There's a couple of other threads on this forum about how to get the skins off these doors, but they skip over one point and I'm stuck on the plastic housing around the door handle and the window switch.

Everything's off - I think - except for 1 clip which is on the inside of the housing just behind the window switch, on the trunk end. I have the switch out and through the hole I can feel it in there. It extends behind the wood. If I could slide the whole piece of plastic toward the front of the car, it would clear, but it's still held by a screw by the top of the handle. And I can't release that screw until I release this clip. Or that's how it seems to me...



It's right behind the arrow in the pic, and I cannot for the life figure out how to release it without breaking the f*****g thing off.

Anybody got the technique, and want to share?

Or just want to sympathize? That would help too. But not as much.

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1988 420SEL

Ok then. To answer my own question 10 minutes later:

1. Grit your teeth. Grip the housing.

2. Pull it forward hard while twisting it downwards about 10-15 degrees so that little tab points right at the corner of the opening in the wood.

3. Hope hope hope it doesn't break.

4. Keep going until it pops out. The tab just clears the wood as the housing slides down the handle.

And bingo, the door panel's off.

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1988 420SEL

You do not need to take off the switch. Rather, you have to remove the large screw that tightens the door handle. That is on the other side of the switch.

Ok. So, having done this now I'm going to add a bonus tip.

When reassembling, make sure you deal with all the connections (courtesy light, ashtray etc) EXCEPT for the door lock plunger. Make sure that this doesn't line up with its hole. Get all occupied with the catches lining up, and just ignore that plunger.

Then, when everything's back together, note that the door handle is acting funny. Now is not the time to think! Just slam the door closed to see if that helps.

Now the door is locked and there is no way of unlocking it because the threaded shaft for the door lock plunger is trapped inside the door panel. And you can't get the panel off, because it needs to come up and out, and the door is closed. So it won't budge.

Swear a lot.

In the end it turns out that if you lower the window all the way and ease the panel up you can get a thin blade in there enough to wiggle the plunger shaft over and line it up with the hole and then you can thread the plunger on, unlock the door and open it.

I can't say I felt any smarter by the end of this job than when I started.

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1988 420SEL