LagondaNet

[Arnaud]

Hi,

I received 13280 yesterday, the driver's door and driver's window don't work from the inside so I would like to access to the mechanism.
I'm trying to remove the door trims but can't find any step by step procedure for my 83.
I have already removed the center piece and the little leather part inside the handle but don't know what to do next...Is it screwed inside the door or just cliped? How do we remove the wood ?
Many thanks in advance for your help !

[david]

Hi,

I hope you have small hands!

With the centre piece and leather door handle trim off, there should be a phillips screw going down from the base of the door handle pull into the door, remove this if it is present - if missing, put one back in afterwards.

The panel is held onto the door mainly with four butterfly headed nuts.

There are two at the top, in line with the wood (kind of) and two nearer the base, in each case towards the front and rear of the panel.

If you use a light and mirror you will be able to see them as they are a bit tricky to find without practice.

You will also need to remove the door panel switch pack if the car has this fitted, not sure at what VIN the change was to putting the switches on the centre console.

Once these four nuts are off, the panel will pull away.

if you are un lucky, some kind soul will have lost the butterfly nuts and put normal 10mm headed nuts instead and if this is the case, a small socket and extension is required - quarter drive equipment is best.

I think that's it - no doubt Vincent or Francis (et al!) will soon tell me if I have forgotten anything!

David

[Arnaud]

Many thanks David for your help, I will try this tomorow !
Roger sent me some pictures to illustrate what you describe.
Thanks again to both of you !

[jonc]

I have just been through this today with 13277. David's post was very helpful, and in addition I have a few extra pointers. Its a pretty straightforward job once you know how!

1. I removed the trim piece in the door pull recess first. I levered out the vertical piece at the top of it and it then lifted up and out.

2. The center panel is retained by two clips on the back near the bottom. Once the pull trim is out, you can grab the bottom of it and pull to unclip it.

3. The door pull piece is held in place with two long M6 studs which go through the door panel and are secured with a nut and big washer on the back of the card. The rear one is longer and secures the door card to the door with the wing nut/washer. (this is the bottom rear one of the four) The door pull has to be removed before the switch panel can come out. With the two rear wing nuts removed, the card can be pulled away from the door enough to get at the nut on the rear stud of the door pull.

4. The switch panel needed to be removed to access the front two wing nuts. To get remove it, you need to remove the two self-tappers and also the plastic mounting of the illumination at the bottom. The mirror joysticks need to be loosened to get the panel out. If you want to completely remove the panel, the joysticks can be unscrewed and left on the loom. The joystick toggles need to be removed but just pull off.

5. My hands are not small and it wasn't too difficult once I knew where to find the wing nuts. The window needs to be up to get access thought.

And a couple of pictures which may help:

[jonc]

Having put things back together, I have a couple of things to add.

1. Both the bottom two studs holding the card on are from the door pull. They are supposed to hold the door pull to the card with big washers and regular M6 nuts. They then go on to hold the card to the door, secured with more big washers and the wing nuts.

If your door cards are fixed like this, it alters the removal procedure since the switch panel can't be removed until the door handle is removed from the door card.

Procedure goes like this:

1. remove the panel above the door handle / remove the trim piece in the door pull and the screw. This gives you access to the top rear, bottom rear and bottom front wing nuts.
2. remove the knobs from the mirror joysticks and unscrew the plastic nuts. Push the joysticks back through the switch panel. This now gives you access to the front top wing nut.

Once the panel is off, you can disconnect the switch panel and pull out the panel illumination lamp.

Here is the back of the panel (door pull and switch panel removed). You can see the top two studs and holes for the location of the bottom two:



And yes, one of my wing nuts had been replaced with a regular nut!