This prevented the arm from pivoting properly, thus uncatching the door.
5 To remove the handle, you need to unclip a small plastic collar from around the actuator arm. This is buried inside the door, and is a bitch to get at, as you cannot access this part from the inside, to unhook it, use long screwdriver throuh the rearmost outside door handle hole. Next remove the central locking microswitch from arounf the rear of the lock. Note for later: Remove the interior door trim, and unclip, unbolt (2 bolts) and remove central locking motor, as these get in the way of light entering the door, so you can see what you are doing. A small torch is also useful for reconnection, which is an even bigger bitch to do (more later).
6 If you have the Porsche script door handles, get the older (and cheaper) plain handle used, and remove the good arm and rebuild your's with parts from the inside of the used donor. (The handles are not interchangable with Audi/VW items (I tried Polo and Audi 100 types), as the actuator arm works differently, though externally, the handles look the same.) Non-script handles are £45 used, the script ones are about £65 from PH Sportscars, if you can actually find an offside one one ! The broken actuator arm can be removed from the duff handle by taping out an expanding spring pin, that holds it in place. Clean up the replacement actuator arm with WD40, and swap them over. Be sure to lightly grease the arm before fitting and ideally, on the rest of the mechanism, use a lock lubricant.
7 Refit the door handle. To reconnect the plastic collar to the door catch mechanism is only do-able with patients, and much swearing. It can be done, just percevere ! To borrow a much over used saying "refitting is the reverse of removal". Use a narrow long bladed screwdriver, and twiddle the handle to get it into place. Snapping on the tight fitting plastic collar with the screwdriver blade, 5cm within the door. The only access to this part is though the hole which the handle fits, and the bolt hole unside the door. I used wire around the replaced arm to help position it, and forced it over the door mechanism nipple using the screwdriver.
8 Check the action of the handle before re-attaching the central locking motor and door trim, et voila !
9 Go and have a beer, you deserve it ! Cheers, Rob H.

8th August, 2001 - One area to take great care over: If you are swapping the lock mechanism into a new handle in order to keep the same key you will need to undo the small cross head screw which fixes the lock actuator to the tumbler section. Try to hold all of the parts in place as you do this and then note the sequence they come apart in as there is also a return spring for the lock and a microswitch for the central locking. As you remove the lock cylinder itself take care not to let the tumblers drop out ( if this section is well greased this usually holds them in, but they are spring loaded) as they need to be kept in the same order for the key to work.
The dust plate with the spring cover is last item to remove and this has a fine gasket fitted around a lip on its back edge. you need to check thst this comes away with the cover as it often gets stuck in the handle. If it is not replaced it will allow water and dirt into the lock mechanism.
Once again refitting is the reverse etc. Incidentally, the operation is much easier with the interior door trim removed and I have found that the easiest way to re-attach the nylon actuator arm is to hold it up level with the round tab using a screwdriver through he aprerture in the internal doorskin and then snap it into place using a long flat bladed driver from above through the window aperture. - Just had a thought though, I have a cab and so do not have a window frame to worry about, I don't know if the frame may prevent access from above. Hope this helps. Tim

8th August, 2001 - Rob, I am glad there is no short cut, I would have hated to have wasted all those hours. I did however find that by undoing the catch locating mechanism on the side of the door the internal bit could be raised up level with the door handle hole in the door skin, then the plastic ball and socket bit can be pushed together before re-fitting the handle. Even so it is a B of a job. I will try again tonight to see if I can do it in under 1 hour! Damian A

8th August, 2001 - A friend of mine told me about oiling locks. THe gist of it was: Don't use WD40, unless it unavoidable. WD40 tends to disolve any grease that remains, and that's where the trouble starts. You are better off using a light oil, or lock lubricant, as oil picks up dirt ans dust, and has an abrasive effect on a lock mechanism. Cheers, Rob H.

8th August, 2001 - The handles on my S2 were stiff when I bought it - it is quiet easy to loosen them up by spraying WD40 in through where the key goes. - This loosens them up very well and I have only had to repeat the operation once in nearly 4 years of ownership. The handle is reasonably easy to remove I seem to remember by undoing the large screw just inside the door opening, gently ease the handle out and disconnecting the central locking wires. The handles are I think pressed together but the lock should come out so at least you should be able to keep the same key. The handles are (or certainly were) VW sourced as a mk2 golf gti I used to own had the same handles - it may be worth approaching VW / Audi as opposed to an OPC if you go the new route? Hope this helps Best Regards Ivan R

8th August, 2001 - Just in case you decide to fit the same handle try euro car parts search VW Golf MK11 Handle is £8.99 + VAT No Porsche listing. I will not tell if you don't Insert is £3.30 Gasket is 43p Tony H

8th August, 2001 - The Porsche script handles are no longer available, and the non-script ones are £100 + VAT new. That's why I rebuilt my script handle. Rob H

8th August, 2001 - I had my drivers side handle replaced a few months ago by my local specialist. They claim to use original Porsche parts (sourced from AFN Guildford) and the new handle has no Porsche script on it, unlike the original passenger side item. My friend's 1989 S2 door handles have no script either. Did Porsche stop stamping them after a certain year? Kevin J - '87 944S

8th August, 2001 - the spring has failed on the passenger door handle on my 86 944 Lux, resulting in the passenger having to dig the catch out of the recess before the door will close properly. I had a look at door handles at the rather small autojumble at Highclere, they are stamped together, so you have to replace the whole thing, rather than just part of the handle. That has made me decide to replace with new, rather than risk the same thing happening again. Hope this is of some help -Ed O

8th August, 2001 - I now have the ultimate security on my car as the outside release handle snapped off this morning when trying to open the drivers door! It can now only be opened from the inside!
My door release was getting progressively stiffer and requiring a lot of effort to open the door. I was planning to investigate this evening, when the handle snapped off (this is the release catch inside the outside door handle). The door opens fine from the inside. As I have now got to remove the door handle assembly, has anybody else had any experiences of removing the door handles? Regards, Andrew S