Disclaimer

This guide is intended for users to show how a door panel can be removed or installed. Please follow at your own risk as well as be sure to make all safety precautions before beginning any processes.

Removing the Door Panel

In this example, the door panel being removed is from a 1999 Honda Civic Hatchback without power windows or power door locks. In Figure 1, we see the driver side door panel I will be removing. The passenger door panel can also be removed with the exact same steps.

Figure 1: 1999 Honda Civic Hatchback Door

The first step in removing the door panel is to remove the window crank seen in Figure 2. The window crank is held in place with a metal pin and therefore it may be tricky to pull the pin out therefore I do suggest using some longer pliers to either pull or push the pin out on either side.

Figure 2: 1999 Honda Civic Hatchback Window Crank

Figure 3: 1999 Honda Civic Hatchback Window Crank Pin

The removed window crank and pin are shown in Figure 3; as seen above, you will have to use pliers to push the pin off the crank to slide the pin out from the insert as shown in Figure 4.

Figure 4: 1999 Honda Civic Hatchback Window Crank Insert

Now there are a couple screws we have to unbolt to remove the door panel. In the door panel arm rest, there is a small slot and if you look inside, there is a screw to unbolt as seen in Figure 5.

Figure 5: 1999 Honda Civic Hatchback Door Slot

After unscrewing the bolt with a philips screwdriver, you can remove the plastic door slot piece and it will look like Figure 6.

Figure 6: 1999 Honda Civic Hatchback Door Slot Piece

Now if you look at the door handle, behind the handle there is one screw for removal as seen in Figure 7.

Figure 7: 1999 Honda Civic Hatchback Door Handle Screw

After removing the screw, you can remove the plastic cover behind the door handle. The door handle may seem to be in the way but if you angle it right, the plastic cover can be removed without damage to any of the components. Figure 8 shows the plastic cover removed:

Figure 8: 1999 Honda Civic Hatchback Door Handle Plastic Cover Exposed

Now we direct our attention to the bottom corner of the door panel which houses the speakers. First we will need to pry off the speaker cover (Figure 9), the speaker cover can and will easily come off with a flat head screw driver.

Figure 9: 1999 Honda Civic Hatchback Door Speaker Cover

After removing the speaker cover, it will expose the speakers. There are 3 screws we will have to remove in order to remove the door panel as seen in Figure 10.

Figure 10: 1999 Honda Civic Hatchback Door Speaker Exposed

Usually I like to remove the rear view mirror plastic cover as well because it sometimes will get in the way when removing the door panel (Figure 11). Simply pull on the plastic cover and angle it to pull it through the rear view mirror handle. (Figure 12)

Figure 11: 1999 Honda Civic Hatchback Rear View Mirror Plastic Cover

Figure 12: 1999 Honda Civic Hatchback Rear View Mirror Plastic Cover Exposed

Now we should have removed all the bolts and screws that are securing your door panel. On the bottom edge of your door panel, there are clips which hold your panel in place (Figure 13). Becareful when unclipping your door panel since when broken, your door will not clip back into place correctly when reinstalling. Simple pull the door panel off the door along the bottom edge, it should not require alot of force to do so.

Figure 13: 1999 Honda Civic Hatchback Bottom Edge Clips

Once the door panel are popped off the clips, simple push the panel upwards and the panel should slide off your door and expose the inner panel of your door (Figure 14).

Figure 14: 1999 Honda Civic Hatchback Door Panel Removed

With this your door panel should be removed!