Replacing a door

[KingKrab65]

Been a while since I have been on GenVibe. Really glad that it is still around as it is still an awesome resource.

I have a 2003 Vibe and a tree limb fell on the driver's side rear door. There is a major dent right at the door crease near the window and also is near the gap with the front door. The paintless dent removal man wasn't sure that he would be able to get it out. Plus there was the $500 he was charging to try. I took the door inner panel out but there really isn't any access to the dent area to try and push it out myself.

There is a same colored Vibe in a near by salvage yard. The driver's side rear door is in great shape and it is $125. This seems like a very viable option.

My question is, has anyone here changed out a whole door from a Vibe. I have done door replacements on other imports. Mainly it is just pulling the pins on the hinges, pull the door, then putting in the new door and replace the pins. The pins here seem to be sealed on both ends where they can't just be popped out. It appears that I will need to remove the hinge on the door side. Also, previous doors had wire harnesses that could be removed at either the door or the body. I pulled the boots on my Vibe and it seems that there are just wires running through but no connectors at either point. Does anyone know if there is a harness inside the passenger door or would I have to splice the wires.

Thanks for any input.

[joatmon]

you will need to unbolt the hinge from either the door or the door jamb instead or taking the hinge apart.

I assume you've got power windows/locks. I'm sure there is a connector on the door wires, no need to splice wires. The question is where that connector is. From the wiring diagrams for the power windows and door locks, Toyota identifies the connector closest to the door as "BA1" page 9 of the attached wire routing diagram PDF shows connector BA1, but it's ambiguous exactly where that is. I'd put my money on it being inside the B pillar, you'd have to take off the interior trim between the front and back doors. If you get the door from the junkyard, make sure they disconnect the wire harness instead of just cutting it, otherwise you'd have to fit the harness inside the door from the old door into the new one.

a couple of threads related to door swap, but neither said where the connector is
viewtopic.php?t=48116
viewtopic.php?t=48423

Did the hurricane drop the tree limb, or was it something else?

[KingKrab65]

This is awesome information.

Thank you for posting the connection pdf. From the diagram, I believe that you are correct about the location of the connector. There are a couple of connectors in the gap between the doors with what appears to be a grommet on top of them. I will have to pull the trim on the B pillar and take a look.

I was afraid that the answer for the hinges would be to unbolt rather than remove the pin. It appears that the easier access to the hinge is on the door itself, so I will probably go in that direction.

To answer your question, no it didn't happen during Hurricane Helene. Charlotte dodged the brunt of that storm with minimal damage. It happened during an earlier storm though. We have had several major storms here in Charlotte this year with very heavy winds. One of them in February knocked down two power poles in my backyard. Fortunately, hurricane season ends on November 30th. Hopefully things will calm down then.

Thank you again so very much for all of your help!

[tpollauf]

If possible, and motivated enough to do so, post before & after pics of the swap. Seeing the progress will make all of us here even MORE proud of you for taking on this job