Driver's door handle failure (+ How to remove door liner?)

Posted: Fri Feb 13, 2009 2:13 pm Post subject: help, problem with drivers door?! -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- i have an 02 C2. Went to open the driver's door this morning and heard a snapping noise. Handle lifted but wouldnt open the door. The window drops as normal when the handle is raised but clearly its not engaging the locking mechanism. Can open it as normal from the inside and door locks centrally as normal. It seems Ive broken a component inside the handle mechanism. Has anyone else had this? Does anyone have any pics or guides of the handle mechanism and/or door liner removal? Thanks in advance. Andrew

Found this link to the manual. Very helpful and bookmarked for future reference! http://www.cannell.co.uk/Manuals.htm Car goes in for MOT at 3.40 pm today. Handle fails at 12.30. How typical is that?

There is a Black ribbed clip that you have to pull open a door-like affair to realease (hard to explain) but I have known the rods to slip down inside the clip. Need a diagram to explain in more detail but once the door panel is off all will be quite apparent.

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Thanks Lloyd but fat lot of use the instructions I reffered to above turned out to to be. The guide in the manual I attached showed me how to remove 4 bolts (three around the grab handle and one behind the airbag sign). And thats as much as it did. NO mention of how you actually remove the door cards? I only want access to the bloody handle but cannot get the door lining off!!! Driving me mad that such a simple thing can stall me and the search feature has produced absolutely nothing of use other than the link above. Anyone give me any tips please?

Door trim removal is covered in Group 7, Section 70-19. If you can't find it, drop me a PM with your email address and I'll send it to you. It sounds like item 9, 10, 11, or 12 has broken.

The door liner is plastic similar type of material to an egg box if you remove it dont try and stick it back BUY a new one about £30 take off all the old adhesive and clean very carefully then fit the new liner if you dont you'll get wet carpet on the bottom of the door card Believe me i ve changed so many door membranes, which have looked perfect, you have to do it it will save time later

thanks but I had the printed picture for door panel removal at 70.19 and its rubbish. Points 1 and 2 show the 4 bolts/screws to remove. Then what??? took them out in 2 minutes but no idea how you then actually remove the door liner?

This any help? http://www.renntech.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=7066

Thanks again Richard, very helpful indeed. I see the member Tobias spotted the ever so slight gap between showing the screws/bolts at part 2 and actually removing the bloody thing. Ive seen some shockingly bad manuals and this one is well up the list. Still not entirely sure even after reading the entire thread but will have a look tomorrow. Problem now seems to be (from the photo lower down the page) that accessing the handle may be a right royal pain in the arse! Im hoping from the exploded diagram that the whole handle can be released through the door with the two back bolts. Hope so! This is looking like a bloody nightmare job. Oh and from symptoms i agree that its likely to be part of the activation mechanism (ie parts 9-12). As I go on holiday on Friday i may not be able to get at this properly til I get back.

Once you have the 2 long T30 screws out from the grab handle and the hidden screws - 1 behind pull lever and the one behind the airbag badge. Then remove the triangle shape trim in the top front corner (drivers side houses the mirror switch) simply pull the lower part towards you by 1 cm then slide upwards. The door is now held by plastic push in clips just like most cars, so start by pulling firm along the bottom edge of the door trim then work your way up the sides *PLEASE NOTE the top edge is hooked over the door shell - no clips along top edge* once the bottom and both sides are uncliped, raise the trim to un-hook it from the door shell *BUT BE CAREFULL* there are wires going to the trim, whilst holding the trim disconnect the wires and pull cable. Done.

Thanks Lloyd, thats perfect. Why doesnt the manual mention ANY of that? Bizarre. Looks almost certain to be a return from holidays job so cant see me putting it into practice for a bit but now feel confident I know how to remove it. Hopefully something in the mechanism has detached and can be easily replaced and Ill report back once I finally get the time to do it. Thanks again and also to Richard.

Oh, and don't forget the plastic cross-head screw in the door pocket....

Thanks very much guys, particularly Richard and Lloyd. Job done this afternoon. Proved to be part 9 and 12 on the page 1 diagram had separated from one another ( I think part 12 has broken part of the top screw section. Have reconnected them as best I can but if it fails again Ill just perform a more robust reconnection using wire or glue. Operating fine now. Door panel removal proved very easy once I had the full instructions ( most notably the very simple removal of the panel once all the screws and bolts were removed. Totally missing in the manual. Thanks for the links. Managed to do the job only having to peel back a small corner of the door liner and resealed it by heating the existing glue and pressing back. So little involved it seemed unnecessary to remove the whole airbag and speaker cover etc. Thanks again.