I need to get inside the door of my Fabia as I'm experiencing some problems with the central locking and browsing a couple of old threads here.....it seems like I should look at some soldered connections inside the door. I've taken off 3 'screws' which are at the bottom of the door and after doing so......a few clips are willing to be prized out but the door lining seems to be held on further up......It seems like I will need to take the door handle off somehow and maybe there's someting behind this holding the lining on. Could somebody help me with the procedure as I don't want to damage anything. Has anybody here recently performed this task? Thanks.

Edited 19 September, 200916 yr by Ader1

You have to pop of the trim that has the window switch in it, be very carful of the large flat clip at the back of this piece as it damages quite easily and won;t clip back down fully if you bend it. with a torch and long screw drive you'll need to try and poke it away from the main handle body. Then slide forward the arm rest so it pops off as well. Now you'll see 3 large screws, these hold the door on as well and must be removed.

Pop off the tweeter cover in-front of the door release handle, under there is another screw.

Once you've done that gently but firmly pull the door card towards you, un clipping the trim clips.. you'll almost certainly break a few so a trip to Skoda is recommended, the clips cost pence.. Halfords to a similar clip which works but doesn't have a grommet for water tightness, and in a Fabia that's very important. Be carful with the locking pin as you get towards the top.

The card is hung from the top, and to fully remove you need to pull the door card upwards. It can be very stiff sometimes and it can be easier to wind the window down so you can get to the back side of the plastic strip.

Once you've removed all of that you'll find a large silver metal panel stopping you getting into the actual door. If what your trying to get to is inside the door and not with all the cabling you can get to then you'll need to undo the cables where you can and undo the 3 screws holding the window winder / motor inplace. Then undo the 10 large bolts around the edge. On post 2003 cars these are rivets that'll need drilling out but be aware they're very large and most hand held rivet tools wont be able to replace them.

If your planing to do more work like this I highly recommend a Haynes manual!

The tricky window switch trim can be seen here from underneath, should help

http://briskoda.net/fabia-i/how-do-you-get-arm-rest-off/152667/#post1772962

Edited 19 September, 200916 yr by reflex88

Thank you reflex88. Very helpfull guide.