2007 - 2011 door handle heated seats and memory

[Mcnairl]

I am looking for the door handle panel that has the memory and heated seats option

Mine is camel french silk.

Any know the actual part number or know where I can get a pair. Driver and passenger front?

 

[jkeaton]

Those are rare as hens teeth. No new ones available anymore. You will have to try and get lucky at a junk yard or check eBay.

 

[raiderfan247365]

I am looking for the door handle panel that has the memory and heated seats option

Mine is camel french silk.

Any know the actual part number or know where I can get a pair. Driver and passenger front?

Unfortunately, you really cannot get them anywhere except maybe ebay or junk yard. As jkeaton just said, they are rare, very rare.

 

[dave42]

Finding out that they are near impossible to find, some folks have tried to repair theirs with epoxy and brace pieces inside, others have tried to cut holes in newer panels that lacked the holes. From what I've read, both techniques leave something to be desired.

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[raiderfan247365]

Finding out that they are near impossible to find, some folks have tried to repair theirs with epoxy and brace pieces inside, others have tried to cut holes in newer panels that lacked the holes. From what I've read, both techniques leave something to be desired.

I've been thinking about a solution to this problem because it seems inevitable lol. I wonder if you could create a router template and use that to get a clean hole.

 

[Rvdbrand]

I've been thinking about a solution to this problem because it seems inevitable lol. I wonder if you could create a router template and use that to get a clean hole.

3D printing?

 

[raiderfan247365]

3D printing?

Worth exploring.

 

[oktowncar]

3D printing?

There is probably a file for it online somewhere

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[wolf_walker]

I used parts from a non-heated memory replacement, which were cheap and commonly available new aftermarket at the time, to repair mine along with some careful use of two-part plastic rated epoxy. Every time a door panel has to come off something breaks.

Enjoy em while they last boys, all this plastic is eventually going to disintegrate, and no replacements will be available.

 

[Action]

Enjoy em while they last boys, all this plastic is eventually going to disintegrate, and no replacements will be available.

You are correct if you do not condition the plastic, rubber, vinyl and leather. Eight bucks is a low price to pay to keep that soft stuff soft.

Action

 

[wolf_walker]

You can't effectively condition the inside of a door panel. Climate controlled garage is your best bet and that's a delaying action but it can delay it a very long time if you catch it from new or nearly so.

It's a fine idea to keep something good on the visible surfaces (I like 303 Products stuff) but it's things like this fellows broken door handle plate
that you can't do much about other than patch it back together and collect up spares if you can. Car's full of such stuff.
I've been scrounging junkyards for decades and snagging good examples of parts I know will break on a given model, used up a lot of it since things have gotten scarce. It's a bummer.

 

[Action]

303 has
a good product too

After removing the panel (or any plastic, rubber, vinyl part) that would be the opportunity to treat the panel.

Removing door panels without the tool means a high chance of breaking the clip out of the door panel.
The one pictured on the right is the one I commonly use

Action

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[wolf_walker]

I've got a drawer full of pry tools, better than nothing but they don't seem to design car parts to fit pry tools somehow lol...
If you pull em off a 3rd gen Town Car of a certain age enough, they'll break. In fact, everything in their breaks. It's a garbage design with time limited material.
There are about a million threads on it on various forums. I have cars twice the age where the clips are all intact.

I don't really think you can condition the abs or pcv based plastic the door panel proper is made of. It's a blow molded unit and I can't remember what the callout stamp was for the material exactly but it's not the same as you find on external plastic, and the holding strength of the clips is astounding, way excessive for the application unless you intended to install and and be sure it didn't rattle and then never touch it. Which is what ford intended. And even at that I'm not convinced you get anything other than a nice shine from spraying stuff on it. It would need to penetrate the surface more deeply and in ways I'm just not seeing happening.
I do it anyway because why not and it looks nicer on the visible pieces. But I have cars twice as old that I've done such to, and they still crack eventually. Plastic is an amazing thing, but it leaves a lot to be desired. Climate regulation and keep it out of the sun is the best you can do.

