door panel removal '85 grand marquis CP

[sinistral]

just picked up a colony park... haven't found a local shop yet which stocks the chilton manual so hoping someone here can help.

first order of business-- can't open the driver door from outside ; guessing the rod is disconnected. how do i remove the door panel so i can attempt to fix this?

thanks in advance.

[pantera77]

Take off the bottom cover of the armrest, 4 screws on the bottom, and 1 or 2 more scattered around. Also take out the screw that holds down the window switches, and pull it up. Then take out all the bolts that hold the armrest itself on, and move it out of the way. The rest of the door panel is just held on my clips. Carefully pry it out, and then lift the whole thing over the window channel.

[ford man]

Take off the bottom cover of the armrest, 4 screws on the bottom, and 1 or 2 more scattered around. Also take out the screw that holds down the window switches, and pull it up. Then take out all the bolts that hold the armrest itself on, and move it out of the way. The rest of the door panel is just held on my clips. Carefully pry it out, and then lift the whole thing over the window channel.

x2 I use a screw driver and try to pop each one of the clips between the door and the door panel. They also have a tool for this... not sure if they have it at autozone or not. You just want to take your time here.

When I put the armrest back on the bolts are hard to get back in there. I use some rubber eraser in the end of my socket to hold on to the bolt.

You mind want to take out your power window motor at this time and check the bushings so you don't have to take the panel off again in the near future...

Isaiah

[marquisman]

the rod may have poped out due to seized power lock actuator. if it is, when someone tried pulling up on the handle with the lock in a seized position causing to bend the rod. easy fix. remove the crappy lock actuator and bend back the rod

[sinistral]

thanks, all...

i was able to get the panel off, however, i've currently got a cast on my right hand () so wasn't able to reach in the door opening to get to the rod behind the glass.

is there a trick to this (once i can reach it), or do you just bend and unbend to get it back in place on the handle?

marquisman, you may be right-- the seller said something about the lock on that door acting up (before the rod came off).

ford man, what would i be checking for on the motor? i did run some bearing grease along the channel and the window rod/guide since i had it apart.

guess now would be the time to drop new speakers in, too.

merry christmas.

[ford man]

The window motor has three nylon bushings inside that disentegrate over time. All the sudden your window wont work. Easy job to do if you've done it before. You might want to do a search for window motor threads to get all the specific info because I don't know how to link it for you. My car has 56k original miles and I have done window motor bushings in 3 doors and now the 4th door needs to be done now

Merry Christmas mang.

[87gtVIC]

The rod for the handle should go into place easily if the actuator is working properly. Shouldn't need too much force to get that rod on the handle. Dont want to bend things to much, may end up fatiguing it once everything is put back together. There should also be a bushing in the handle where it receives the rod. Make sure the that is there.