Have you replaced the INSIDE of a Toyota door

How hard is it to replace the "guts" of a Toyota door?
Now that it's open, it looks tight in there. Real tight.
I need to replace the door handle, door latch, & power lock.
Should I give up and let the dealership do the work?
Or can it be done by an amateur who needs to save money?

Details:
1998 Toyota 4Runner, power mirror, locks, & windows.
Door panel is (finally) removed & plastic sheeting pulled back.
Two things are obviously broken:
1. Door handle flaps unconnected
2. Power unlock unlocks three doors but not this one

I suspect I need to replace three things:


Using your advice, I finally slim jimmed the Toyota driver side door open
and was able to access the plastic screws covered by the dashboard so I
could pull off the panel (warning: I broke the circular molded "hole" on
the panel near where it meets the dash in the closed position because it's
not a plastic anchor clip like all the rest. If you remove the door panel,
pull the back, top, and bottoms OUT TOWARD THE INSIDE OF THE TRUCK first,
by pulling away from the door body and then SLIDE HORIONTALLY FORWARD the
very last clip at the front of the door panel so you don't break this
molded hole!).

Anyway, I now have the "guts" of the driver-side door bared open.
I pulled away the plastic sheeting and I can easily see the first of the
two problems.

The small yellow plastic bearing on the top of the up/down door opening
lever disintegrated allowing the up/down metal rod to fall down off of the
door handle. That was why the door handle was flapping in the breeze.

I can not see why the power lock/unlock isn't working on that one side. It
wiggles the driver side lock knob ever so slightly when the button is
pressed but there is no real movement. I can see that a white teflon-
looking bushing on the door latch itself where the up/down rod pulls up on
is mashed up a bit too so maybe that's the culprit.

I suspect I need to replace three things:
1. That yellow plastic bushing on the door handle up/down rod
2. The door latch itself which has the mushed white bushing
3. The power lock/unlock mechanism

I'm hoping I don't have to replace the door handle itself (because of the
lock cylinder matching the other doors). I probably can't just get the
bushing so I'll just pull the bushing off whatever other parts I get since
the door handle itself is fine.

However, my question is:
There's precious little space inside that door.
The window up/down guides will have to be removed near the door latch to
replace the latch and regulator. Am I getting myself too deeply into
trouble? Is this an easy R&R or a monster? Have you done this yourself?


Unfortunately, the Chilton "68604 1997-00 Repair Manual" for "Pick-Ups/Land
Cruiser/4Runner" does NOT have any R&R instructions for this operation. :(

Have you replaced the door latch and power unlock mechanism?
Can it be done by an amateur or should I give up & take it to the dealer?

Stu

"Stuart A. Bronstein" <spamtrap@lexregia.com> wrote in message
news:Bi1Lf.51239$dW3.1883@newssvr21.news.prodigy.com...[color=blue]
> How hard is it to replace the "guts" of a Toyota door?
> Now that it's open, it looks tight in there. Real tight.
> I need to replace the door handle, door latch, & power lock.
> Should I give up and let the dealership do the work?
> Or can it be done by an amateur who needs to save money?
>
> Details:
> 1998 Toyota 4Runner, power mirror, locks, & windows.
> Door panel is (finally) removed & plastic sheeting pulled back.
> Two things are obviously broken:
> 1. Door handle flaps unconnected
> 2. Power unlock unlocks three doors but not this one
>
> I suspect I need to replace three things:
>
>
> Using your advice, I finally slim jimmed the Toyota driver side door open
> and was able to access the plastic screws covered by the dashboard so I
> could pull off the panel (warning: I broke the circular molded "hole" on
> the panel near where it meets the dash in the closed position because it's
> not a plastic anchor clip like all the rest. If you remove the door panel,
> pull the back, top, and bottoms OUT TOWARD THE INSIDE OF THE TRUCK first,
> by pulling away from the door body and then SLIDE HORIONTALLY FORWARD the
> very last clip at the front of the door panel so you don't break this
> molded hole!).
>
> Anyway, I now have the "guts" of the driver-side door bared open.
> I pulled away the plastic sheeting and I can easily see the first of the
> two problems.
>
> The small yellow plastic bearing on the top of the up/down door opening
> lever disintegrated allowing the up/down metal rod to fall down off of the
> door handle. That was why the door handle was flapping in the breeze.
>
> I can not see why the power lock/unlock isn't working on that one side. It
> wiggles the driver side lock knob ever so slightly when the button is
> pressed but there is no real movement. I can see that a white teflon-
> looking bushing on the door latch itself where the up/down rod pulls up on
> is mashed up a bit too so maybe that's the culprit.
>[/color]

