Didn't see your pic. Before that I found a pic of a used handle and gave it a go. What a pleasant update to write. It just took removing the grommets to see that the metal rod is not connected to clip. Removed the handle, wrestled a bit with the rod, reattached it and now it works flawlessly. Thanks for your support
I was already in the process of buying a used lock and handle. There's still some noise when driving (like a cable touching a glass) but I'll inspect it (again) in a more distant future. Thanks again everyone!