99 Rx300

[Eric95TT]

hello,

my wife's RX300's rear hatch handle just broke. Apparently she tried to open it and heard a snap and now the hatch will not open. Can anyone point me in the right direction to find the repair and/or part numbers.

thanks in advance

[Eric95TT]

broken plastic piece in the back of the handle.

[cduluk]

broken plastic piece in the back of the handle.

Can you gain access to the tailgate area via climbing over the rear seats? You can remove the panels on the inside of the tailgate (they're held on with clips, so just pry and pull out) and gain access to the latch mechanism from the inside. Maybe you could play with it a little and get it open, then do some surgery to find the broken part.

[SRX]

hello,

my wife's RX300's rear hatch handle just broke. Apparently she tried to open it and heard a snap and now the hatch will not open. Can anyone point me in the right direction to find the repair and/or part numbers.

thanks in advance

I replaced the rear hatch handle in my 2000 RX and listed a detailed "how to" post September 12, 2009 titled "How to Replace a Rear Hatch Handle In a 2000 RX300". Search for this post by title. I'll also place a copy of my instruction in this reply.

I recently posted a question asking advice on replacing the rear hatch handle on my 2000 RX300. To those of you who responded or read the post, I thank you. I finished replacing the broken handle this morning. Here are the directions in case you have this problem.

Since the rear hatch would not open, the repairs were initiated from inside the vehicle.

Remove the privacy shield over the rear luggage area and fold down the seats.

Pull the carpeted panel off the lower hatch (held in place by 5 nylon fasteners). Working from the lower corners of the carpeted panel worked well.

Pull the top plastic panel off the hatch (held in place by 12 nylon fasteners). Again, working from the lower corners worked well. Put both panels out of the vehicle to give you more room to work

I continued to work from inside the vehicle, but if you prefer, you could pull the hatch release mechanism at this point to open the hatch and work on the replacement while standing.

Next, remove the two bolts (10 mm) holding the rear hatch key lock in place using care not to drop the bolts inside the hatch. No need to release any of the wiring for the lock.

Dealerships refer to the painted panel above the license plate which the lock fits into on the outside of the hatch door as a garnish. I was told the garnish is frequently broken in the process of removing it and the part costs $218.00 to replace. In my experience, it is difficult to imagine this garnish would ever be broken unless the person doing the repair is extremely rough and impatient.

Next, remove the three (10 mm) nuts holding the garnish in place. One of these nuts in partially hidden behind the rear wiper assembly, but can be removed using an open end wrench without removing the windshield wiper mechanism.

You will notice two white nylon clips which also hold the garnish in place. By compressing the "wings" of these clips with a flat blade screwdriver and pushing the clops out, the garnish will come free. You might consider asking a person to hold the garnish from outside the vehicle as it falls free. There is a license plate lamp wire attached to the garnish, so it will not fall to the ground, but rather dangle by this wire.

Now that the garnish is free, turn it over and remove the two rubber washers holding the door lock to the garnish. The replacement part is #69023-48010 and cost me $84.50 with tax. Check a couple dealerships ... another wanted $101.20 for the same part. Put the new door handle in place and begin to reverse your process to complete your job.

Took me about an hour and a half to complete the repair, including running to pick up the new part. Hope this is helpful to some of you in the future. I am certain the repair is similar on all older model RX's and maybe even the newer ones. Didn't tear apart my 2005 RX to compare.

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