Removing door panel for window fix

[Raque Thomas]

I'm finally going to have to break down and tear into my doors for the dreaded window fix this weekend. Can anyone give me the skinny on the easiest way to remove the door panels without tearing anything up?

[etlsport]

youll need a small flathead screwdriver, and a normal sized phillips head screw driver and maybe a door trim panel remover to make life easier ($6 at advanced auto), start up at the tweeter pod, insert the smalls flathead into the slot under the little 'door' on it, push down on the back of the screwdriver (lifting the tip up under the door, that should push up the little plastic piece inside up, so you dont break it (i broke both my doors before i figured that out), once you take the screw out from behind there, slide the pod out along the window

then remove the screw from the release latch, and pull the lever to pop it out of place

using the small screwdriver (carefully!) lift up on the front (towards the dash) of the door handle/window buttons, may take a little force, but i promise, its just 2 pressure clips holding the front, then a tab in the back you just pull out of place once the fronts out

when thats out, there are 4 screws, you only need to remove the two that go into the door (the larger ones i think..)

then just pop the fastners around the outside edge of the door (i start at the bottom outside corner, then work my way up, then once that side is free head towards the speaker)

theres one more fastner towards the door handle, just carefully pry that and then lift up on the entire door panel over the stalk for the lock ontop of the door, turn the door release handle and thread it through the opening

careful not to puncture the vapor barrier! good luck!

[etlsport]

oh yea.. dont forget to disconnect the tweeter wire and the power window switch!

[nfpgasmask]

Hmmmm, this thread made me think. I wonder if it would be proactive to go into my door panel and blast everything with a can of air to clean things up and spray all the moving parts with silicone lube??? Or would this do more harm than good? My window still goes up and down on the passenger side, but it is slow and it does lean forward quite a bit. I sprayed some lube into the channels and that does help for sure, but I was thinking maybe some preventative maintenance here would be a good idea.

Bart

[etlsport]

when i was replacing my speakers in the door and when i was running new wires (seperate occasions because im a dummy) i went ahead and sprayed some silicon in to the channels, only two drawbacks were i had to clean the windows more often because the silicon would show up on the windows, and i sprayed too much and it dripped down and drained out the bottom of the door.. which left runs on my cladding... i dont see how preventative maintence would ever be bad!

one more thing about the door panels.. when you take the tweeter pods off.. make a mark where the top of the door panel is on the metal piece back there... i didnt realize my door panel wasnt sitting all the way down when i put it back on, its a little tricky gettin it to sit all the way down, i ended up breaking a couple of the fastners because i just pushed thinking everything was lined up

[Ldub]

Another thought on the subject...
when I had mine off, the vapor barrier was a bugger to remove without tearing...whatever that goop is that holds it on is some STICK-E stuff.

Anyway, I ended up having to use my old v/b as a template to make a new one out of 4 mil poly...then just used duct tape to re-apply it to the door.

My $.02

[MZ-N10]

its easier to just cut the goop holding the vb with a utlity knife, after ur done just stick it back on and its good as new....

[nfpgasmask]

What the heck is a vapor barrier?

Bart

[Raque Thomas]

Thanks for the info etlsport - I'm going to try it this weekend. I wondered how that black part that houses the window switches came off. Hopefully I can get that part off without marring the plastic!

[etlsport]

i just went out and messed with mine to get a pic.. i managed to pull it off by hand w/o any tools, just started in the corner towards the footwell.. you can see the two clips that hold it in place on the right side in this picture then the tab that goes into the door panel on the left side

[Bulldoggie]

I think it was Nurfzooka that had an exellant link call how to do window lube.

It had great step by step pictures of how to remove the door panel and switches.
I could not find the link today, it might even be on Moncha's home page.
Sorry, I don't remember the link.

[Ldub]

What the heck is a vapor barrier?

Bart

Just a piece of plastic sheeting (film) to stop drafts from coming into the interior.
Probably also called draft stop. I used 4 mil poly, commonly used as vapor barrier behind sheetrock on exterior walls of houses.
That's my story, & I'm stickn' to it !

[etlsport]

yeah, nerfzooka had it... but i havent been able to use any of his links in awhile.. oh well.. rowhards (i think) writeup on how to replace your outside door handle also gives a very good description of how to remove the interior door panel

vapor barrier!

[rowhard]

You might take a look at the article I wrote on:

Outside Door Handle w/not open

You can see it over there on the right under 'How To'

even have pictures

[Raque Thomas]

Thanks guys - the attitudes and assistance offerred on this site are invaluable. Wifey has other plans for me today, but tomorrow is VX day. I'll let you know how it goes.