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Submitted byCategoryChassis
Public
Ken K. Yee
on 01/29/2006 at 03:55 AM
DIYW163
How do you replace the door actuator

Peter Leubner was nice enough to document this:

First, remove the door handles:
Use a hex key. Size 4, length 150mm (120mm blade length).

NOTE: Your everyday common 100mm lenght hex key is too short!

There is a hole under the rubber seal you need to get to by pulling the last 3 inches of the rubber door seal to the side.

You need to loosen the screw just enough (Approx 3 turns) allow the shorter end piece to come out.






Here is a picture of the end piece removed to give you an idea of the screw wich should be turn enough to be flush with the mounting bracket.


Here is a picture with the screw full turn in...... to give you an idea how it is not to be positioned when removing the end piece. ..... You can't get it this far in with the end piece installed anyway!

The idea of the screw is to push the end piece forward enough to fix it tight enough that it will not come out.

NOTE: Be careful not to turn the screw all the way out , or it will drop into the inside of the door and you will then have to:-

1. Remove the liner (inside door moulding)
2. Remove the whole lock





Now that you have turn out the screw just enough to be flush with section it is screwed into... you could just pull out the end piece.

I found that the is not so easy as the end piece might be still tight in there , so I used a flat screw driver to wriggle (press backward) the end piece free.






Now you should be able to pull out the end piece!







Now for the larger piece of the handle
Slide it toward the rear, then lift out the front side before pulling out the rear side....








and now for the front!

The blade of the hex key needs go in exactly 120mm (my blade length) - 18mm (blade length left over) = 102. This means your hex key needs to be 150mm long!!!







The WIS says max 5 turns. I needed 7 turns!
You can in fact give it 1000 turns .... as long as you keep applying pressure on the hex key!








and now for the now famous handle removal






last of all some tips for aiming at that "screw"!!!!!


1. Notice the "backing bracket" has something like plastic guides which enclose the head of the screw.

2. Push the hex key to the very end, then lever it until you find the guide.

3. pull the hex key slowly outwards until you feel it come to the end of the guide. The you can position on top of the head very easily.







Remove the Inside door panel

... now that that worked! next sail panel!


Screws, ... Door handle (x2) , and behind the SRS (x1)








That trusty MB Wedge for the panel removal!




Remove the inside door lever cable .....






Make sure you order a few of them white clips... they might break!



unclip the bottom door light!

Door Panel Removed! peel off the sound proofing liner (.. or punch holes in your "Dynamat Extreme", heh,heh )

Unscrew the lock

two holes holding the lock in place! .... Just let itslide down! enough toget at the electrical connector on the bottom side.

Unscrew the lock
top!

Bottom!

4. Remove the electrical cable for the actuator! ... notice the clip on the plug ..... pull it out of the hole!

Door lever cable
Feed the Door lever cable behind the aibag to remove it. The new lock comes with a cable attached.







Inside bracket of the Door Handle

Remove the inside bracket of the door handle ( 2 screws).

First peel off the outside rubber to reveal the screw on the front part of the handle



just loosen the 2 screws (Don't remove them!) ...you can slide the bracket to the front to remove.



out come the little begger! notice the guide for that screw when removing the outside door handle!!!!



Remove Window Rail

The window rail is not screwed in , but riveted! Best note which rivets must be remove!






now for the tools for that professional removal!

Hammer & Punch(Nr. 3), Drill, and chisel

Essentially its

1. punch
2. drill head slightly
3. chisel head off


give it a slight punch to move the pin backwards in the rivet.

PS: No that's not a pic of me?. I got slightly more hair!.... not much!



drill the head slighty ... careful, not too much! We don't want to make that hole bigger!!!

.... then chisel the head off (I forgot photo for that one..... what a catastrophy!!! You won't be able to do the replacement now! ... just kidding! )

same for the top ..... heres just the drill photo!

... remember .... punch -> drill -> chisel !

now we can remove that guide rail!







Move lock knob to new lock

... now lets look at the parts goodies box!

... Notice the new part comes with the pull lever , but not the knob. You need to take it off the old one. The thread on the pull lever is not rounded (see photos at the end) , but has a flat side. This means that you only need turn the know 90 degrees (... celcius not fahrenheit , heh,heh .... just kidding!) ,,.....then pull out.

The idea here is that you can positionthe knob a the depth you require , then twist to secure it.









Replacing the new lock

You got to do this before replacing that window rail!!!!

Note the exact postion, hole, angle that the lock is put in!. My mate here had to fiddle around until finding the ultimate route!




screw the lock onto the door!. This isn't really a good time to do it..... (I'll explain later!) ... you should really just let it dangle in there for the time being.

Inside door handle cable

replace the cable in the original postion by feeding it back underneath the airbag!

Replace the Window guide rail

Now here comes the bit that is supposed to be real easy .... but because we screw the lock onto the door became awkward!

YOu can either unclip the lift connector , or unscrew the lock again! We chose to unscrew the lock as it was a lot easier to manouver the rail in place!

NOTE: As said earlier don't screw the lock in place until you have the guide rail in position.







on second thoughts ... lets remove those lock screws ......
....ah much better .... why didn't we do that in the first place!!!!!




Now lets rivet that rail in place .... WOW that's what I call a rivet gun! .... You are going to use a lot of "elbow grease" (muscle) getting those rivets done using your everyday handyman store rivet gun!

Glad he didn't get out the compressed air version or I would'nt have been able to continue with my DIY!










Attach electrical cable for the actuator

.... with the not yet screwed to the door lock! It's much easier to connect the plug with the lock dangling down!.



Replace inside door handle bracket

Note the screw for the outside door handle end piece.





Replace inside door handle bracket

Slide the bracket to the rear.

NOT HARD UP AGAINST THE END!!!! YOU WILL HAVE PROBLEMS ATTACHING THE REAR OUTSIDE END PIECE OTHERWISE

..... push up against the end , then move back a little.



Replace that rubber piece!





Replace outside door handle

... you should know this from my previous thread. At the very least from the removal.

NOTE: Get that back end lever under the bronze inside part. Use a screwdriver ,or a MB removal hook (like I did)







Replace outside door handle

Get that hex key postioned before you put the outside door handle end piece on!









Inside Door Panel

..put the lining back , and replace any clips you have broken.

Replace the bottom door light connector

replace Inside door lever cable .... now we are on the home run!

push the panel back into place. Best to hook the top in place first (over the door pin), then let it hang there while postioning the white clips correctly at the bottom.



Screws! Door handle and SRS!



covers!



sail panel.


Don't forget to replace the rubber grommet that covers the hole in the door for the hex key

The MB guy left the key in the ignition also! he needed the power (I know it stays for 5-10 min after key removal!) for moving the windows up/down to make the rail removal .... sliding the rail connector out of the window lifting rail easier!



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