Well last saturday, armed with printouts from this forum, I worked on accessing the front door handles from the inside.

I got the door skin off, but the internal membrane was difficult, was held on with some sticky stuff and some white clips which would not pull out.

Anyway I managed to access the socket holding the front part of the handle on, and noticed if I unscrewed a 1/8 turn the handle sprung out, and has been ok since. I tried the procedure on the other door, it also worked.

Both handles had to be popped back in almost every time they were used, so I think this is a good fix, but be careful not to loosen the screw any further as it could then become loose.

I also stripped down the tailgate handle / lock, the spring in the handle looks broken, only on end can be seen and i is caked in rust. Also the lock mechanism is seized so I cannot shut the door properly. So a new handle and lock (also a new rear windscreen motor) is required. Have send messages to breakers, no luck yet!

Anyway I plan to get a newer estate this year - does anyone know what is the latest Estate apart from an MPV which was built by Fiat?



Cheers
Rob

That would be the Stilo Multiwagon or Croma depending on how you look at them.


Good work on the handles.

Thanks for the feedback. i have considered a Diesel Stilo mulitwagon but they are just that but smaller than a Marea. However for the money you wil not do better.

Thanks - I will check out the Stilo and Croma.

I won a tailgate handle on ebay last night, so that's less thing to worry about!

cheers - Rob

Ok - just for info if anyone needs to know!

I replaced my tailgate handle, however as the lock was seized I had to leave this out of the job, otherwise nothing would work!

I managed to get a blanking grommet for the rear (Maplins do the 20mm grommets (halfords 19 mm if you have no maplins) you will need to cut the "inside" rubber away and then they fit snug. I have bonded mine in with decent glue to deter water). Obviously it is better to have a boot lock but I have not been able to get one, so this works and allows easy access to the boot via central locking. It seems a luxury now having a boot that locks, opens and closes without any fuss!

Thanks to all for help so far, I hope that I can