Removing the door panel on a 2003 Nissan Sentra SE-R Spec V
2010.01.06 08:33 PM Filed in: Cars
Good evening,
I’ve got a problem with my car. When it gets cold out, my driver’s side door decides that it doesn’t want to close anymore. I’ve discovered the temporary resolution so that I can get home is to power lock the doors. Then when the door closes, the latch will catch, and I can safely get home. Then I’m stuck inside.
From that point onward, that door will not unlock and I have to crawl over the manual shift stick, e-brake, and centre console to get out the passenger side door. The power lock won’t open it, neither will the latch inside, nor the key outside. Until it thaws out, that lock isn’t going anywhere. In the garage, I’ll aim a small electric space heater at the door lock area, and in a few hours I’ll be able to get back in again as if nothing was ever wrong. It’s not like I can prevent it either - the first time it happened to me this year, it had been almost three weeks since I had previously washed the car! Of course washing it doesn’t help any, but not washing it doesn’t help either.
When this first started happening to me last year, I took it into the dealer (this was before I started seeing a far superior and honest independent mechanic - Vtech Auto) and it had thawed in the meantime, so they couldn’t reproduce the problem. At the time, I hadn’t figured out that thawing solved the problem, so to me it just went away. They lubed up the latch and sent me on my way with no charge, which was very decent of them.
Spring came, and I forgot about it until it happened again several times during this last cold snap. I found some instructions online on how to remove the inside door panel for a 2003 Nissan Sentra SE-R Spec V and went at it. The Flickr link below has the pictures I took of the process.
Unfortunately, I reached a point where I couldn’t easily go any further and still hadn’t reached the locking mechanism. The plastic panel came off and revealed a great deal, but my target area was still covered up by another steel panel that doesn’t look like it comes off. This will take more research on how to further take apart the door, and it also looks more involved than I should attempt on a work night. Definitely a weekend task!
If I wanted to get to the in-door speaker, though, this is far enough. In fact, the passenger door speaker vibrates and rattles some, so now I know how to gain access to it.
Putting the door back together again was a simple process of reversing the steps.
Flickr Page - Door Panel Removal
This weekend, I’ve got a date with my door panel. I’m going to see if I can find more instructions on how to get deeper into the door. Wish me luck!
I’ve got a problem with my car. When it gets cold out, my driver’s side door decides that it doesn’t want to close anymore. I’ve discovered the temporary resolution so that I can get home is to power lock the doors. Then when the door closes, the latch will catch, and I can safely get home. Then I’m stuck inside.
From that point onward, that door will not unlock and I have to crawl over the manual shift stick, e-brake, and centre console to get out the passenger side door. The power lock won’t open it, neither will the latch inside, nor the key outside. Until it thaws out, that lock isn’t going anywhere. In the garage, I’ll aim a small electric space heater at the door lock area, and in a few hours I’ll be able to get back in again as if nothing was ever wrong. It’s not like I can prevent it either - the first time it happened to me this year, it had been almost three weeks since I had previously washed the car! Of course washing it doesn’t help any, but not washing it doesn’t help either.When this first started happening to me last year, I took it into the dealer (this was before I started seeing a far superior and honest independent mechanic - Vtech Auto) and it had thawed in the meantime, so they couldn’t reproduce the problem. At the time, I hadn’t figured out that thawing solved the problem, so to me it just went away. They lubed up the latch and sent me on my way with no charge, which was very decent of them.
Spring came, and I forgot about it until it happened again several times during this last cold snap. I found some instructions online on how to remove the inside door panel for a 2003 Nissan Sentra SE-R Spec V and went at it. The Flickr link below has the pictures I took of the process.
Unfortunately, I reached a point where I couldn’t easily go any further and still hadn’t reached the locking mechanism. The plastic panel came off and revealed a great deal, but my target area was still covered up by another steel panel that doesn’t look like it comes off. This will take more research on how to further take apart the door, and it also looks more involved than I should attempt on a work night. Definitely a weekend task!
If I wanted to get to the in-door speaker, though, this is far enough. In fact, the passenger door speaker vibrates and rattles some, so now I know how to gain access to it.Putting the door back together again was a simple process of reversing the steps.
Flickr Page - Door Panel Removal
This weekend, I’ve got a date with my door panel. I’m going to see if I can find more instructions on how to get deeper into the door. Wish me luck!