Driver's door flying open!!

[soundmasterg]

Hello everyone,

I went to drive my '72 240Z today for the first time in a couple weeks and I found out quite unexpectedly that the driver's door is now flying open when I make a turn to the right. If I'm careful when I make the turn it won't fly open, but whatever is supposed to latch the door is not holding it. I can shut the door and then push on it from the inside and it opens right up. I took a look at that door and compared it to the passenger door and when you rotate the round thing in there, the passenger door one will click twice and won't move unless you lift the latch. The driver's door gives a much fainter click and you can move it with your fingers without lifting the latch. So I'm wondering if something broke or needs lubrication or something? I don't really know how the mechanism works, but I'd love to figure out what the problem is. Does anyone have any ideas? I plan to take the door panel off tomorrow to see if I can figure out what is wrong, but if anyone can shed some light on it with possible clues I'd much appreciate it!

Thanks,

Greg

[Zs-ondabrain]

Pull the door panel off and look over at the latch assembly. You'll find a white plastic adjuster nut with a sleeve on it that goes thru the latch assembly. Loosen it a few turns by turning it counter-clockwise. Or UP the rod, away from the metal tab that it goes thru.

It sounds like there is too much tension there and the tweeking of the door under turns is popping the latch.

Let me know if that is the case.

Dave

[conedodger]

What Dave said, but check for rust too... Your body is twisting a bit I suspect.

[soundmasterg]

Pull the door panel off and look over at the latch assembly. You'll find a white plastic adjuster nut with a sleeve on it that goes thru the latch assembly. Loosen it a few turns by turning it counter-clockwise. Or UP the rod, away from the metal tab that it goes thru.

It sounds like there is too much tension there and the tweeking of the door under turns is popping the latch.

Let me know if that is the case.

Dave

Thanks for the suggestions.

I'll take a look tomorrow if I can get into my friend's shop, but I'm not sure if its body twisting as even when the car is just sitting there not moving, I can close the door, and then push it back open from the inside of the car without opening the latch. Its like whatever holds it shut isn't staying latched. I'll update as I find out.

Greg

[soundmasterg]

Well I got a chance to look at it today and was able to fix it.

Dave, you called it....though I actually had to turn the nut down the rod rather than up. When the interior door handle was pulled, the lever it controls that rides on the shaft of that rod was coming off the bottom and getting jammed, so moving the nut down allowed it to stay on when the handle was pulled. It was also in desperate need of some lubrication. So I fixed that, replaced both door seals, and its great now, except I had to slam the driver's door to shut it, and my window crank fell off and I can't find the spring that holds it on!....Grrr...haha. So if I don't have an extra I'll have to see if anyone has one.

Thanks again for the help.

Greg

[JohnnyO]

Can you put it back the way it was and let my ex borrow your car for a day? Oh, yeah, pull the drivers seatbelt before she picks it up...

Thanks in advance.

[soundmasterg]

Haha...I'm sure you could arrange for another car to have the same issue a little closer to you there.

Must have been some ex.

I found the extra spring clip to hold the window crank on so the Z is fixed. (for now)

Of course we got snow again today so I'm not driving it until it clears up.

Greg

[sblake01]

.....and my window crank fell off and I can't find the spring that holds it on!....

Too bad you don't live closer. After going though that same frustration, I picked up about 30 of those during a trip to the junkyard a while back.

[JohnnyO]

Must have been some ex.

She really wasn't that bad, I just couldn't resist the opportunity for a joke.

[Zs-ondabrain]

Well I got a chance to look at it today and was able to fix it.

Dave, you called it....though I actually had to turn the nut down the rod rather than up. When the interior door handle was pulled, the lever it controls that rides on the shaft of that rod was coming off the bottom and getting jammed, so moving the nut down allowed it to stay on when the handle was pulled. It was also in desperate need of some lubrication. So I fixed that, replaced both door seals, and its great now, except I had to slam the driver's door to shut it, and my window crank fell off and I can't find the spring that holds it on!....Grrr...haha. So if I don't have an extra I'll have to see if anyone has one.

Thanks again for the help.

Greg

That was to be my next suggestion, as I've dealt with that scenario as well. The tube on the nut comes too far up and snags the metal lip, causing the latch to be "Super sensitive" and open prematurely.

Just remember that is you are going to lube the latch assembly, try using some brake cleaner on it first, to remove the old grease. Put a towel under the assembly, (cause it's a bitch to pull the assembly and do this) Spray it with the brake cleaner, as dust, dirt and gunk collect on the existing grease. Spraying new grease over the old only clogs it up faster. So clean it then relube with a white lithium spray.

If you want to eliminate some of the door slamming, Loosen the 3) 10mm bolts on the catch (on the body) and move it outward about 1/16" then retighten. It may not seem like much but that little bit should keep you from damaging the latch any farther, by slamming the door to make up for the extra thickness of the new door seal.

Dave.

[soundmasterg]

That was to be my next suggestion, as I've dealt with that scenario as well. The tube on the nut comes too far up and snags the metal lip, causing the latch to be "Super sensitive" and open prematurely.

Just remember that is you are going to lube the latch assembly, try using some brake cleaner on it first, to remove the old grease. Put a towel under the assembly, (cause it's a bitch to pull the assembly and do this) Spray it with the brake cleaner, as dust, dirt and gunk collect on the existing grease. Spraying new grease over the old only clogs it up faster. So clean it then relube with a white lithium spray.

If you want to eliminate some of the door slamming, Loosen the 3) 10mm bolts on the catch (on the body) and move it outward about 1/16" then retighten. It may not seem like much but that little bit should keep you from damaging the latch any farther, by slamming the door to make up for the extra thickness of the new door seal.

Dave.

Thanks Dave. I thoroughly lubed it after spraying it quite a bit to clean the old stuff off.

I figured the new seals would loosen up after a bit, but wanted to adjust more play into it and didn't have time to take care of that the other day. I didn't know how to adjust it out to get the play, so your advice will come in handy when I can look at it again. I did the previous work at my friend's shop over the weekend and had to jet out of there as it was getting late.

A benefit so far to replacing the door seals is that my exhaust fumes in the car issue seems to have gone away, though I need to drive the car more and in different temperatures to see if it is actually gone.

Greg