It's hard to diagnose without actually looking at the door, but FYI:
- the plastic pieces that connect rods and handles are called "clips".
- Disconnect the power door lock actuator from the lock rod and see if the
actuator operates so you will know if it is the actuator or the lock or rod
mechanism.
[color=blue]
> I suspect I need to replace three things:
> 1. That yellow plastic bushing on the door handle up/down rod
> 2. The door latch itself which has the mushed white bushing
> 3. The power lock/unlock mechanism
>
> I'm hoping I don't have to replace the door handle itself (because of the
> lock cylinder matching the other doors). I probably can't just get the
> bushing so I'll just pull the bushing off whatever other parts I get since
> the door handle itself is fine.[/color]

You should be able to remove the lock cylinder from the door handle so if
you replace the handle, you can install the old cylinder so the keys match.
The cylinder is probably held in place with a "C" - shaped spring clip.
[color=blue]
>
> However, my question is:
> There's precious little space inside that door.
> The window up/down guides will have to be removed near the door latch to
> replace the latch and regulator. Am I getting myself too deeply into
> trouble? Is this an easy R&R or a monster? Have you done this yourself?
>
>[/color]

I recommend you wear gloves and long sleeves when reaching inito the door
because the edges of the sheet metal are usually pretty sharp. It is not
THAT difficult to work inside there, it just takes patience and a knack for
looking at puzzles to see how to get stuff in and out. I have worked on the
insides of car doors myself, and it is not that difficult.

If the plastic sheeting tore when pulling it off, use duct tape to repair
the tears.

Good luck!
--

Ray O
(correct punctuation to reply)

Stuart A. Bronstein wrote:[color=blue]
> How hard is it to replace the "guts" of a Toyota door?
> Now that it's open, it looks tight in there. Real tight.
> I need to replace the door handle, door latch, & power lock.
> Should I give up and let the dealership do the work?
> Or can it be done by an amateur who needs to save money?[/color]

For $10, you can get 24 hours of access to the actual documents the
dealership will use from techinfo.toyota.com

The .pdf's can be saved to disk for later if need be. For instance, for
one $10 payment, I was able to grab all related PM documentation for my
Tacoma, print a copy for the garage, and save a copy to CD for later.

I've used the online documentation for a few jobs and found them to be
extremely accurate and complete. Toyota even provides tool and material
lists at the start of each procedure.

I think $10 is reasonable even to occasionaly find that I'd be better
off paying for the work. <G>

B a r r y <keep_it_in_the_newsgroup_please@thankyou.com> wrote in
€news:Wn2Lf.1979$%m4.1395@newssvr33.news.prodigy.com:[color=blue]
> For $10, you can get 24 hours of access to the actual documents the
> dealership will use from techinfo.toyota.com[/color]

I called Toyota 1-800-622-2033 to order a repair manual & wiring manual.
([url]http://techinfo.toyota.com[/url] 1-877-762-7666). Unfortunately they take a
week to arrive so I had to finish the driver door latch & lock assembly
R&R without benefit of the factory manuals.

Anyway, I'm done with that job and I THANK ALL OF YOU for giving me
the courage to proceed. This post below is not for me, it's for the next
doityourselfer who tries this job.

HERE ARE MY MAIN MISTAKES YOU DON'T WANT TO MAKE (sorry for shouting).

MISTAKE #1
When you remove the driver's door panel, the front-most mid-most clip is
not like the rest. I broke mine because I didn't know it was a circular
molded knob which means you MUST slide the door panel flat against the
door toward the front of the car to get that last clip off. All the
other clips are simple anchor expanders (other than the two press clips
you removed first).

