How do you remove the door panel of the driver side door of a 1997 Ford Expedition - is it the same as for a 1998 model?

Answer 1

How to remove a 97 Ford Expedition door panel.

Ok, I have a 97 Ford Expedion. I just replaced both front door panels. It is easy, IF you know the sequence (which I did not when I started) - now after a bit of research and fighting with hidden screws - here is how.

First - the passenger side front door panel. We'll work our way down the door.

1) You are standing with the passenger side front door open. The truck is to directly to your left, the open door is in front of you. Top left of the door panel is a triangular piece of plastice. Stick a flat head screwdriver under the lower left side of it and pry up, it will pop off.

2) With the triangular piece of plastic gone, you will see a Phillips head screw, remove it .

3) Now for the electric window buttons. Put a flat screwdriver under the plastic piece with the buttons and pry up. It will pop right up. You can probably do this with your fingers, it should take too much to pop it up. Undo the electrical connections to the buttons. Very easy. Set the buttons aside. Bend down and look up into hole created by the removal. You are looking for a Phillips head screw just like the one from step one. Remove it. - IMPORTANT - this is the hidden one I could not find and for the life of me could not figure out what the panel was not coming off. Remove this screw!

4) Need a rachet and extension bar for this next one. The inside door handle used to open the door must come off. There is a round (oval) piece of plastic around it. Use your finger or screw driver and pry it. It is easy to do, and should pop right off. Look in the holre (back right of the handle) you will see a hex bolt head there - undo the bolt and remove the door handle.

5) There is a light at the botton of the the door on the lower right. It is covered by a Red and Clear piece of plastic. Pry the plastic piece off from the bottom with the screw driver. You will see a Phillips head screw in there. Remove it.

6) Stand in the truck and pull up on the remaining handle, it will pop right off. You are done. CAREFUL. there is the little light at the botton, which will likely pop out by itself, but you may need to wiggle it loose and don't want to rip it off as it is wired in.

Course all this is perfectly easy if you know how do it and where all the stupid screws are. Trust me, it took me a few minutes to find #3 and #5.

The driver side door is much the same, but there are a few more electrical connections and the mirror mover thing.

Hope this helps, I would have loved to run across this before I had to do my research and trial and error. Good luck.

Also, I found many posts which told me to search on F150 also and I did this and found it helpful for whatever I was searching on related to my 97 Ford Expedition.