I looked through the Sticky section for How-to guides, but did not see anything for removing door cards, so I thought I'd post this up and hopefully it will help some people.

A few weeks after purchasing my 2011 XF, I started noticing a rattling noise from the passenger-side door that happened when driving over bumps or listening to music with any type of bass. Some research led me to this post, which I will credit as the original source of this how-to: How to remove xf door cards

There are cables inside the door that are wrapped in a foam material which breaks down and eventually fails, leading to the cables being exposed and causing rattles. In my car, this was the front passenger door, but this can happen in any of the doors as the design is similar.

Anyways, I'll get started. This procedure is really quite simple and only requires basic tools. Here are the tools you will need:

• T20 Torx bit
• T30 Torx bit
• Small flathead screwdriver (or other prying device)
• Beverage of choice (optional)

First step is to remove all of the screws and bolts from the door, the location of which is shown here:


Pry these small plastic pieces off with a small screwdriver, and remove all the bolts:







Once those are all removed, grab the door panel at the inside edge (noted above in first picture), and give it a firm and quick pull. This may require a prying tool if you can't get your finders behind it. Once you feel the first clip pop, work your way around the door panel with more quick firm pulls to release all of the clips. You can see the clip locations in the next photo.

Before removing the door panel, unclip the lock cable from the door card. Set it aside, and proceed to remove all of the T20 bolts around the speaker assembly:




Pull the speaker assembly out and move it out of the way. I just let it dangle to the side, but you could remove all the cables if you desire. Once that's out of the way, you are done taking things apart. Here's a look inside the door...notice how bad the foam has deteriorated in 2 years.




There is a white clip that holds the two cables together. In my case, the foam had deteriorated, leaving both cables exposed. Taking one of the cables and wiggling it around immediately revealed the exact source of the irritating rattling I was hearing. My solution was to move the cable from its location sitting directly next to the opposing cable, and move it into a small retainer that is built into the clip. Easier to explain in a picture:




In addition, I re-wrapped all of the cables with new foam material to avoid future problems. You can use any sort of thin foam, I happened to have some high density packing material that I used.






Once that was done, everything goes back together in reverse order. Make sure to re-connect the lock cable before snapping the door panel back in place. It goes back on pretty easily, just use a firm hit with a closed fist on each clip location to re-seat them. These clips hold very firmly and are good quality, so I did not experience any breaking or issues. Once back together, the door feels as good as new.

All wrapped up:





Best part of all, NO MORE RATTLES! This made a huge difference in the comfort and my enjoyment of the car. Music sounds better and no more noises when going over bumps.

Hopefully this will be helpful to someone, and don't hesitate to contact me if you have any questions!

 

Great writeup, pictures and post! I hope I don't need to use it.

 

Thanks, I have just noted the rattle goung over a piece of really bad road. Looks a doddle.

 

Thank you for your time and efforts in posting this.

I actually had similar sound caused by the speaker. Extremely annoying..... I dropped it off to the dealer and they seemed to have fixed it. Not sure what was done.

 

Hey there, absolutely superb write up as a How to

Thanks so much for sharing and now added as FAQ / HOW TO

Thanks again

 

Just used this post to fix a very annoying rattle in my driver's door. I went ahead and used the method in the post to snap the cable into the holder, and I used self adhesive felt to wrap the cables.

I did that as a precaution, because I don't think the cables were causing a rattle in my driver's door. The rattle I had could be stopped by pressing up gently on the silver trim just below the door handle and above the window switches.

Pushing in that area doesn't seem like it could have any effect on those cables.

So I just made sure all the screws were tightened, and I put some felt in between the door handle assembly and the door card. I also wrapped any connectors in felt that looked like they could rattle.

This felt has so many uses in the end. The adhesive is very strong, which is great:


These instructions made it so much easier than guessing where are the screws and the clips. Thanks!

The hardest part was removing the top of the door card and putting it back as it's a tight fit. Go easy and be patient with this part of the job so you don't damage the rubber strip.

 

Thanks for the write up. I had my windows tinted and then a rattle started. Turns out one of the clips for the wires going to the mid range and door light came off when they removed the door panel when tinting. Put it back on and no more rattle. I tightened everything up while there. I found that opening the window fully and pulling the door panel from rear of the door was much easier for removing the door panel.

