I had to replace my passenger side. It's an easy fix, I didn't know how to do it, but just from delocking my passenger side it gave me an easy idea of how to do it.
Basically:
- remove the interior door panel (
http://www.fordfocushawaii.com/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=14)
- remove the exterior keyhole cover
- pull the handle part towards the back of the car to disengage and remove
- disengage the white plastic part that grabs onto the rod that comes from the lock assembly (in my case it was so fragile already that it just broke right off from the backing plate assembly) being careful of the spring below it
- you'll see a white plastic plug coming through the door on the outside, behind it is a screw that sandwiches the door between that and the backing plate. Remove the screw from the inside and you can pull the plastic plug from the outside
- the whole assembly will pull out
- put the new one in, reassemble the plastic plug and screw and put the rod from the lock assembly in the new white part inside and press to engage it onto the rod
A few tips:
- Don't play with the white thing that goes on the lock rod unless it's good and positioned on the rod that connects it to the lock assembly. It's a bitch to open back up once it's snapped together.
- If you're having trouble getting the white thing off from the rod coming from the lock assembly inside the door, remove the 3 bolts from the door latch and the whole assembly will come out of the door for easier dissasembly. Just watch out for the power lock plug on the bottom of the lock assembly and remember to plug it back in after or you'll have to dissasemble the while door again like me
Reference:
So the quoted directions seem to be missing a step?
There's a second rod(#6) that at the top connects to a rotating black plastic tab snapped onto the back of the reinforcement plate(#17) (lock cylinder pokes through middle of this black tab), and this rod also connects to the latch mechanism (#7) - has a strange looking little metal clip that keeps the rod attached to the latch mechanism metal tab.
The rod on the black plastic tab side is bent into a 'Z' shape where the tail of the 'Z' runs down to the latch, and the latch side of the same rod is bent 90 degrees and inserts into a metal tab from the latch mechanism and is held in place by that "strange looking little metal clip".
I assume the regular method of detaching this second rod is that the "strange looking little metal clip" has to be removed, then the rod at the latch mechanism end will slide out of the smooth round hole of the latch mechanism's metal tab.
(Found that Lock cylinder can be removed by disengaging the thin black plastic clip at the 3 o'clock position with a small screwdriver on back of reinforcement plate and using your key to unlock the lock normally at which time pulling the key back will also pull out the lock cylinder. Lock cylinder can only be removed when the reinforcement plate has been removed from the door entirely. Also found that the black plastic tab can only be snapped into the reinforcement plate when the lock cylinder has already been removed, and requires force - could not do by hand.)
I've seen pictures of this second rod(#6) detached from the black plastic tab end, but I can't figure out HOW short of breaking either the black plastic tab or the rod.
Both rods that run from the reinforcement plate to the latch mechanism(#7) are covered by a large black plastic security shield(#4) held in place with a plastic clip and two screws. The second rod(#6) is fully covered by this security shield(#4), the first rod(#5) that ends in "white plastic part that grabs onto the rod" (and is attached to a hole in the often-breaking spring loaded pot metal piece of the reinforcement plate(#17)) actually goes through a hole in the middle of this security shield(#4) which is why the "white plastic part that grabs onto the rod" has to be removed first (detaching the first rod(#5)), followed by the security shield(#4) itself.
So once you're already gotten into the door, removed the external door handle, and now you're working inside the door: reinforcement plate(#17) is unscrewed (2 screws - not identical), then black plastic security shield(#4) unscrewed (2 screws - not identical, small one is 9mm hex), then black plastic security shield(#4) unclipped from latch mechanism's(#7) top, then the weird "white plastic part that grabs onto the rod" has to be disengaged from the rod(#5) (make sure to count how many threads show at the top of the rod, and don't lose the spring on the rod below the "white plastic part that grabs onto the rod") - then the black plastic security shield(#4) can be removed and slides off this rod(#5) (rod inserted through hole), THEN the "strange looking little metal clip" has to be disengaged from the metal tab on the latch mechanism(#7) to free the second rod(#6) (unless someone has a better method?), then can slide the reinforcement plate with the second rod attached out of the door.
No need to unscrew/remove the latch mechanism(#7) from the door. No need to remove Window Regulator(not on image), but window needs to be rolled up in order to access all the screws. No need to remove speaker(not on image), unless you really hate that butyl weather stripping and just want to remove the entire protective foam sheet(not on image) from the door while working.
So the questions are:
- What's the trick to removing the second metal rod(#6) from the black plastic tab that rotates on the back of the reinforcement plate(#17)?
- What is the trick to removing the "white plastic part that grabs onto the rod"(rod=#5) without breaking it? (It looks like a single white plastic piece shoved into the yellow piece, and that white piece has four small tabs that would need to all be pried open?)