Greetings,


Thought I would adventure myself today removing driver's door latch, in order to replace the actuator (my suspected cause of door not locking). I thought my biggest pain was going to be the panel removal... that was a breeze. Now I'm stuck, can't remove the latch from the door. I thought it would the same as the back one where removal is easy. Front one is stuck behind window rail. I looked around the forum but couldn't find anything (Jim L appears to have had a file back in a thread of 2012 but no longer in the dropbox). My workshop manual doesn't cover it apparently. I need to point out that I have a used REAR door latch, and my plan was to use the actuator from it. If someone knows that won't work, well I will need to go back on the search for the proper part - yet will still eventually need to know how to remove / replace the latch...


Thank you in advance


Cheers

 

Hi Brian
Not sure why the weblink to the PDF file was broken.
I just went into my post and fixed the weblink.

Here is the corrected weblink:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/g1ahp1taof...74%20R%26I.pdf

Jim Lombardi

 

Jim - you're the best. Thanks for prompt reply. I shall study this in the morning and will keep you posted if needed more help.

Cheers

 

the video

 

Parwun, thanks. This video is indeed valuable in many ways, only issue for me is that it's rear door not the front. The access / removal of the latch from the back is easier. The front has window rail in the way. Must be a trick, and I will look at the PDF Jim L sent. Thanks again.

Brian

 

Jim - thanks again for the PDF. I looked at it and happy to see it should be relatively straightforward. I am out on errand with wife and kids (kind of thing you must do to buy you garage time credits lol) so will need to go back to the car later and assess. There are two last steps that for now I can't figure out in my brain as I don't recall seeing the elements but of course when you don't expect them you don't "see" them. Will keep you posted.

Cheers

 

OK, mission accomplished. Was not super obvious nor super fun, but eventually came out. A metal shield / guard removal was the final touch (see picture). Went as far as removing the door handle, but do realize it was probably not necessary. OK, so the latch was out.... DARN, the actuator model is different that the used replacement one I have from a back door. The front one (VT-ZV) was 4 cables, back one (HT-ZV) only 2. See other pics. But I was to confirm that my actuator was shot. Because I really needed to get the door re-assembled today, I adventured myself in replacing the actuator with the used spare I had and connected two wires only (I am assuming the 2 extra wires are related to the key mechanism). Got everything back in (not too bad, besides some bruises / scratches / cuts on the arm lol) - yet skipped latch plastic cover and metallic shield for now. Plugged all wires back, got panel back on... moment of truth... pressed the lock on remote and ta-daaaaaa door now locks :-) and yes does open too. I will eventually purchase a correct 4 wire actuator but for now, this works. Having gone through the pain


Cheers

 

Nice write up , now its my turn ,i have the replace the door actuator in my passenger front door ..