If I sound slightly bitter, it's because I am. Not only have I read a ton of sob stories of people going through this(like the guy that started this thread), but I've had to Frankenstein mine together every single time I've had to pull them off and goofy engineering on a largely quality piece of machinery pisses me off. I've worked on cars my whole life and I know BS when I see it, and the door panels on these are some BS. Even the panels on my 30 year old Jaguar still come on and off intact, and you can in fact reach every clip with a removal tool. Ford didn't give two craps about long term survivability of this particular part and it's a shame. The early 2nd gen cars were better in this respect but not perfect either.

 

[07-TC-SL]

Ford didn't give two craps about long term survivability of this particular part and it's a shame. The early 2nd gen cars were better in this respect but not perfect either.

This has only gotten worse with newer Fords IMHO. That's one of the reasons that our daily drivers are Toyota and Lexus. The Town Car is my summer "toy" now.

 

[raiderfan247365]

I've got a drawer full of pry tools, better than nothing but they don't seem to design car parts to fit pry tools somehow lol...
If you pull em off a 3rd gen Town Car of a certain age enough, they'll break. In fact, everything in their breaks. It's a garbage design with time limited material.
There are about a million threads on it on various forums. I have cars twice the age where the clips are all intact.

I don't really think you can condition the abs or pcv based plastic the door panel proper is made of. It's a blow molded unit and I can't remember what the callout stamp was for the material exactly but it's not the same as you find on external plastic, and the holding strength of the clips is astounding, way excessive for the application unless you intended to install and and be sure it didn't rattle and then never touch it. Which is what ford intended. And even at that I'm not convinced you get anything other than a nice shine from spraying stuff on it. It would need to penetrate the surface more deeply and in ways I'm just not seeing happening.
I do it anyway because why not and it looks nicer on the visible pieces. But I have cars twice as old that I've done such to, and they still crack eventually. Plastic is an amazing thing, but it leaves a lot to be desired. Climate regulation and keep it out of the sun is the best you can do.

If I sound slightly bitter, it's because I am. Not only have I read a ton of sob stories of people going through this(like the guy that started this thread), but I've had to Frankenstein mine together every single time I've had to pull them off and goofy engineering on a largely quality piece of machinery pisses me off. I've worked on cars my whole life and I know BS when I see it, and the door panels on these are some BS. Even the panels on my 30 year old Jaguar still come on and off intact, and you can in fact reach every clip with a removal tool. Ford didn't give two craps about long term survivability of this particular part and it's a shame. The early 2nd gen cars were better in this respect but not perfect either.

PREACH!

Seriously though, pulling these door panels off is just a freaking nightmare. My wife has a 98' Navigator the style of that door has hooks that you drop the door panel on. The hooks do most of the securing, only 5 or so screws are needed to secure the door well. It's a joy to remove the doors on the Navigator compared to Town Car.

 

[Action]

^^ Must be.
I have had few issues on door panel removal and installation with the vehicles I have owned.
And I have never owned a Panther based vehicle, either.

Action

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[wolf_walker]

PREACH!

Seriously though, pulling these door panels off is just a freaking nightmare. My wife has a 98' Navigator the style of that door has hooks that you drop the door panel on. The hooks do most of the securing, only 5 or so screws are needed to secure the door well. It's a joy to remove the doors on the Navigator compared to Town Car.

That's a good setup that has been done more than once by various manufacturers. It takes exactly two brain cells to see that from an enginnering standpoint using clips is a bad idea unless you only care about it being installed once. If you are going to use clips, one needs to pay real attention to the pull force it takes to remove them. I have an 82 VW that has a basic flat pressboard door panel with slotted in plastic clips, and using a pry tool like Action mentioned it comes off fine, with very little effort, and they are ALL still intact. And they been off, a lot, in 400K miles..

Mercedes in the 80's and 90's were well sorted too, but you got what you paid for back then. You just had to know the trick since it wasn't usually obvious. Good engineering.

 

[mikeshepard]

I am looking for the door handle panel that has the memory and heated seats option

Mine is camel french silk.

Any know the actual part number or know where I can get a pair. Driver and passenger front?

They are available on ebay now. Here is the link 2003-2011 Lincoln Towncar Left Front Door Bezel Seat Memory Air Heat | eBay

 

[mikeshepard]

I am looking for the door handle panel that has the memory and heated seats option

Mine is camel french silk.

Any know the actual part number or know where I can get a pair. Driver and passenger front?

Here is the link to one on Ebay. 2003-2011 Lincoln Towncar Left Front Door Handle Bezel Heat-Air-Memory | eBay