(T) How to get to the rear door locks.

During winter the car lock mechanism failed somewhat and refused to let one rear passenger door open. It had rained for a week, then a sudden temperature fall to -10C. This froze the lock propably. Outer handle failed (on all doors except driver's door), and when trying the inside handle the cable snapped or something. After parking in a warm car parking garage all handles worked again, except the rear passenger door mentioned.

Now I've removed the inner door trim - which was fairly easy. Very similiar to the Uno. The cable was released, to find out it has loosened or snapped further inside the door.

But how to get inside to the next level? After removal of the bolts (X amount) it will not slip off. Will I have to release and remove the window? Is the mechanism for doing this as on the Uno? A hole in the lower part of the window with a plastic clip? What about the window up/down mechanism.

To ask the simple question: What do I have to do to remove the 2nd door card from rear passenger door?

By the way I also mentioned the ****tiest speakers I've ever seen in a car so far. No wonder the sound from the rear is terrible. The Ritmo was much better equipped originally - from 1986. The magnet itself must have the wheight of a little Lego-man. Fiat must have gotten this extremely cheap.

But again to the inner door card. What do I do?

Regards, Morten.

Remove glass...just unclip it & move it up & tape it to top of door frame,no need to physically remove it from car.

Excellent. Tomorrow when it gets lighter then.

M.

I laughed to see how you're ripping into your Stilo as though it was the Uno, Morten... Shouldn't be necessary of course but I suppose damage does happen.

A friend and I were sitting in my Stilo enjoying the stereo, which seems like good quality - and the volume was only on '08' or something. I said, "I wonder what the maximum is?" We both braced ourselves as I wound it all the way up - to 25 - and the distortion was TERRIBLE! The speakers might sound OK at low-normal volume, but they definitely don't work at high volume. And, I think good aftermarket speakers are better anyway. E.g. Infinity Kappa.

I think the part you are looking at is a door subframe, by the way, similar to the Tipo models that I've worked on. I would expect the Stilo to be more closely related to the Tipo than the Uno (there's a big difference between Tipo and Uno, even though they're a similar age, almost as though there are two distinct 'teams' at FIAT).

The subframe has small bolts all the way around (on the Tipo) and is pretty easy to detach once the glass is parted from the winder mechanism. I imagine that it's designed for easy assembly - all lock parts are assembled on the subframe before it's bolted to the door.

-Alex

All right... it's fixed then.

It was actually a fairly straight forward job after getting a push in the right direction from T14086 about the glass. (Simpler fixing method than the Uno, Alex, where I had to go with pliers on the inside.) It's actually very smart assembling so many items on the subframe as you say, Alex. Will save Fiat some time. The trickiest part was lifting the frame up and out of the manual lock mechanism and at the same time push the wire (from the inner handle) out of it. Ofcourse after unclipping the cable block from the lock itself.

To my big surprise nothing was broken. On the lock there is just the same patent as on the inner door handle. A little white clip that twist and clips over the wire to secure it. Had popped out.

Alex, I've checked the Kappa from Infinity, but they seem to be 2 ohms load. Will this work on the standard head unit from Blaupunkt/Fiat? I will ofcourse change all 4 (+tweeters) after I found out about this speakers must be made of recycled toilet paper and a small box of meltet staples for a magnet. No wonder why my little boy thinks Wolfmother sounds crap from the backseat but better in the front seat. I've never been back there to listen. I now owe him a new set of speakers.

Bottom shows a picture from this winter... when the cable snapped. See I've dug out the Stilo by hand. A private parking place in the street, hehe. There was even more snow to come, higher than the car itself.


Morten.

Goodness me...
I think my battery would give up straight away in those conditions, plus I'd be having doubts about the engine oil. And I'd need studded tyres to move anywhere - come to that, why doesn't everyone have four-wheel-drive cars... Subaru makes them

In theory the 2-ohm speaker load would not be compatible, in practice (with the volume not 'cranked' all the time) I think it will be OK. (EDIT: given the musical style, maybe not. Buy an amp as well.)

Perhaps when you go back in to replace the speaker, you can use some super-low temp grease (silicone grease?) on the various parts of the lock? Or I expect you've already done that (what did you use?)

Embarrassingly (given their Australian origins) I had no idea who http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolfmother were. I wonder if you can buy Fur Patrol CDs in your shops On second thoughts, that seems a strange flavour of music to inflict on your son - whatever will he choose to be rebellious when he gets older? Mariah Carey? Brooke Fraser?

-Alex

Well, as an example, the little Uno had a 70 mAh battery. This is also the reason the new Panda just is relased here. They needed to be equipped with larger batteries, bigger dynamoes, thicker power cables and monster-heater etc. We don't drive on studded tyres, they give a false safety-feeling. On ice ofcourse.

WD40, as every Fiat should be equipped with, in addition to gaffa tape. And some industrial Styx colored grease from Esso, which was given to me by my father for many years ago. He used it on his car when he was younger, so it's propably toxic, measured by todays standards. But it works and never freezes.

Well, Wolfmother kind of continues the music style he's been raised to from me, like Led Zeppelin and other hard rock bands from earlies days. Fur Patrol must be bought through Amazon.

Morten.