weaselwee

I am going to replace the run channel on the drivers door of my 2002 ES300. Any how-to's on this or some advice as to things to watch out for? I am assuming it is pretty straight forward, but I figured you guys might know where some of the less visible screws and clips are.

Thanks,

Jim

alan311

Ah you're in luck. I have an ES 300 2002 too as well and a few hours ago I opened the rear left door panel to try to replace the stock speakers. Here's the steps that I know now for the rear left. Mirror for the other sides.

Tools needed:
- thin but strong plastic plastic paddle for gently prying out stuff (or equivalent)
e.g. these are plastic tools for the ipod: http://www.addongear.com/Merchant2/g...r_tool_125.jpg
Basically a thin plastic flat surface about half an inch long that wont leave a mark when you use it. I used a kitchen tool that was made of plastic.
- Phillips screw driver

1. Take out window control (up/down button for the window): Using the paddle, approach the thingy from the left and *gently* pry it out. Do the same from the right. Now the window control will be free. Lift it up, unhook the wire plug and take off the controller. Picture from a similiar scenario: http://home.comcast.net/~zgone/Speakers/door1.JPG
2. Now you'll see one screw inside the opening. Unscrew that.
3. There's another screw in the door handle. Using the plastic paddle, gently pry out the little curved plastic shield at the back of the door handle. It comes off easy. There's another screw behind that. Picture: http://home.comcast.net/~zgone/Speakers/door4.JPG
4. Now start with the bottom of the door, put in your fingers and pull off the door panel carefully, going all around: bottom, right and left. There are plugs holding the panel to the metal frame distanced about 1 feet from each other.
5. The panel should be loose now and should only be stuck at the top.
6. Lift the panel upward and it will unlock from the top.
7. Unhook wires: door light and window control
7. Two wires for locking and opening the door will need to be pulled out. Just rotate the wire and the ball will come off at a right angle to the door. Its easy, you'll see when you get to it. Just remember, the green wire goes at the bottom (or whatever your configuration is, just make a note of it on paper)

The door panel has now been removed. Sorry I dont have any pictures and stuff to make these directions easy but hopefully this is better than nothing. The most important thing is a good plastic paddle for prying out the window control: firm but thin. Just use it carefully to make sure you're not harming the door panel when you're prying out stuff. Mine was perfect, no harm done.

I did all this to find out the Polk Audio 651 6.5" speakers didnt have much bass as compared to the blown out 7-year-old Mark Levinson speakers. I was disappointed and will get rid of these speakers. I dont know what to buy now. I cant spend $500 on speakers. I trusted Amazon's 10's of 4.5/5 reviews. I really like bass and these speakers cant do it and if a speaker cant do bass, its no good atleast for me. It worked out for other people. Bottomline: I need atleast the same bass as the stock speakers which are actually smaller than what I got from Amazon.

Hope this helps! I'm thinking the procedure will be the same for the driver's door, only difference being that the window controller piece will be bigger since it has all 4 controls and more controls there.
But yea : 2 screws, pull away, pull up and unplug should work.