Door panel disaster - Page 2

Multibeemer · #1 10-19-2013, 05:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by papasmurf

You have to remove the little window's shade before removing the door panel. I bet that's your hang up.

Yep - exactly. I finally got around to tackling this again, and I removed the window shade panel, and found a screw hidden behind it holding the panel to the door. Once I took it off, the panel came right off. From the outside, it doesn't look like the shade mechanism had anything to do with the door panel, but this is what was preventing me from removing the panel all along. Thanks for the recommendation to take it off.

X5SND · #2 06-24-2013, 05:38 PM

There's a clip On the back side in the center of the door that can be a major pain in the butt...especially if the person who previously worked on it didn't put it back together properly. It's likely this is what you're stuck on. You can pop the top clips one at a time, then one they're loose, give the panel a quick tug firmly upwards....the piece I'm talking about will separate from the panel frame.

civdiv99 · #3 06-24-2013, 07:12 PM

(just chill if necessary first, and don't do the yank when you are already frustrated and pissed, though)

Quote:

Originally Posted by X5SND

There's a clip On the back side in the center of the door that can be a major pain in the butt...especially if the person who previously worked on it didn't put it back together properly. It's likely this is what you're stuck on. You can pop the top clips one at a time, then one they're loose, give the panel a quick tug firmly upwards....the piece I'm talking about will separate from the panel frame.

civdiv99 · #4 06-24-2013, 06:52 PM

Dude - I TOLD you getting the top edge of that rear door panel to clear was a royal pain. You replied you had done plenty of them, so I had a coke and a smile and shut the _ up.

It'll clear. You gotta get all creative in there and not bust stuff, but I've had it off a few times, no ill effects. But no, it doesn't just unclip and lift off.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Multibeemer

Ugh... I'm trying to remove the right rear door panel from our 2003 X5 so I can remove the door lock mechanism, which has stopped working. I followed the video I found on youtube to the letter - I removed all three of the T20 torx screws, unhooked the door latch connector, and went around and successfully removed all of the plastic door clips without damaging any of them. But when I tried removing the top part of the panel by pulling straight back (as opposed to pulling upward as you would on a front panel) to release the five metal clips, disaster struck. With great effort, I got a few of them to release, but the panel is stuck tight right at the trim piece that separates the main window from the quarter window (I tried posting a picture, but despite shrinking it down to a miniscule 114KB, the site is telling me it's too large - definitely not my day...). So tight, in fact, that I tore the panel! Aaaarrrrgggghhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I've removed and replaced at least a dozen door panels, most recently as part of the window regulator replacement on the drivers side front door of the X5, and nothing remotely as bad as this has ever happened. Has this ever happened to anybody before? Any tips on how to get the door to release its death grip on the panel so I can get on to the task of troubleshooting the door lock mechanism? And any ideas as to where to get a new panel that won't cost an arm and a leg? Thanks.

Qsilver7 · #5 06-26-2013, 01:38 PM

If you have the shades on the rear door...would it help if you removed the shade for the rear triangular window first? And if the x5 in the video doesn't have the rear shades, and your X5 does...that may be the reason why you're having more difficulty.

If that shade is like the ones on the e38 & e39...it's not that difficult to remove from the door. There's a clip at the top that you access by slipping a thin screw driver between the shade and the frame of the door at the top (that is if removal is like that on the e38 & e39).

Perhaps that's making it difficult for the panel to come off.

Multibeemer · #6 06-26-2013, 05:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Qsilver7

If you have the shades on the rear door...would it help if you removed the shade for the rear triangular window first? And if the x5 in the video doesn't have the rear shades, and your X5 does...that may be the reason why you're having more difficulty.

If that shade is like the ones on the e38 & e39...it's not that difficult to remove from the door. There's a clip at the top that you access by slipping a thin screw driver between the shade and the frame of the door at the top (that is if removal is like that on the e38 & e39).

Perhaps that's making it difficult for the panel to come off.

Good point about the shade. This had crossed my mind, but it didn't look like the shade interacts with the panel, but it wouldn't hurt to try removing it. Thanks.

civdiv99 · #7 06-26-2013, 06:34 PM

It does, and it wouldn't.

I didn't since I was able to work the panel past it it, coupled with my concern that I would have 10 year old (at the time) plastic parts grenading into brittle shrapnel upon levering the thing. But if Quicksilver's method of removing the shade housing works, then at this point you'll probably be further ahead by doing so.

avonside · #8 07-01-2013, 08:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Multibeemer

Good point about the shade. This had crossed my mind, but it didn't look like the shade interacts with the panel, but it wouldn't hurt to try removing it. Thanks.

HI , I dont wish to teach anyone to suck eggs, but I guess you have removed the dividing black trim that sits on the door.It has a fixing screw under it, its a bit of a pig to get off, i had to make a little tool to remove the trim peice.There is a little hole at the top of the window and you have to push a small metal clip back that is inside the trim.I got a peice of 3mm rod filed a smooth round end and gently worked the clip till it sprung off.Hope Im not telling you something you"ve already done.
Good luck

Bulk · #9 07-01-2013, 11:46 AM

Axe, and if that doesn't work try a circular saw. Guaranteed success

Multibeemer · #10 07-04-2013, 02:26 PM

avonside,

Yes, I removed the trim piece (mine came off easily), and the torx screw behind it. Every other aspect of the panel removal went very smoothly, including pulling the plastic clips out of the holes in the door that they press into. The "only" problem I ran into was trying to pull the panel off along the top.

Bulk,

Axe, saw, blow torch, and dynamite are on my list of things to try next...

But for now, I have more pressing issues I need to address, including building a smoke machine to track down a possible vacuum leak in my daughter's E46, and finishing up a few things on my Porsche 968 track car conversion project.