loudandheard

I finally decided to fix my rear door lock. I had the infamous pogo lock and it would not lock 100% of the time. I did not realize how labor intensive the job was and I think I could probably do it a bit easier now.

All the write ups I found on the fix did not provide much info on how to tackle the job, so I figured I would take some pics and try to provide as much info as I could.

I think the job was more difficult and more time consuming than changing my spark plugs. I think now I could do the job a bit more quickly, but I would hate having to deal with fixing the front door with every thing that is installed in the door.

loudandheard

Here are some pics and instruction on removing the rear door panel.

Tools needed: T20, T25, and T30 screw driver. Plastic interior remover kit.

First off, you want to remove the cover of the interior door handle. Take note of the two holes in the handle. The bottom bolt is a T30 while the top is a T25 also unscrew the door lock cap at the top, the on that looks like a golf tee:



Here are a couple of pics of the door handle up close, pretty much you need to pull it off. I bought a plastic door panel remover at harbor freight. I think that was the most helpful set of tools when removing the door panels.




You need to remove the SRS badge, should just pry off from the bottom. Comes right off, just pull straight out. There is a bolt behind the badge which can be removed with a T30. You also need to remove the C plastic piece that is held there by a T20 bolt. The piece slides down and will come right off.



Once you have all the bolts off, you need to put a wedge in the areas in between the door and the panel. Once you are close to the plastic clip, just pry a bit until you hear an audible pop and from there you just go around doing it until you have gone around the door. Take a look at the door with the panel removed to get an idea where each clip holds the panel in place. Once you have popped off all the clips all you have to do is pull up on the panel. Pretty much it's wedged on. It feels like it won't come off but you just have to work it a bit and it will come right off. It is easier to take off the door panel with the window down so that you can your hands in the right places.

Once you get it off, remove all the electrical plugs, the rear door just has the plug for the window switch and the speaker. You will need to remove the hook that attaches to the door handle. Remember the position of the plastic part that the hook hooks into.

Here is what the panel looks like removed:



Here is the back of the panel, if you look closely, you can see all the clips and you can see how the panel is wedges on to the door:



There were a couple of pics, that I forgot to take, but it should be pretty straight forward. Feel free to ask me any questions.

loudandheard

Warning, do not proceed to repair the door lock until you get the proper tool to remove the door handle. I am still looking for one.


I decided to upgrade the factory audio system, but I needed the door locks to lock. I still need to fix the alarm, but that will be the next job.

Here is a pic of the unit that you will have to replace if you have the infamous pogo stick door lock malfunction:



Here is a close up, of the part number, I will try to write down the actual part number later. Remember this is for the rear passenger side door. I got the part from parts.com for around $85 more or less.




Once you have the door panel off you are left with this, make sure to put the window up to make it easier to work with:



From the instructions that I got from the forum, I was baffled as to how I was going to put this huge lock contraption in such a small hole. Well, I had not idea where to start, but the instructions said to remove the airbag and I thought it was a good idea to get it out of the way especially since I was going to be spending a lot of time in front of the door and moving it whole bunch. Plus it made it much easier to take off the liner. Make sure to unplug the airbag, but do not turn on the car or you will have an srs error that may not go away. If you plan on turning on the car, plug in the airbag carefully. The airbag is connected by 3 rivets, which will come off by what ever means that you like. You can drill them out, but I was able to use a grinder to carefully grind them off.

Here is a close up of the air bag on the car:



Here is close up of it off the car:



Once you get the airbag off the liner will come off in one piece and this is what it will look like:




There is a connection that comes from the door lock assembly to the door controller that needs to be disconnected. You will not see it until you take off the liner.

loudandheard

From the pic from the previous post you can see that I have already got the lock out, you will still have the lock in place.

Here is a pic of the door lock in place. I believe a couple of bolts hold it in place, but I can't recall exactly what size, they should be obvious:



Taking off the exterior door handle will make this job much easier. I was struggling for a long time and then I realized the the lock will not budge until you get the door handle off. The internal and the external parts.

So you start by prying a bit of the weather stripping off and the plastic panel by the window. The weather stripping holds the the plastic piece in place and the weather stripping is held on by clips similar to the ones that hold the door panel, but they are pink.





