Something broken under door controls...

[slipkid]

Can anyone point me in the right totally newbie direction for taking a door apart to see what's going on with my driver side door controls? I've read some threads on similar problems but I need to go back to the ground zero basics, namely, how do I take the inside panel stuff off/out right?

My problem is that the panel piece with all the window controls/doorlocks doesn't sit right anymore, it is barely staying where it should, something that holds it in place inside the door must be broken (??). I don't have a clue how to take any of this apart and don't want to just start blind and break something (which is what I usually end up doing)...thanks.

 

[PieEyedPiper]

I'm positive there's a vFAQ on this. Maybe the window rattle fix article?
Anyways, it's very simple.

1. Take your driver's side door
2. Remove the six screws holding in the outer portion of the door panel with a Philips screwdriver
3. Don't forget the screw under the cap in the arm rest pocket, nor the screw hiding behind the door lever. Remove the door lever shroud.
4. Carefully detach the clips along the top, bottom and sides of the door panel. You'll regret loosing them if you do. Take it slow the first time so one doesn't go flying across the garage. Some force is necessary.
5. Be even more careful, because now the control box with all your window and lock buttons will still be bolted to the door panel and still be wired into the harness going through the door itself. Pull back the panel some to see and then squeeze the clip on the underside of the control box and detach the harness.
6. Observe mounting of control box and devise method of repair.

http://www.dsmtuners.com/forums/articles-miscellaneous/57412-fix-2g-window-rattle.html
http://www.dsmtalk.com/forums/showthread.php?t=86996
http://www.rmdsm.org/forums/showthread.php?15537-2G-window-rattle-fix-FINAL
http://www.dsmtalk.com/forums/showthread.php?t=90915

 

[slipkid]

Thanks very much for that info. Wow....I've had that window rattle problem they mention for years and years now.

The panel being loose and screwing up my using the windows up/down button is new as of today though. Quite the PITA. Something broke in there when I was pressing the buttons to roll the windows down.

 

[LiquidX]

Did the buttons seem to drop lower? It's pretty common from what I've seen that the control box will break away from its 4 mounting points in some now fragile plastic.

Assuming that's the problem, what I did was build up some globs of JB Weld or your preferred epoxy, put the screw in the epoxy (without the control box), put some more epoxy on to fill and thicken any gaps. When it dries, carefully unscrew the screw and you now have a new mounting hole.

 

[slipkid]

Did the buttons seem to drop lower? It's pretty common from what I've seen that the control box will break away from its 4 mounting points in some now fragile plastic.

Assuming that's the problem, what I did was build up some globs of JB Weld or your preferred epoxy, put the screw in the epoxy (without the control box), put some more epoxy on to fill and thicken any gaps. When it dries, carefully unscrew the screw and you now have a new mounting hole.

Thanks, yeah that is what happened. The buttons dropped down.

I was rolling down the windows and everything stopped, the window lock button turned itself on I guess & I couldn't do anything. Had to futz around with the buttons to unlock the window lock, then the buttons for the windows actually came off in my hands trying to roll the windows up! I can now manually press the "stubs" underneath the knobs that came off to raise/lower the windows, but whatever they are mounted in, it seems like the whole thing is not mounted solid anymore. Something in there broke.

 

[slipkid]

Hey guys. Followup question to this old thread....

The problem above was fixed back in 2011, I just had it fixed by the place that got the part for me.

However now 3 years later, something similar has happened to the OTHER door. The piece with the buttons on it has completely fallen apart and has dropped down inside the door. The damn thing has even turned on the factory installed alarm every time I open the door (I guess the doorlock button keeps pressing itself or something). To temporarily get around the alarm constantly going off I have removed the fuse marked "theft alarm and theft alarm relay". Side effect of that is now the horn does not work at all but that is better than it constantly going off.

Anyways, my question - I bought a new part to replace the inside panel that the buttons attach to. Do I need to take the whole door panel off to get the old one out and then reattach the buttons to the new piece? Or can the old one be removed and new one installed without doing that?

Thanks.

 

[dizily555]

You will need to remove the door pannel. There is no way to get the box out because where the box is supposed to be fixed is bigger than the hole. The first post gave perfect step by step instructions that should easily guide you.
Hope this helps!

 

[slipkid]

Thanks. I was confused about that because I asked the place where I got the part (who did the fix on the drivers door a few years before) if I needed to remove the door panel first and they said something like "no, you can just take the old piece out with the door intact". Sigh...

 

[slipkid]

Got this done today. Thanks for the tips.

If you know what you're doing it probably takes like 15-20 minutes. Me, it took 4 hours. You do have to take the door panel off. Once you have the panel off, I found it easier to just take it inside my house & wrestle with it in there out of the hot sun. Note that my window/doorlock control box had completely fallen off inside the door, so to get the panel off I didn't have to be careful of not pulling that with it, I left it hanging there for now.

There about 15-20 screws/connections to undo to get the broken armpiece part out, including the vent pieces that are attached to both the door and the armpiece. You also have to remove the metal bracket that is reinforcing it underneath, and remember to also remove that thing from the replacement part before trying to get it back in the door panel.

The hardest part was probably wrestling with the replacement armpiece, trying to get it back in the door panel correctly. Everything is totally cheap/crap plastic, and easy to break things. It took me a lot of futzing to get it in right, although part of that struggle was that my new part had the metal bracket attached to it, and I didn't think to take that off before trying to put the armpiece in. DUH!

Once that was in place I then went back outside and detached the door/window button box from its electronic wire assembly, brought that inside, attached it to that new part which was now part of my door panel, just screws into the cheap plastic. Then it was pretty simple to put the door panel back on, remembering to reattach the electronic hookup before fully popping the panel back on. I'm pretty dumb about this stuff & I could have easily forgotten to do that!

While I was at it I cleaned up as much of the horrible black tar gunk that has been leaking out all over the bottom of my door for the last 10 years as best I could. That stuff is nasty. Thanks Mitsubishi for cutting so many corners and using such utter junk on our cars. I'm hoping that the new piece/door buttons lasts at least another year or two, although by then I bet my door handle breaks again (both door handles have broken like twice over the last 10 years).