After reading most of this thread, I am left w questions.

Is is then fair to say the door handle will likely fail unless water is never allowed in or around the handle?
And/or is the handle also inherently weak and prone to breakage?
Is there any way to add some "water resistance" inside the handle area?

Rob

 

Not really about "to be able to pay", more like how to get the thing better than guys at Toyota
And the differnce of approx. $700 for an OEM part from YoshiParts and replacing the handle myself (with other two hands of my friend) to OEM pricing at Lexus of $3400 + labor, well the result is obvious

 

Water will not likely to be the cause of striped teeths on the cog wheels... Just handle the door handle gently (my routine is to touch the front of the handle, then pull it just enough to open slightly and after that I grab the corner just behind the glass and open fully) and don't let kids to pull it like the locked doors could be opened

The inner mechanics with the motor has some weather seal already, so unless tampered or jet sprayed it should keep the water away

 

Thank you for that info. Will use your to routine. Easy does it.
Btw, hats off to you for tackling this replacement. I know I couldn't do it w 5 friends.

Rob

 

Have we concluded it is better to use the key fob to lock the door bc pushing the handle gently to activate the lock is a possible cause to strip gear teeth?

 

I've pushed on my door handle to open it only a handful of times and I still got a broken door handle.

 

Nope. The servo/actuator is the mechanism that failed. Pushing the door handle is just activating the actuator to pop the handle out so you can open the latch. No difference in using a fob key to activate it.
I just chalk it up to something that can fail on this vehicle and have the fund saved aside to replace when the time comes.
I’ve been using keycard exclusively and not plan on changing to fob.

 

exactly correct, it is the actuator that goes out on these ; both of mine went and were replaced under warranty
cars get rained on, making it immaterial to the problem

 

I've had my LC 5 years. It has never been driven in any wet weather. No issues yet with either door handle.

 

precisely ! rain has absolutely nothing to do with the probelm