Here is a close up of the hole that you need to use to reach a bolt that holds the door handle in place.



I was using a socket set and sockets do not fit in that hole. I figured I could get around that by getting the socket in the inside and using an extension, but the socket would not fit in the plastic surround that the bolt is in. I could not get pics of that because it was inside the door and I was barely able to see it myself.

Here is a pic of the bolt that you need to get to, I think mine came out from all the pushing I did on it. I still haven't figured out how to put it back on it perfectly. I think I need to buy some sort of special tool to do it. You need to slide the piece to the left and it pulls right off, assuming you loosened the bolt or took it off. I think my car had some sort of damage to the rear passenger side door and it must have been loose.:



Here is a pic of the door handle with the piece above removed:



The door handle slides to the left and comes out easily.


Once you have the handle removed, you need to remove the internal piece which is held on by two t20 bolts. Here's a pic of the bolts which are on the outside of the door. You need to take off the rubber gaskets to take reveal the bolts. All you have to do is squeeze them inward:



Here's a close up:



Once the bolts are removed, you can slip it out from behind the door, it should just slide out. Here is what it looks like, you can see the overspray on the piece:

loudandheard

Once you have the door handle removed, then you have to remove a couple of parts that hold the door lock in place.

If you look in this pic, you will make out a bit of foam in one of the holes. The foam is held in by a bolt that I already removed, but do not have a pic of.



Take a look at the foam block:



The foam block is wedge against a seem and feels like it will not come out, but the piece is actually made up of two tightly fitting pieces. You will need to get the pieces to come apart to get it to come off. I got this piece out before I got the door handle out. I think I would have had more room to remove the piece if I would have gotten the door handle off first.



There is a plastic retainer that holds the area where the metal piece that the lock connects to. I failed to take a pic of it, but you must remove it to get the lock to move. The plastic piece is wedged inside of the door and requires some moving to get out.

Once you have every thing out, then the lock will come out easily. The lock will just slide out. Here are a couple of pics of the removal:





The installation is just every thing in reverse. Do not worry about the door handle not opening the lock, once every thing in place it will work like a charm. I think I have to do a bit of tweaking because my door takes a bit of effort to close, but it already was like that. Plus I was unable to put this piece in correctly and is still a bit loose. If any one knows of the proper tool to install this piece please tell me.



Here's a sneak peak at my next project:

Dingleberry

nice write-up!

holy crap, that is a ridiculous amount of crap to deal with for the stupid pogo lock problem!

loudandheard

Tell me about it. I took off all the door panels to replace the speakers and when I put every thing back in, I freaked out because the front driver side door would not lock. I thought I had messed up some thing, but the driver side door has some sort of protection that doesn't allow it to lock, so you don't lock yourself out. What a sigh of relief, I wasn't going to do that again.

I guess it's not so much work with the right kind of tools, but it is a lot of work just to make sure your doors lock.

I think my car was in an accident and there was some sort of damage to the rear passenger side door, but I didn't notice it until after I purchased it. Every thing still works, minus the alarm, which will be my next project.

The weather has been crappy, so it really makes things that much more difficult, but I'll get to it.

MountainStone

Great write-up. Thanks for all the documentation; I know it made a difficult job even harder but it will definitely help somebody else down the road.

nediovic

What a write-up dude!!! This saved me at least ~200 bucks :P

Thank you!!!

Just wanted to add my story of finding the right spring to fit in. I solved the problem using the spring from a 2-3 bucks hex key set (see below). The spring from 6mm key was just perfect for this lock.

What a pleasure is to fix something in my car without paying hundreds of bucks.

pointman

Just wanted to say thanks. My door handles (interior) look like ***, I had no idea how to remove them.

loudandheard

No problem, glad my DIY helped.

jneal3110

adding my thanks for posting all this, just wondering how you reattached the airbag (rivets?) and did you have to hook up a STAR diagnostic tool to clear any airbag codes...

loudandheard

Yup, just used standard rivets and a regular rivet tool to reattach the airbag. Just disconnect the battery before you disconnect the electrical connector from the airbag. I don't recall disconnecting the battery when I did it and I did not receive an srs warning, but I never put the key in the ignition while I had the airbag disconnecter. On the other hand, when I changed out my steering wheel, I never had the key in the ignition and I still triggered an srs warning. If you get the warning, the only way to remove it is through STAR. I had a local member with a STAR knockoff that was able to remove the srs warning that I triggered when I removed my steering wheel. If I recall correctly, if the srs light is on, the airbag system will not work.

sirlancelot

I want to thank all of you guys.