MISTAKE #2
When you finally pull the driver's door panel off, you must hold the
panel against the door and slide forward (see mistake #1) and UP.
You slide up to clear the metal tabs which latch onto the top of
the door metal like your fingers would if you were hanging off a thin
metal cliff. When you do this though, there is a small black plastic
clip which falls down. I put the door panel back on without using this
small (1 inch long) black clip because I couldn't figure out where it
really goes.

MISTAKE #3
You must remove the driver's door rearward window track to pull out the
latch mechanism. DO NOT REMOVE THE RUBBER portion of the track!
Just remove the two bolts holding down the steel portion of the window
track. Then pull the track out. If you leave the track in, you
can get the door latch and locking mechanism off, but you can't get it
back on so you may as well remove the latch before removing the door
latch & lock mechanism.

MISTAKE #4
Do NOT wait until the end to screw back on the door pull-up
lock knob! This knob screws on but it's rectangular in a rectangular
slot so if you wait until the end, you can't screw it down all the
way. I had to remove the door panel for a second time in order to put
this knob back on properly.

MISTAKE #5
Same thing with the inside door handle. Don't wait until the
end or you'll have to take the door panel off again like I did. The
Chilton says to remove the white plastic clip on the inside door handle
rod but I didn't need to so I had to initially thread the inside door
handle through the door panel to remove the door panel. It was one of
the last things I did when I took off the door panel and it should have
been one of the first things I did when I put the door panel back on
but I forgot. So make sure you thread the inside door handle through the
cutout for it on the door panel BEFORE putting the door panel back on!

MISTAKE #6
DO NOT put any plastic clips on prematurely! The original problem was
the outside door handle would not unlock the door but the key would.
It turns out the outside door handle has two rods connected to
it via clips. The larger yellow clip holds the open/close rod while the
smaller pink clip holds the keyhole lock/unlock rod. My yellow
open/close rod clip broke off and that is why the door handle would not
unlock the door but the keyhole lock did unlock the door. This yellow
open/close rod clip very often breaks according to the Toyota dealership
(it is a major design flaw). Luckily, they sell the yellow clip for a
few bucks so I bought one. Since I had a few days to go before my door
latch assembly came in, I put the new clip on the old mechanism so that
I'd have the outside door handle work until the new mechanism arrived.
That was a big mistake! You can't get that yellow clip off without
destroying it. I had to go back to the dealership to buy a new clip.
Luckily it was in stock.

I hope that by posting these six mistakes I made today, you won't make
them!

Thanks for all your advice. You gave me the courage to proceed.

Stu

"Ray O" <rokigawa@tristarassociatesDOTcomn> wrote in
news:eaab9$43fca970$44a4a10d$8737@msgid.meganewsservers.com:[color=blue]
> It is not THAT difficult to work inside there, it just takes patience
> and a knack for looking at puzzles to see how to get stuff in and out.
> I have worked on the insides of car doors myself, and it is not that
> difficult.[/color]

Thanks for giving me the courage to attempt the job myself (I wonder how
much I saved in labor)???


So that others are more efficient, here is what I did today.

STEP 1
Remove the one philips head screw holding the inside door unlock
knob to the door metal. Note there are only three screws holding that
door panel on (the rest are metal clips). If you can get the inside
door unlock handle assembly off by sliding it forward, do so. I did not
have to unclip the white clip holding the inside door unlock bar off,
but you may need to remove this clip.

STEP 2
Pry up the arm rest velour which was held on with two metal clips.

STEP 3
Under the arm rest remove two philips head screws. Note there are
no more screws to remove to get the door panel off. The rest are clips.

STEP 4
Remove the one push anchor plastic clip near the front of the door
panel. This push/pull clip is covered by the dashboard when the driver
door is closed so the door must be open (slim jim it if it is locked
shut). Push the pin in and pull the clip off. There are only two of
these clips that come out the front of the panel toward the interior of
the truck.

STEP 5
Remove the one push anchor plastic clip near the rear of the door panel.
This push/pull clip is near the B-pillar. This is the second of the two
clips which come out toward the truck interior. All other clips stay on
the panel.

STEP 6
Lying on your back under the bottom of the door, pry the rearmost
bottommost portion of the door panel an inch off. It is only held on to
the door with a plastic clip. Work your way around the bottom toward the
front of the truck and up the rear side of the door panel prying off the
clips one by one. DO NOT pry off at the centermost frontmost clip as it
is not the same as the rest.

