[bpsmicro]

2000 Sienna XLE without power sliders but with power locks. The outside door handle on the left slider has been repaired once (small crack), but this time somebody (though, of course, everybody denies it) must have decided the door was "stuck" and ripped the entire door handle off. It's in several pieces now.

In theory, I could probably bend over and try to get a new door handle and replace it, but while I was removing the remnants of the old handle and taping up the holes (to prevent water getting inside the door for now), I noticed something else a bit weird, I can't open the door at all now!

The handle basically attaches to a cable, the other end of which goes down into the mechanism. I'd assumed that if I just pulled on the end of the cable a bit, the door would open for me, but it won't. The inside button doesn't do anything either. As near as I can tell the actual locking mechanism is locking/unlocking (I can see the parts moving in response). There's no rust or anything, so I'd almost suspect there's some sort of "interlock" that's preventing me from opening the door unless I do something specific.

If I knew that just buying a new handle and installing it (which may itself be a neat trick if I can't open the door to get the inside panels off), I wouldn't worry too much, but the van has 315000km on it so it's at that stage of its life where we have to make the old "fix or replace" decision. If there's something else broken in the locking mechanism, I'd expect it to cost a fortune to replace the parts, and may push it over the threshold.

Any thoughts?
Brad.