[s-cars] S6 Door Panel

[Vincent Fregeac]

Removing the door panel is a 15min. job the first time, 5min. when
you're experienced. Just give a look at
http://www.urs4.com/technical/interior/interior_trim.html. Follow the
rear door panel instructions. When you have removed the interior door
latch assembly, remove the screw behind it which exist only on the front
doors. Then follow the rest of the procedure.

But the task does not stop there. I'm pretty sure your problem is in the
door lock mechanism. To have access to it, you need to remove the window
frame. There is two bolts on each side of the door which keep the frame
in place. Mark the _exact_ position of these bolts even before you touch
them or you'll spend 3 month trying to get rid of the wind noise. Then,
check between the door frame and the window frame at each bolt. One of
the bolt, at least on my S6, have an aluminium spacer. A rectangular one
with an increasing thickness. This is also part of frame alignement and
your future quest of wind noise if you don't mark its exact position.
Once you're sure you can reassemble the window frame in its previous
position with 1mm precision, you're almost ready to remove the four
bolts. Before you remove the frame, find the yellow wires which feed the
mirror heaters. I never find the plug for these wires but I think there
was one originally. May be the dealer made a loosy repair in this area
as he seems to be used to. So I cut the wire and installed a plug. If
there is no plug, you can also lift the frame, carefully turn it to keep
the wire intact and still have access to the door mechanism. You'll need
a jack or some support to keep the window frame at the same level as the
door if you decide to keep these wires intact. Then pull gently on the
white plastic cover over the door lock,inside the door frane. This cover
is very brittle so you'd better go easy if you don't want to brake it.
Once you're there, you've almost finished. Remove the two Torx bolt on
the outside of the door, disconnect the three rods which connect to the
door lock and voilà: the bunch of rust you have in your hand is your
door lock. Don't think that because your 95.5 S6 is not so old, you
won't have a bunch of rust in your hand. Mine is a 96 and the two front
door lock was completly jammed by rust. A tooth brush, some de-ruster, a
brake cleaner can, some penetrating oil and a liberal dose of grease to
keep the water away will bring the lock back to life. Reinstall is the
reverse of removal.

OK, now the last advice. Get a Bentley before you start. The CD version
is cheap and will avoid a lot of problem if you start to play in your
door. There is also two parts that need precise adjustment: the window
frame and the door lock, and, IME, the Bentley procedure is useless to
have them aligned properly. Only trialS and errorS will get rid of the
wind noise, door noise and door hard to close. So be prepared to spend a
few evenings in your door, and learn a lot in the same time.



Vincent.
//S6, noise free, at last.

-----Message d'origine-----
De : s-car-list-admin at audifans.com
[mailto:s-car-list-admin at audifans.com] De la part de Fifield, Douglas
Envoyé : 5 février, 2003 10:04
À : 's-car-list at audifans.com'
Objet : [s-cars] S6 Door Panel


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OK, guys,

How difficult is it to remove the driver's door panel?  My new 95.5 S6
Avant refuses to respond to the lifting of the door latch under certain
circumstances.  The lock pull comes up when the car is unlocked using
the remote, but it is as if the door handle is not connected to
anything.  This is a sporadic problem.  Sometimes it works fine.  It
seems as though it exhibits the non-functional behavior most often after
being run through a car wash with outside temps below 15 deg. F.  And
being in Minnesota, those conditions are common.

I think I need to peek behind the panel to see what's going on.  Or
maybe you guys can tell me and offer a solution.

TIA,

Douglas in MN
95.5 //S6Avant - mine
98 Mercury Mountaineer - her work sled
98 Toyota RAV4 - for sale
73 BMW R60/5 - lonely in the garage

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