Need help in determining the cause of the exterior door handles not working. Both the front drivers side and front passenger side cannot be opened from the outside.

Took the panels off, but cannot determined where the problem is.

The handle itself is not busted , just the mechanism that opens it.

 

There should be a rod going to the handle often times in older cars the plastic clips that hold the rod to the handle break i would look at that first if i were you.

 

Remove the panel and raise the window. Peel the plastic weather gaurd out of the way so you can see the mechanism of BOTH the interior and exterior door handles. Both handles eventually work their way to the latch assembly and open the door in the same manner. Try operating the interor handle 1st taking careful note of the rods and how they move from the handle all the way to the latch-one to the next. Then do the same thing with the outside handle comparing it to what you just saw with the inside handle. Hopefully you'll be able to find the problem from that point after making comparisons.