How to: Remove driver side door panel and repair door handle mechanism

[Medic648]

I just recently have had a problem with my driver side electric door lock. The mechanism would hang, preventing the driver in or out of the vehicle. The other door locks remain unchanged. Since then, the interior door handle appears to have came off the mechanism and is stuck in it's current position. The exterior door handle is still functioning. I have the door unlocked and have removed the fuse to prevent the locks from working. This was only a temporary fix and now vehicle state inspection is approaching, I am trying to remove the driver side door panel to attempt to fix the problem. I see two screws above the door handle and have removed them, and the bottom of the door panel appears to just snap into place. In an effort not to break anything else, I just wanted to get some input to see if there was any more things I needed to remove to proceed. I do have electric mirrors and the controller is on top of the panel. Does this need to be pryed off? Also, has anyone had a similiar problem to this and how did you go about correcting it?

 

[Medic648]

I found this: http://www.bodyshopzone.com/archives/trim/door_panels/Ford/Explorer_1999/front_rear_99exp.html

I was able to finally get the panel off, now I'm attempting to fix the locking mechanism... Wish me luck!

 

[Khaelbee]

good luck! atleast yours is the interior... lol. i have to figure out how i'm gonna get my skinny arms up into my door panel to fix my EXTERIOR door handles... so until that gets done, i'm currently driving around with both my door panels (and most of my old transmission since it just got rebuilt) in the back of my truck... passengers? pffffff....

 

[Medic648]

Ok, so I found the problem, a spring actually broke on the door latch itself and had fallen down, preventing the door latch and door lock from working. There was no apparent problem with the electric motor or the lock itself.

 

[Khaelbee]

thats what just happened to my exterior one! its not affecting the logs, my door handle just jiggles around instead of sitting firmly in place. Kbabiak probably has a spare assembly you can get for a decent price... check him out in the vendors.