my drivers door cable snapped today. i had a look in haynes and it says to remove lock remove door handle and key barrel window and window reguator.

seems a bit ott just for the cable. i was thinking if i taped up the window and dropped the rugulator down and loosend the lock bolts could i access the cable.

any thoughts or ideas appreciated.

The tricky part is getting the cable into the lock. It's alot easier if you remove the spline bolts holding the lock on, remove the lock barrel so that you can detach the cable from the outer handle and slacken/remove the window regulator screws on that side to give you a bit of room. No real need to separate the glass from the regulator and tape the window up. The centre screw for the armrest is slightly different to the ones on either side.

yup, you should just need to remove the lock mech, its a bit fiddly but it would make the job easier. If you're anywhere near Oxford I have a spare cable and all the tool needed to remove everything.

I rounded off one of the star bolts for the lock mechanism on mine so couldn't loosen it, to get the cable to attach in the end I had to slightly bend out the metal part of the door above the lock mechanism with pliers and use some long thin nosed pliers to clip it into place. Door metal was then bent back and given a lick of rust proofer and primer before I put the door card back on.

I fiddled about for about 15 minutes using a mirror before I got my replacement cable in place.

job done. a bit fiddly but none of that take the whole bloody car apart nonsense a la haynes.

cable twelve euros main dealer.

removed the two spline bolts, loosend two reg bolts,and a few minutes fiddling with the cable.and replace the door card.

so thanks for the advice it saved me hours.