Passenger's door fritzy lock switches

[PaulMc]

Hi WM,

Thanks for posting this. I have what I think is the same issue and based on other posts as well I am going to go looking for a broken solder joint. I plan to take the door panel off etc and have purchased some door clips in anticipation of breaking a few as I have taken door panels off before! How long did this job take you? I would like to get it done, but some tips on how long it took etc would be helpful so I work out when I can do this.

Cheers,

Paul.

[wmjosiah]

I'd say it took me about 3 hours all told, but if I were to do it again, it would only take me an hour. Most of it was messing up. Here are some tips:
1. No need to remove the airbag - just remove the lower right bolt, which also holds the little metal plate that is in the way if you getting your hand in the door to really get at the lock mechanism
2. Reach in and slide the outer sleeve of the piece that goes to the outer door handle back towards you, then push down to disconnect.
3. Before trying to take the top off the part of the lock mechanism that has the PCB, separate the two halves of the lock mechanism - then you can get at all the bolts.
4. Reflow all the joints even if they don't look bad. Why not? I don't know which joint was bad in mine, but it wasn't the one I thought it was.

This fix is still holding several days, 1000 miles, and many passenger entry/exits later. Good luck!