hey guys chrisfix here today I'm going to show you how to take a door panel off this is a 2003 Toyota rav4 this method works for a 2001 to 2005 Toyota rav4 and we're also going to fix the common problem where the key doesn't work to lock or unlock the door you can see on the screen there's eight red circles around the edge of the door those are clips that you're going to need to take off it'd be good if you had a panel clip remover it'll make it a lot easier for yourself and you won't break as many panel clips this door handle here has two screws and to get that off you have to pry this out underneath for the power window switch you want to get a flathead screwdriver with a piece of tape on it like this so that you don't damage the panel or anything and you're going to pry from up here in the door handle area you can see there's a little panel clip right there that you're just going to pop off and then you're going to get to a screw in there you're going to use your flat-head screwdriver up here pop that off and then you have a bolt right here and then you'll get the whole door panel off so let's begin I'll start with this door handle here just slide in the screwdriver here at the bottom and pry upwards until it pops out like that good and then just pull all the way up just like so pop this out now you have access to your two Phillips head screws good and that one's unscrewed it just doesn't want to come out so we'll just leave it there this one's pretty simple you just go in here pop that out then you have access to the screw in there so now just unscrew that screw that's back there this speaker right up here just get in here this pops right out as well for this I'm going to use a lot smaller and thinner screwdriver because it's a really tight gap in here and once you get under here get your thicker one and there's a metal clip right here and as you push forward against that clip you're going to take your finger and pry this upwards and then that pops up and now you just take this and this will come right out like so now we're going to remove this wiring harness so there's a tab right here that you press down good get your flat-head screwdriver to remove this grille just pops it out like that now you can use just a flathead screwdriver on this but I would use panel clip pliers you're going to have three panel clips here and then a bunch along the bottom I'm just using a flathead screwdriver with tape on it and get in here then I could see where the clip is on the side which is right there and then just use the panel clip players pop that open should be another one right here pop that open the bottom one popped open too now we'll just go along the bottom here these mostly popped open as it is so now we need to take the door handle and lock bezel off we want to do is get your screwdriver in between the door handle and the bezel right below the middle of the lock and just keep your fingers under there and do the same thing for the top so right in between the middle of the lock just like that and that will come right out now you just take the whole door panel you lift it up a little bit give it a wiggle it'll come right out so now you can do whatever you want to do on the interior of the door panel so I'm just peeling this off and just grab it from the glue try not to rip the plastic so the problem was whenever you would put the key in try to turn the key nothing would happen door wouldn't unlock so if we go behind the door here you can see there's this piece of metal that's loose here and it attaches to this it just needs to get clipped into here and that fixes that problem so to fix this just straighten this out like this you want to just clip that in there like that and that should hold so now you'll see when you turn the key now this completely works so now the key function will work this is a common problem on Toyota rav4 guy resigned or specifically and now we can put the door panel back together so after you're done fixing whatever you want to fix in this case we fix the door lock so when you put the key in it'll actually lock the door and open it you want to put this back on this has this special glue it's actually a little bit heat sensitive so if it's hot out it should be pretty sticky which it is but if it's cold out you might want to add a little bit of heat now we'll take our door on the top part of the door there's these holders that hold the door in like this on the top of the door right here so you want to get these holders on first so then you could align everything and screw everything it put your connector in here door up push it against the window a little bit just like so now we're going to go on the side I'm going to make sure our clips are aligned and then just pop it in you'll hear them snap good now there's no particular order you need to go in we'll get our door handle bezel on that just goes in like this get this part in first and then push this in good that clicks in like that now you'll have these screws left the short metal one goes in here snug that up and then all I do is you take this tab and that clicks in just like that make sure that you have your wiring harness out so that you don't have to like go digging through here now we're going to do our buttons for the windows and the locks so this just slides in make sure it clicks like that you can see there's a plastic clip back here so you get that in first and here is that metal clip I was talking about before that you have to push with the screwdriver you just get that in like that now we have our two door screws one I told you was stuck in here before it popped out when I took the door out so just get that and that slides right in and screw it in snug it down you don't have to over tighten these the doors not going anywhere get that bottom one in snug that down now we have our molding and you can see it's just a bunch of plastic clips that pops in so you want to get it even all around just like so and just press good now we have our last screw it's this little plastic screw pretty simply goes in here like this just press it in and turn it a little bit I actually don't even think you need to turn it I think it's more of just a press in screw and our last thing is the speaker cover here that just goes on like that and pop that in so this is how you remove a door panel from a 2001 to 2005 toyota rav4 in this case we fixed the lock that wasn't unlocking or locking but with the door panel removed you can fix whatever needs fixing like the window regulator power locks or a speaker if the tips and tricks in this video we're helpful to remove your door panel remember to give the video a thumbs up and if you're not a subscriber consider subscribing on the screen will be other how-to videos you click on the screen or you could find the links to those videos in the description along with the links to the Chris fix Facebook and Twitter pages check it out