January 5, 2018
Tucson Tom's Camry Pages - rear door repair
This is a 1999 Camry with the V6 engine.
In other words, this is a Gen 4 Camry
with the 3.0 liter 1MZ-FE V6 engine.
One night I closed the driver side rear door and there was an odd noise.
The door would not stay shut or latched. I used a piece of rope to tie
the door shut and drive home. The latch "cam" or whatever it might be
called now moves around freely and does not click in place like the other
side does.
Door panel removal
This was not too hard, especially if you have done this kind of thing before.
You will need a philips screwdriver and a variety of prying tools.
I have a door panel pry tool, but it was not really necessary.
- Pry up cover and remove screw holding inside door latch lever.
- Remove lever, pry up, then down to release "bezel"
- Find two covers on arm rest, remove those and the screws underneath.
- Lift up window switch, detach cable and remove
- Remove pin at rear, push on center, then pull out.
- Pry on black triangle piece behind window (see below).
- Pry around bottom of door panel to pop pins loose (easy)
- Pull bottom of panel out, lift up, and off she comes.
I broke the pin on the black triangle piece.
There was really no other option, it was either going to come loose or
break and it broke. Too bad, but that is how it is with 20 year old plastic.
Removing the latch mechanism
This is held in place by three T30 Torx bolts, but first the window brace
must be loosened or you will never get the unit out.
Remove one bolt at the rear edge of the door.
Loosen a nut at top behind the window (may be hidden by foam).
Both of these are 10mm. After this:
- Disconnect the two pull rods (tricky, don't break the clips)
- Disconnect the cable (easy)
- Remove the 3 Torx bolts
- Maneuver past the window brace (difficult)
- Out through a hole and it is in your hands.
New mechanism
I found a used AISIN mechanism pulled from another vehicle online for about $50 and ordered it.
It came with the motor, so there was no need to transfer the motor from my broken unit.
It is an obnoxious business to force the unit past the loosened window brace.
The next trick is to make sure a white yoke like piece from the door handle slips over
the round lever on the unit. Then maneuver it into position and reinstall the 3 Torx bolts.
After this, the rest is easy:
- Reconnect the two pull rods
- Reconnect the motor cable
- Replace the bolt and nut holding the window brace
- -- check that everything works, including the outside door handle
Now the door is back in service and tested, and it is just a
matter of putting the door panel back on.
This is easy and a less than 10 minute job.
- Refasten plastic sheet "vapor barrier".
- Shove cable for window switch through hole in panel.
- Hook panel on window edge, then smack pins into place
- Replace two screws and plugs holding big handle.
- Replace push pin on back edge.
- Reconnect window switch and snap into place.
- Replace bezel for door handle. Pay attention to plastic hook
that needs to hook towards front of vehicle.
- Replace door handle screw and snap plastic cover over it.
That is about it. I have to figure a way to reinstall the black triangle piece to
the rear of the window. I might just never do it, since this car is no exhibition
pieces, but what I may do is glue a dowel in the hole after removing the pin,
drill a hole to take a screw, then drill a hole in the triangle and attach it
with a screw from my junk box.
Have any comments? Questions?
Drop me a line!
Tom's Camry pages / tom@mmto.org