Volkswagen Car Door Disassembly and Reassembly

This Instructable will give you a step by step in the assembly of a Volkswagen Golf 2000 passenger door.

You might need to do this to fix a jammed lock, replace a broken sensor or motor, or install new speakers. I did it personally to install new speakers.

Keep in mind that this instructable will for the most part apply to other MkIV Volkswagen models, including Passats and Jettas.

This car is built with plastic snaps that keep together a majority of the plastic panels, handles, and latches. The part you grab on the passenger side door has a ridge running down the middle. Use a flat head screwdriver, or pocket knife, protected by a cloth so as not to damage the handle, to wedge a gap in between the two pieces of the handle. The side facing into the car will now pop off (picture 1), and reveal a couple Philips head screws. A magnetic screwdriver is VERY helpful for this, as the screws are set deep into the door, especially during re-assembly. Once the screws are out remove the inner handle and it should look like picture two.

On the drivers side door you instead need to pry off the smaller door handle and window/lock assembly. Undo the power clip and take out several screws holding the bottom part of the assembly in place.

You will need a T20 Torx bit to remove 3 screws at the bottom of the door panel, hidden under the edge as pictured. There is also one other sneaky screw on the inside edge of the door, near the top. You will need to open the door as far as possible, and still may have trouble getting an angle at the screw. I used a mini screwdriver on a type of Swiss army knife.

After all the screws are out, the door will not just fall off. It is held in place by a punch of clips. You need to pull out on the bottom of the panel until the bottom is no longer connected, then push up to allow the door to pop off the upper clips and up off of the lock and out of the window slot.

Be careful! Your door panel is still tethered to the door itself by wires connected to the window, the light, and the lock. On the drivers side door there are more connections to be aware of. Make sure you disconnect all of the little connectors (simple clips) before yanking the door panel off.

Once the door panel is completely off and disconnected, do whatever you took the door panel off to do. (DUH)

Take note of what are pictured above. This is the door latch mechanism (which you had to manually disconnect to get the door off) and the door lock. These parts are the most difficult to manage when putting the door back on. If they are not done correctly you could have problems opening your door or visually locking your door.

To put your door back together, first reconnect all of the electrical components. Then make sure the door latch hook is put back in the hole in the inside of the inner door latch. Raise the door panel over the locking mechanism such that it lines up with the hole. This is easiest to do while holding the lock steady from under the panel. Put the top of the door into the window slot where it belongs while lining it up with the lock hole. This way the door is put back into place where it can rest in the window, but the bottom is still not connected so you can make sure the lock is in place.

Before putting in all screws again I would recommend just making sure all of the electrical and physical components of your door work just as they did when you took the door apart, in case you need to get back in there.

Then push firmly on the door all over until it is firmly snapped into place. Replace all screws in reverse order and you're done!