Replacing the door lock

by Steven Lakey

Like many other things, the driver side door lock gets about way more use and abuse than the passenger side. You can replace these parts… but it can be expensive, so it only makes sense to ration parts from the one side of the car to the other. Here’s what you do.

First remove the arm rest, speaker cover, and utimatly…. the door panel.

Remove the door handle.

Use pliers to pop out the plastic clip.

Then “twist” this clip off. The interior door handle is now free to move out of the way.

You should be here.

Disconnect this rod from the lock core.

Remove this bolt.

And this one.

Use some paint to mark the position of this rod.

Then pop open the clip and disconnect the rod.

Remove the door handle assembly and the snap ring shown here.

Move this clip out of the groves to release the lock core.

Now simply switch the cores and reassemble. The results are great.


Back to the Garage

25 June, 2006