Do I need new panels?

[Jamie Niver]

Help I think I messed up my panel doors to my dodge caravan. So after about a year of having a used van with non functioning sliding doors, my husband being away I decided to fix it myself. I ordered new motors and new harnesses, successfully put them in but I am not sure if I broke the panels. They don’t seem to want to fit in right anymore. Also the dvd player is now going crazy when starting the van. It’ also has never worked.

I did learn a costly lesson in all of this Lol check the fuses first. I’m not sure if my motors were bad but whatever. I don’t feel as stupid because the previous owner and my husband never fixed it via fuses. I am determined to learn to fix my own vehicles from now on if I can, as a single mother of five I can’t afford not too.

Topic

[Lee Ann]

[quote=”Mrsniverto5″ post=138545]Help I think I messed up my panel doors to my dodge caravan. So after about a year of having a used van with non functioning sliding doors, my husband being away I decided to fix it myself. I ordered new motors and new harnesses, successfully put them in but I am not sure if I broke the panels. They don’t seem to want to fit in right anymore. Also the dvd player is now going crazy when starting the van. It’ also has never worked.

I did learn a costly lesson in all of this Lol check the fuses first. I’m not sure if my motors were bad but whatever. I don’t feel as stupid because the previous owner and my husband never fixed it via fuses. I am determined to learn to fix my own vehicles from now on if I can, as a single mother of five I can’t afford not too.[/quote]

What I would suggest is to remove the panel and start again. Make a mental note of the “geography,” if you will, of where wires/clips/ raised areas and such might get pinched/interfere with reinsertion of the panel. Patience is vital as you may find yourself needing to start over a couple times (like I did). I remember the sound that my 2000 Honda Civic driver door panel made when I removed it in April to diagnose a malfunctioning door lock actuator. It sounded like I broke it, but I didn’t. It was just the sound of the plastic clips releasing.

Keep me posted and welcome to the forum. B)

[none]

You probably broke a lot of these retainers & pins or they’re not aligned to each other. The alignment of pins to retainers can be a little fickle at times, but not impossible. Breaking those pins is just par for the course. They’re really prone to breaking no matter how much practice you’ll ever get removing those door panels. Pull those panels back off and pull one of those plastic pins out for reference. You should easily be able to get replacement pins at your favorite parts store that carries the Dorman HELP parts.

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[James O’Hara]

Also make sure it is sliding all the way down against the glass. They like to hang up right before its fully seated normally its the two upper clips/plastic retainers.

[2leadfeet]

I’d start with a repair manual. If this is your first repair, reading about how to do it step by step woukd be the way to go

[Lee Ann]

Hopefully, the original “poster” has been successful with this repair. 🙂

[Author]

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