Door Handle Removal

Citroen C3 Rear Door Handle removal instructions.

Firstly remove the door panel by following the instruction on this page: Citroen C3 door interior panel removal 2002-2009


From the outside of the car remove the decorative cap by the handle and drill out the steel rivets if you want to put the whole assembly on the bench. It is not absolutely necessary, but you can get a much better view of what you are doing with the whole thing removed from the car as I have done to take these pictures.




Remove the white moisture barrier from inside the car to gain access to the lock parts.
(cut with a sharp knife and you can use gaffer tape to join it back together on reassembly)

You need to release the handle from the lock by sliding the white lever along its shaft, towards you.

These pictures show the handle and the white lever off the car for clarity as access and visibility when fitted in the car, is poor.
Door handle engaged with the white operating lever.
White operating lever has been moved (notice the gap has gone) and the handle is now disengaged.

There is a small groove in the white shaft and a black peg on the body, rotate the white shaft to align the groove with the peg to allow the white shaft to move along its shaft.

The handle can now be pulled from the outside of the car to release part of it.


The other part of the handle is just push fitted and needs a jiggle and pull to disengage it from the pivot point.
This is what it looks like out of the car: That's it, handle is off.


If you need to fit a new handle, then you can try this: C3 Door Door Handle (here, on eBay). Used ones come in the right colour, but new parts may need spraying to colour match.

If you need to replace the rivets that were drilled out, I have used some Aluminium Pop Rivets 4mm x 16mm that I found on eBay (here)

How easy does the lock cylinder come out?
The cylinder on my car is somewhat broken (it works once every 20 tries - if I am lucky) so I want to order a new genuine one and replace it. Is it all mechanical or is some key fob coding/decoding going on at the same time?
PS. What about the lock cylinder on the gas filling cap? Can I disassemble it or must I buy new gas cap unit.

jakasi2 wrote:How easy does the lock cylinder come out?

If you follow all the guides to removing the lock carrier, then the lock cylinder is quite easy to remove.

jakasi2 wrote:Is it all mechanical or is some key fob coding/decoding going on at the same time?

The lock cylinder is purely mechanical. If you have central remote locking and immobiliser chips in the fob, you will need to use your original fob and a new blade cut to the locks.

jakasi2 wrote:The cylinder on my car is somewhat broken (it works once every 20 tries - if I am lucky)

I guess you don't have remote central locking then. Maybe you just have an immobiliser chip, you will need to keep this and match it with the correct blade.

Door lock from a Citroen C3.

Available here, new part with key on Amazon.