STEP 7
Push the door panel horizontally UP and FORWARD at the same time.
You need to push up to unhook from the top door edge and you need to
push forward to unhook from the one clip that is different.

STEP 8
Now that the door panel is loose, you can force out the inside door
unlock mechanism so it is behind the panel instead of in front of the
door panel. I did not have to unclip it from its white clip holding
the inside door unlock bar, but you might have to.

STEP 9
Likewise with the power door, windows, & mirror assembly. You can just
pry it off the door, leaving both harness connectors still connected.

STEP 10
At this point, your door panel is off and you can pull back 1/3 of the
plastic sheeting to access the door assembly inside.

STEP 11
Leaving the window in the up position, unscrew the two 10mm bolts
holding on the rearward window slider metal. Slide the metal slot
out from the rubber slot and pull it away.

STEP 12
Remove the three torx bolts holding the door latch onto the door metal.

STEP 13
Remove the one bolt left holding the door latch assembly to the door.
This bolt is below and to the left of where the arm rest was originally.

STEP 14
Remove three of the four rods from the door latch mechanism:
- The outside door open/close bar (yellow plastic clip)
- The outside door keyhole lock/unlock bar (pink plastic clip)
- The inside door open/close bar (yellow plastic clip (not a white one))
The fourth rod is the door knob up/down rod held on with a yellow clip.

STEP 15
Unclip the two harness connectors. I'm not sure why there are two.
I guess one is for the lock/unlock and the other is for the power
window.

16. Remove the door latch and power lock/unlock assembly (p/n 69040-
35150) from the door and replace with the new parts by reversing the
procedure above.

I type this because I wish I had these instructions BEFORE I started and
I want all others to not have the problems I had.

Thanks to you guys, I was able to do the job in about 3 or 4 hours total
(I'm sure a mechanic could do the job in about 1/4th that time).

BTW, does anyone know how many hours is the job rate is for a Toyota
1998 4runner with electric doors and mirros door latch lock assembly
R&R? I'd like to see how much money I saved at $120 an hour shop rate.

Stu

In article <BWdMf.61153$PL5.55374@newssvr11.news.prodigy.com>
[email]spamtrap@lexregia.com[/email] "Stuart A. Bronstein" writes:
[color=blue]
> [...] This yellow open/close rod clip very often breaks
> according to the Toyota dealership (it is a major design flaw).
> Luckily, they sell the yellow clip for a few bucks so I bought
> one. [...][/color]

Some years ago, the car I then owned developed a fault, whose
repair called for one small part, rather as with your adventure.

I went to the dealer's spares department, waved the dead part at
the man and asked, "Have you any of these?"

The man sort-of-grinned and went into the back of the shop. He
came back with a box large enough to hold (eg) a soccer ball and
set it on the counter. It was half full of the little beggars.

"Yes," he said, "we these go wrong quite often."

When the manufacturers don't bother to wrap them individually,
you _know_ they're in demand.
--
Andrew Stephenson

"Stuart A. Bronstein" <spamtrap@lexregia.com> wrote in message
news:tweMf.61161$PL5.4734@newssvr11.news.prodigy.com...[color=blue]
> "Ray O" <rokigawa@tristarassociatesDOTcomn> wrote in
> news:eaab9$43fca970$44a4a10d$8737@msgid.meganewsservers.com:[color=green]
>> It is not THAT difficult to work inside there, it just takes patience
>> and a knack for looking at puzzles to see how to get stuff in and out.
>> I have worked on the insides of car doors myself, and it is not that
>> difficult.[/color]
>
> Thanks for giving me the courage to attempt the job myself (I wonder how
> much I saved in labor)???
>[/color]

<GREAT description snipped>

Stu,

Thank you for posting the very thorough description and mistakes. Most of
the people who post here casually never bother to report their results so it
is difficult to tell if the advice actually worked or not.

My wild guess estimate of the warranty flat rate time is around 1.8 hours,
Chilton and Motors flat rate time is probably 2.5 hours.

Congratulations on getting the job done!
--

Ray O
(correct punctuation to reply)