07 Taco door panel

07 Tacoma 4-door, SR5 with sport fabric upgrade and JBL stereo.

I have a rattle in the driver's door since new. I'm debating whether to go after it myself or have the dealer look at it. I'm afraid I'll break something if I try to remove the door panel myself. I can easily pull the bottom of the panel out, but I can't see how it attaches at the top. I think the lower speaker and window controls come with the panel too, so there's the wiring also. The rattle sounds like a wire or similar object hitting against the panel inside, but the sound is poorly localized and could be coming from anywhere in the door.

Anybody know the proper procedure for removing this panel?

Reply to
Dan G
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Let the dealer do it this time. It's not hard, but if you break something, you have to make the same trip for the part as you would for the repair.

Reply to
JoeSpareBedroom

Only problem is that I'll have to leave it there for God knows how long and they might not do anything at all. Been there, done that. Odds of them actually accomplishing anything is 50/50.

Reply to
Dan G

OK. Stay tuned until later tonight. I'll take a peek at my 04 Taco. 25 years ago, Toyota found perfect ways of attaching door panels, and they tend to hang onto good things. My 04 should be close enough to your 07. Do you have power windows?

Reply to
JoeSpareBedroom

I'm with Joe.

A.) They can easily fix it, and your warranty is part of the purchase price.

B.) Your complaint gets logged into Toyota's defect records. They have a good history of making running corrections for repetitive issues.

Reply to
Bonehenge (B A R R Y)

My '05 Access Cab might be closer. There's a screw to remove behind the armrest, and a "push button" fitting to release, the "triangle" and door switch panels have to be removed, and the whole thing lifts UP to release from the door shell. I installed aftermarket speakers in mine. A wrong move = rattling panels.

I'd still let the dealer fix it. This shouldn't be more than a one day trip with an appointment.

If the OP is in CT, email me @ balsapilot at yahoo dot com, and I can suggest an excellent service dept.

Reply to
Bonehenge (B A R R Y)

When I was installing car stereos every day, I could get a Toyota door panel off in under 3 minutes. It shouldn't take the dealer more than 20.

Reply to
JoeSpareBedroom

I had a rattle in my 05 Taco. I pulled the door panel off ( popped out tabs between panel and door, maybe a screw or two) which was easy considering it was rattling for 2 or 3 months after I bought the truck this January and debated taking it to the dealer to be fixed, anyway there are 2 nuts holding the window channel near the lower-middle of the door. Just tighten/replace using Loc-Tite. took me about 15 minutes - includes searching garage for Loc-Tite.

T
Reply to
tombstne

Hum, thanks. I've eliminated the lock linkage, door latch linkage from the mix. The only thing makes the rattle go away is lowering the window at least

1/2", so that seems to correlate with your experience. If I pop out the bottom of the panel, I look up and can see at least one mounting bolt in the center of the panel, but can't really reach it. I really don't want to break anything, almost as much as I don't want to make 3 trips to the dealer cause they can't find the rattle. It sounds like a metallic "click", but could just as easily be a connector hanging loose. It's not there till the door heats up in the course of the day, and I can also make it go away by pushing in on the door panel or window REALLY hard.
Reply to
Dan G

I found a door panel removal detail here:

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They miss one "push-pin" attachment in the upper right corner, but otherwise it's a good detailed instruction with a pretty blonde to boot.

Reply to
Dan G

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