 

I'm so pleased I got to read your superb instructions on "How to remove the door card" on my XF. I would otherwise have eventually removed it and possibly broken something just to find I was nowhere near to being able to do what I need to do. In my case I need to remove it to get to to the window lifter which gives a "clonck" and goes back down. I'm now undecided whether to proceed or leave it since the speaker assembly also has to be removed and at the moment I do not have a spare car.
Many thanks
Regards Dos.

 

Thank you for this fantastic writeup …

I have had this problem since purchasing my XF some 18months ago. The jaguar dealer looked atit and gave some lame response like some clips had not been set probably. To me it sounded like they hadn’t doneanything and sure enough the rattle didn’t go away.

So I decided to have a go myself. Your instructions were fantastic, saved mehours and probably a few mistakes. Theinstant I got to the two overlapping cables and shook them (as per yourinstructions) I knew I had found the problem … there was that annoying sound Ihad put up with for 18 months.

I suspect just moving the inner cable into the outer clip(as per your suggestion) would have been sufficient to fix the rattle, but Ialso re-wrapped the cables as per your suggestion.

Haven’t had a mumble from the door since … it’s so nice tobe able to listen to my music without that annoying rattle … thank you so much!!! My best Xmas present !!!

Only one small observation for others wishing to do thiswork … the instructions didn’t mention a few electrical wires that needed to bedisconnected from the door panel (as well as the lock cable) before it could befully removed.

My rattle was in the driver’s door so I needed to unplug theelectric window wires, the seat memory wires and a light wire, as well as twoclips holding the wires in place. Otherdoors would at least have the electric window wiring and possibly a light wire.

This was not a problem but it was a little difficult holdingthe door panel while trying to work out what needed to be done, and then doit. A suggestion, which I used whenputting the door panel back on, is to have a small chair or box to rest thedoor panel on close to the door frame while working on these electricalconnections. Just something that isroughly the same height as the bottom of the door so you can wrest the door panelon it while disconnecting or reconnecting the electrics.

Thanks again for this extremely helpful post.

Regards … Craig

 

Same thing with my XF, though this is when the door is being shut, sounds like something hitting on something inside the door, its not loud just a bit annoying... will have a go myself after reading this excellent piece of help. Many thanks indeed.

 

This is AWSOME! Thank you for the great post and the pictures to go along!

 

What happens to the window and seat memory controls when removing this panel?

 

There are disconnect plugs for the electrical, just disconnect them when removing the panel and plug them back together when replacing the panel.

 

any idea what's the problem?

 

Hello
I got a Sportbrake und need to remove the door panel of the back door. I found 3 screws only and couldn't rempve the panel. Well I didn't pull strong, beeing afraid to habe missed a screw and brake something.
can anybody tell me, if there are nother screws and where they are?

thx in advance & rds Urs

 

seems I'm the only one interested in the sportbrake door panel.. .. anyway..

.. tried it in the meantime.. those arfe the only 3 screews.. by pulling on the down left corner, it started to pop out.

 

Thank you very much for your thread. I have recently purchased a 2000 XK8 which is perfect in all regards except for an annoying rattle in the passenger door. You have now alerted me to a likely source and the means of reaching it.

Tintenbar

 

Thanks so much digital. Followed your procedure to the letter this afternoon and have stopped the annoying rattle.

As an aside. I did spend some time actually determining just what the rattle was. It was the rear cable actually hitting the White clip itself. I did exactly what you said and removed this cable to the rear of the clip and re secured it to the reverse of this clip, which has a completely separate moulding for such cables.

I did put new foam on the cable however thought it would have been fine not to have bothered.

Thanks again

 

This fix worked on my 09 XF! I wrapped one of the straps with weather stripping then removed the plastic clip the hold them together. In place of that clip I used a wire tie to snug the cables up.
It was a problem on both front doors, the fix took about about 1 hour for both. Just keep one thing in mind, DONT FORGET TO RE ATTACH THE DAMN DOOR LEVER CABLE....

 

This how-to just saved me £500.
About three weeks ago, I test drove a lightly used, very low mileage XF for an already OK price and found the only issue was an irritating door rattle on the drivers side. I googled it while out with the car and found this thread. It looked a simple enough fix.

On returning to the dealer (Ford) I pointed out the rattle and acted as if it was a deal breaker. The salesman said he could have it looked at or maybe reduce the price a bit. I said, "how much?". He called his boss over, explained the situation and his boss said the best they could do was £500 lower or they'd be losing money (possibly sales lies).

I agreed, picked up the car a few days later, returned home, followed this guide and 20 minutes later, had a flawless car and £500 for diesel.