I have a 2000 Kia Spectra GS with manual door locks.

Yesterday while opening the front driver's door, I heard a click and felt
the door handle slip a bit. At the time I thought the handle had just
slipped through my fingers and thought nothing else about it.

However, the next time I unlocked the door and tried to open it the handle
wouldn't raise completely and I couldn't open the door. I ended up entering
from the passenger side, unlocking the door and opening it from the inside.
Uugghh!

I've reviewed the www.kiatechinfo.com service manual and belive the problem
may be with the control rod; either it became disconnected or is broken.

Is this a normal occurrence? Is this something I could easliy take care of
myself (take door apart, etc), or should I take it to an authorized service
center for repair?

-farm2001a