I too had the above mentioned problem in my rear right door. This last weekend I decided to finally try to fix it and thanks to loudandheard's useful explanations it only took me two afternoons to get it done... at 0 cost: I followed nediovic's advice and used a spring from a 6mm allen key. It worked like a charm.

To reach the bolt that holds the door handle in place I used an extra long T20 key.

jneal3110

Sorry to be annoying but just one more question; does the airbag really have to come out? I have the STAR service disc and it does say to take it out, but the airbag sits in a stamped sheet metal depression in the door - how does taking it out make getting the lock assy in and out easier? It seems like I could just fold up the foam liner to get it out of the way of the assembly hole and be good to go.

loudandheard

I think I read that someone did it without removing the airbag. If I remember correctly I tired doing the job with out removing the airbag, but I couldn't figure it out. Once I removed the airbag, it gave me more space to move the door lock. Plus, it's kind of intimidating having your face so close to the airbag while working on getting out the lock. I don't remember exactly because it was so long ago, but I think you would have to rip the liner to get access to everything with out removing the airbag. So I removed the airbag and it was only a few rivets.

jneal3110

Just to follow up and add a tiny bit to this great thread, I was able to do this without removing the airbag, which was a decent time saver - the only issue was getting the plastic 'plug' (not the styrofoam) out from behind the arm on the airbag mounting bracket that the door panel screw screws into. I just moved the inner liner up and out of the way to get access to everything.

The pics you posted of the separated styrofoam pieces and the door handle removal were invaluable - I have the star service CD but there was nowhere near enough detail, your thread was a real headache-saver; thanks again.

blade08

Just to confirm... so all the door handle covers just pop off? Any tips where to specifically pry it off? Also, did you have to use a tool?

jneal3110

I personally used a 2" wide, kind of dull putty knife and started at the bottom rear corner (see the very first pic in this thread), once you get the cover started from there the whole thing just pops right off. the SRS button, which covers the third torx screw you need to get at, just pops straight out.

flomofo

Going to use this to, on a 2002 coupe.

Does the spring just drop in after you bend both ends so they stick out?

Or is it difficult to setup correctly etc?

WaveyKat

thank you much for this info.. i replace the Door Lock on my C240 over the weekend
($50.00 Bucks ebay part) was a PITA because the T-20 Screw that Holds the Haldnle got Stripped. didnt remove the airbag either ..but i did get the job done.. thanks :-)

nediovic

It fits in pretty easily. I used my round-nose pliers for bending the ends of the spring as well as for fitting it into the mechanism.

cjhayes

Wavey, this is exactly what has happened to me. The little Torx 20 screw holding the handle on that is accessed with a long driver through a hole under the trim is stripped and will not budge. Cannot go further. How did you deal with this? For clarification using the excellent photos posted earlier by loudandheard, this is the screw that is stripped:

http://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i2...Picture288.jpg

I am going nuts. Thank you.

mjd555

Super awesome DIY Loundandheard

Last step before removing lock unit from the door for me is to disconnect the blue plug to the control unit. I am having trouble with this little thing. Is it really that tough to pull out??? I'm hesitant to use pliers but at this point (15min wasted) but I feel like it is meant for that.

Thanks

BTW this is my first post. Just bought a used 2004 c32 with 125k with everything working but the rear interior door handle. Hope I can get this fixed then on to more mods

UPDATE: another 10 min later and I used pliers to disconnect. I see that there is a latch on the door side which is why I never saw it.

...anyway got the locking mechanism out and tried to repair it but there is not much to do. Will buy another and reinstall. Also did this without removing the airbag and it took me bout 2.5 hours-yes it says "newbie" to the left

leeroytandy

its Amazing how much money you can save, just by doing a little research.
thanks guys,
just a quick question to those who used springs that they modified themselves. how long did it last ? is it still working till thus day ?