Hi,

I have got a replacement solenoid for the central locking on my Felicia passenger side door (it is definetely the solenoid that has failed). Looking at the Haynes manual, it seems that the whole door assembly needs to be dismantled to allow the unit to be replaced. Is it possible to replace the solenoid without going to such extreme measures. In other words, can I remove and replace the solenoid without having to dismantle the whole door or am I just going to have to bite the bullet and set aside a few hours for this job. Any help will be very appreciated.

Many thanks

Ian

you have to dismantle the whole door

Hmmmm, just as I thought.

Just for those who are interested. The solenoid on the passenger side door of my Felicia went faulty, so I decided to change it for an aftermarket one. The one I got was from ebay and only cost a few quid. Looking in the Haynes manual, it said that the whole door needed to be dismantled, which I wasn't looking forward to, especially as it marks the job down as a difficult one to do. However, even though this was true and the whole door did need to be dismantled, the job was not anywhere near as complecated as I thought it would be. Dismantling the door is a fairly simple procedure, as long as you follow the manual. The biggest problem I had, was having to identify which wire went where on the aftermarket solenoid, as the wiring had a different set of colour codes. However, a multimeter easily took care of that problem. The only other things that needed to be done was to drill two holes in the inside door panel to fix the new solenoid to and a case of having to crimp connectors to the solenoid wiring and the old solenoid connector to allow it to plug into the cars wiring loom.

When you first look at it, the job looks as though it could be a nightmare, but believe me, it isn't. Just leaving a couple of hours spare will allow you to get the job done without having to rush. Hope this helps anyone thinking of changing a solenoid in their car.

Ian