I do not have keyless entry and one night I went out to get into the truck and the key would not turn. It would barely move and I could see the pull tab inside just barely going up but not enough to unlock it. So after some searching and not finding a lot I decided to just tear it apart and see what was up.
First pop the tweeter cover off. It has a hook on the bottom and you can see the round plug that goes in the hole. Once you pop it out of the hole you just lean it back like in the pic and lift it out.
Then pop the armrest off. It's just the two metal clips that you have to pry out.
Then pry up the window switch control. It just pops out at the front end. Take the front electrical plug out and swing it up and pull out. Then take out the electrical plug on the bottom end.
Then take out the two screws on the side of the grab handle. There's also one screw in the door release handle. I took the release handle off before removing the panel. Some people have said to "stick it through the hole in the panel" type of thing. I thought the amount of twisting I was putting on it to do that was a little too much for 14 year old plastic.
There are two plastic interior plugs that need to come out also. I did not take a pic of them in the door panel but here they are along with the part numbers. One is near the front of the door by the dash and the other is at the back end of the door facing the back end.
Here's a pic of the door release handle after I took the panel off just to give you an idea of the linkage.
Then the fun part. Popping off the panel. There's about 8 plastic clips/plugs that hold it on. I just went around with a screwdriver and popped them all off. As you can see in the pic (circled in red), one of the clips broke off mount and all. Not too sure if I did that or if it was already broken but oh well, the panel still fits as tight as it did before.
This is what you see once you've got the panel off.
Looking at the lock mechanism, my yellow lock tab had come off just like so many others have had happen. The rod on mine never came out though so I never lost function of the outside handle.
So after unclipping the yellow and pink lock tabs and pulling the rods out, all it takes is a 10mm socket with an extension and two bolts holding the lock mechanism on the door. Pulled the lock part out which is held in by a metal spring clip and took the lock and a new key I got made off the VIN by the dealer to a locksmith. Dealer charges were $10 for the new key and plastic plugs. Locksmith charge was $25. So for $35 and a couple hours of my time I'm sure I saved a bunch!
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