Drivers Side Door Repair, Sheet Metal Rattle, Tin Canning

Hi All,

I recently fixed a hollow sounding door rattle that was coming from the outer door skin on my driver's side door. It turned out to be a stiffening rib that was not bonded to the door skin anymore, possibly because of an impact or just age of the vehicle.

After removing the door panel and peeling back the plastic dust guard, I used some adhesive caulk and tapered rubber wedges to brace the stiffener and reattach it to the door skin.

Just thought I'd share in case anybody out there has a similar sound. The picture shows the approximate location of the stiffener in between the outer skin and the inner panel support.

Skyler

 

Rich12,

Taking the door panel off wasn't too bad. I found some YouTube videos that were helpful, but most important was the screw in the bottom of the handhold on the arm rest and the screw behind the cover plate recessed behind the door handle/lock assembly. You can just use a flat head screw driver with some electrical tape wrapped around it to pry that one out to access the screw.

Before starting to remove the panel, I would pop out the window control switches by lifting straight up on the plastic trim piece and carefully prying it loose. From there you can disconnect the big electrical connector for the switches.

After the screws are removed, there is a handhold between the door panel and the subframe of the door on the bottom edge near the left side. If you pull out towards the door jam, you should be able to pop the plastic connectors loose. Do this step carefully, and maybe some other posters have helpful tips. Most of the plastic connectors are anchored to the door in u shaped slots that open towards the hinge side of the door, however the slots that are on the hinge side of the door open towards the jam.

The most difficult part for me was the removal of the door panel from the upper right corner as I have the JBL tweeters. I pried it loose, but I think removing the tweeter would be a much better option.

After getting the door panel loose, you have to undo the door light connector and the lock module connectors, but that's it as far as I remember.

The dust guard is really all one piece. I peeled it back from behind the gray foam to access the stiffener from that side, and from the lower left "corner" to access the stiffener from the other side. RedskinPrius makes a good point that it's a dust/moisture guard and the gentler the better. The black goo that Toyota uses was still pliable after 6 or 7 years, so I didn't need to add any.

Good luck!

Skyler

 

Rich12,

Just to be clear, I was talking about the speakers that are located on the upper right side of the door, closest to the hinge side on the A pillar. They are just opposite of the rear view mirror, inside the glass.

Certainly give it a shot without removing the speaker, but it would be much easier if popping the speaker assembly out wasn't too difficult. I ended up removing it for my door panel installation, but didn't really know how to do it right and was lucky that I didn't damage the speaker. I mean, "phew, glad I don't have to tell the wife that we need to buy a new speaker because I was impatient" lucky.

RedskinPrius is right about needing to remove the panel. It wasn't entirely easy with the panel off, I don't see how you could do it with the panel still on the door subframe.