Replacing Ford Focus hatchback boot grab handle

On the boot door of the Mk1 / Mk1.5 Ford Focus hatch there is a silver (on my Ghia anyway) grab handle.



I recently had occasion to get a dent in the boot fixed by a local bodyshop, when it came back it turns out they had managed to snap several clips that hold that silver handle to the boot. That's what I get for going to cheapest place I guess - along with loss of several screws and struts now being much looser.

I acquired a replacement part from a popular auction site, apparently the part new is over £140. Not worth it on a car this age in my opinion so £35 from Ebay it was.

Removing the handle

There are 5 bolts that fix this to the boot, in order to undo the nuts you need to remove the plastic moulding from the inside of the boot door. This is held on by a series of 4 screws and a couple of clips. Undo the screws and pull out the plastic part the screws are in. So you end up with 4 screws and 4 small plastic clips in a pile.

Gentle prising will now get the plastic moulding off the rear door to get access to the bolts that are holding the silver grab handle.

You will need a socket set with extender to undo those nuts, no way you can realistically get them off with a spanner.
I think it's a 10mm socket you need.

Replacing the lights

The lights for the number plate on the Ford Focus are mounted in the grab handle on the boot. You will need to unplug the lights at the socket before trying to remove the handle.
When you go to remove the wire (gently) you'll see how the metal connector should slide into the middle between the flat metal blade and the 2 'tubes'.

I decided the bulbs and holders from my replacement handle were looking a bit.... old.

So I decided to change them for those from my old boot handle.
The bulbs and holders can be removed quite easily in one by pushing the clip (arrowed below) towards the bulb and popping it out by pushing outwards.

Put it all back together!

Now you need to do everything in reverse:

1. Push bulb holders into new handle (if you are swapping them over)
2. Re-attach wires to bulb holders in your replacement boot grab handle
3. Fix handle to boot using the attached bolts, you kept the nuts right?
4. Reattach the plastic moulding to the boot door inner with clips, then re affix the screws to secure it

Hopefully you have now managed to replace your Ford Focus boot door grab handle.