Word of advice or removal of the panel:
- do watch the video and read through the manual a couple of times before trying this.
- once all the covers and the attachment screws are removed and the electrical connectors disconnected, pivot the bottom of the door panel a couple of inches out at the bottom (so that it clears stuff when you pull up) and gently pull the door panel up. If your doors are like mine, nothing seems to want to move; but, with careful even pressure it will come up. As I recall, the top of the panel kind of fits under the edge of the inside window molding with the wiper on it. You want to be super careful with that inside molding because it is relatively soft metal covered with rubber and if you catch it when you are pulling up on the door panel you can easily bend it. Try to get the end of the door panel at the latch end of the door released a little and then use something like those soft plastic trim removal wedges to help guide the panel out from under the molding as you pull the panel up.
- the plastic liner is attached with a mastic which I swear never dries out. It is awful gooey stringy stuff; but, it does allow you to pull back the liner without damaging it if you are careful. Have acetone or a good solvent on hand along with rags because this stuff sticks! A previous owner on my car did not want to deal with the door liner so they just chopped and ripped away making a real non sealing mess.
- When removing the regulator, do not mistakenly loosen the window guide adjustment bolts unless you need to do glass adjustment. Correct door glass adjustment is a big deal taking up a few pages in the service manual - probably makes regulator replacement seem trivial.
- When reinstalling the door panel, do be careful tightening the screws on the tabs around the perimeter of the door panel. Very easy to snap the tabs off. I went to Lowes and I found some trim screws with larger diameter heads which do a better job of distributing the load on the tab. I also put a couple of layers of silicon self amalgamating tape between the tab and the door sheet steel to provide a little cushioning. On my car, when the door panel was in place the retaining tabs at the back of the panel right around the door latch area did not lay flat against the door steel. A previous owner had tried screwing the tabs down tight snapping off the tabs ( and resulting in an annoying door rattle). After replacing the section with the tabs on it, I put enough layers of silicon tape under the tab to make up the gap so that the tab was not being flexed when the screw was tightened down.
- If you do brake off tabs or you already have broken tabs, the tabs are on ABS trim pieces which are separate from the door panel itself and the trim pieces are available; but, not exactly cheap. Broken tabs can be repaired / replaced with 1/8" ABS sheet (you can find it on Amazon) and ABS solvent cement. With care, you can make a durable repair.