The other day, I stumbled on a thread that was asking about the W220 Service Repair CD's available from MBUSA. That thread contained a link to a site which I can't remember, and that site had a "see a sample" video link. The sample was - guess what - how to remove the door panel...
Naturally, I can't find the thread now, although I did order the W220 manuals from MB.
As for panel removal, it's easy, and it's hard. I'll give you a verbal list of things to do.
1) Roll the window down.
2) Remove outer handle cover. The part you grab to pull the door closed is a cover that snaps onto the door panel. With a plastic wedge (I used a table knife I wrapped tightly with electrical tape), wedge the handle cover out at the bottom where it joins the arm rest. Be careful, there are several seams, and you want to get the wedge in between the handle cover and the handle frame. I inserted the knife at about a 45 degree angle in about 3/4" and pried the knife outward at the bottom. Then pull it outwards at the bottom and downward from the top.
3) Remove the wood trim above the seat/mirror controls. It just snaps in place - start from the right and work towards the left. (Hinge side of door towards latch side of door).
4) Behind the trim you'll find (I think) 4 - T20 torx screws. There's also one behind where the handle cover engages the top of the handle frame.
5) Remove the switch panel - it has a few snap-in places, but it should come out willingly. Pull outwards from the top.
6) Disconnect the 47 gazillion connectors from the switches. The connectors bearing the larger wires have levers to press to release. The rest are just (frankly) stubborn. Just use a firm grip on the wires and pull - they should come out without issue, but not willingly. No need to mark what came from where, it's all keyed to only go back in one place.
7) Use a small hook (about a 1/4" bend in the end of a coat hanger will do) to pull the window switch panel out from the bottom. It comes out easily. I'm not sure why you need to do this, as the window switch panel cable plugs into the switches at the top of the door. On my car, there were no fasteners behind the window switches.
8) Use a small wedge to remove the ABS plate at the latch side of the door. It just snaps in at the bottom. Mine was retained with a small plastic leader and just hung there when removed.
9) There are 3 large phillips screws. One behind the ABS plate, one down in a hole at the bottom of the door handle frame, and one on the door behind the switch panel. Remove all of these screws.
10) Remove the striker frame at the latch side of the door. There's a screw and it has a tab at the top, so pull out from the bottom and down to extract.
11) There are about 10 plastic pins that hold the panel to the door. There's 1 above the door latch, and one about 6" below, and one about every 6" around the perimeter of the panel. I have a special tool that's a flat bar with a groove down the middle. You slide the tool between the panel and the door and lever to pop the panel loose. Be sure to pry as close to the pins as possible to reduce the risk that you'll break something behind the door. Be sure to get the wedge between the door panel and the door insulation, not between the insulation and the door itself.
12) Once all of the pins are dislodged, you'll need something to lever the door panel out at the top. I used the same tool I used for the door panel pins. Insert between the door panel and the black trim and lever to coax the door panel out of the groove. BE CAREFUL HERE, you can scar the door and or the trim, and you'll have to stare at that blemish forever.
13) Once the panel is loose, lift it up and barely away from the door. You need to disconnect the cable that attaches to the handle used to open the door. Press upwards on the bottom of the L-shaped pin while GENTLY levering the retaining clips that grab the pin and hold it in place. Then slide the cable cover backwards until it's clear of the housing and lift it and the cable up and out of the groove in the housing.
As for the LED - which is why we are here in the first place, there appears to be two types of installations. My 2002 has a single LED in a housing that's part of the same wiring loom that powers the under-door lamp. It's not in the same circuit, because it remains on when the headlamps are on while the under-door light doesn't. I unlatched the housing from the door handle frame, and opened it up to test it. Reconnect all of the wires to the switch panel before testing. I have no idea what kind of error codes might be set if you turn the key on with one of the circuits disconnected. Once I did that and turned the parking lights on, the stupid little thing started working again. I reassembled the housing, (almost needed a magnifying glass) reinserted it and replaced the door panel. Far as I know, it's still working, but it's sure not very bright.
I don't know whether the action of disconnecting and reconnecting the plug for this circuit fixed the problem, or whether opening the LED housing had the effect. The wattage the LED draws is so minimal, that if it was shorted out after the resistor, it probably wouldn't even pop a fuse.
Other cars have some sort of large connector housing that (I think) has a fiber optic cable that feeds the light up to the handle. Mine didn't - just an LED right at the handle itself.
The implementation of this feature is not very elegant. The LED has an in-line resistor, and the leads to the LED are bare, and only kept apart by grooves in the little housing that holds the LED, which is about 2/3 the diameter of a pencil.
And, as another poster related - it is a lot of work to fix a bulb.
Frankly, the hardest part was getting all the connectors released from the switches.
Hope this helps.
