Help - Need car tomorrow

[Si|v3r72]

Yikes my truck is causing trouble and my wife needs the family car and I have to have wheels tomorrow. Here's my problem:

My driver's side door won't close.

Background: I replaced the door latch, outside handle, and all of the rubber for the driver's side door over the winter. This entailed removing the guts of the door and putting it all back together, which in itself wasn't that hard but I'm not a mechanic so maybe there's tricks to putting car doors together that I don't know about. Needless to say the door isn't working too well. I have to slam it really really hard to get it to latch. not a good thing for a 31 year old car door.

Suspect: I think the door has sagged. I'm sure if the latch was striking the catch plate higher (say an inch) that the door would close normally.

How do I fix this? I haven't touched the hinges at all. My friend tells me to open the door, grab the bottom and yank it upwards. I'm afraid to do that.

Please advise. Thanks.

[JEFF]

Your friend is partialy right. But try this first...... pull up on the bottom of the door enough to see if the lower hinge pin is loose in the hinge hole. If it is then the hinge pin needs to be replaced and the honge holes need to be rebushed,( new pin bushings ).

The other alternative to doing that is to replace the hinge. I'm pretty sure if the back of the door needs to come up about an inch then there may be a larger problem.

- Jeff

[2ManyZs]

Have you tried to adjust the striker plate at all? If you loosen the bolts that hold it to the door jamb, there is a bit of adjustment there, although not an inch, but it might help.

When you put the door back together, did you move the plastic adjustment nuts on the latch rods inside the door? They can be a bit finicky to say the least. Perhaps one of the adjustments either on the outside door handle or the inside handle is causing the latch to bind up when closing... Unfortunately, this is one of those things that you just have to sit and play with, as there is no true adjustment method other than trial and error. Every door will latch differently due to the adjustment differences in the stirker plate etc....

Is there play in the hinges? Can you get the door to move up and down when open by picking up on the back of the door?

[EScanlon]

Here's an article I wrote some time back, in response to someone that was having trouble getting a door to shut.

Unless the car has been in an accident and the door opening or door itself have been tweaked out of shape, most problems with the doors are due to misaligned latches, hinges, or worn components. Presuming that it is adjustment or bad parts and not bent items check the following.

First perform a visual check of the door. Check to make sure that the door is aligned properly within the door opening. Check the spacing along the top part of the window frame, the spacing between the window frame and the quarter window, also the spacing between the door skin and the rear quarter panel. I also check the spacing on the front of the door, above the hinges and the front fender. All of these should be even, and consistent in width. The gap should not appear to be excessive one edge with it's opposite component, i.e. front of door to back of door; top edge by windshield cowl and lower edge, etc. If all these appear in order then you have an adjustment problem with the latch mechanism.

If however, there is a problem with the alignment, before you go and loosen the hinge bolts behind the kick panels, first do the following:

1. Check if there is any vertical play to the door, that is, with the door open lift the door gently. If there is a noticeable movement up and down, then you may have a worn pin or pins that are causing the alignment problem. Check to make sure that the hinges are solidly affixed and if so, then you definitely have a worn hinge. Although it is difficult to find new hinges, you might need to replace one or both. On Chevy's it is a known problem and parts stores sell new hinge pin inserts to fix this. This is an often overlooked problem, so check this first before you dismount the door or start adjusting the latch etc.

2. If the hinges are in good condition and there is no vertical play, check your weatherstripping. I know of a case where a guy filled the cavity in his weatherstripping with silicone in order to get a "tight" seal. Unfortunately, it also increased the thickness of the gasket and made it almost impossible to close the door without a hydraulic ram. He finally replace the weatherstrip.

Check to make sure that the weatherstripping is mounted properly on the lip of the door opening, also the rubber splash guard on the front part of the door just above the hinges. Check the lower weatherstrip on the under lip of the door. Any one of these could cause the door to shut hard.

3. If both the above are ok, check to see where the latch is striking the striker plate. The striker plate is on the door frame and the latch is on the door. Both must line up in order to catch. The latch on the door has countersunk screws and hence is fixed in position. The striker plate on the door is the major adjustment item. It can be positioned along the 4 axis on each of the screws.

Close the door, if the door exterior is not flush with the rear quarter panel skin, then you need to move the striker plate in (towards the seat for a protruding door edge) and out (for a sunken door skin).

If the door is difficult to close AND the handle is hard to operate, check the bottom of the striker plate to make sure that it isn't inclined too far inward in relation to the top of the plate. That is, the door latches, and the skin lines up, but it feels as you are forcing the door to close and forcing the handle to open, then the bottom part of the latch is stressing the latch, Loosen the screws, and WITHOUT moving the top part of the plate, adjust the lower portion of the plate outwards. Align and retry.

If the door latches but springs back when slammed the bottom of the striker plate is probably out too far. This appears to be a half-way latch, and only the safety position has been achieved.

If when closing the door, there is a noticeable thunk, and when opening the door the door seems to "DROP", then the striker plate is set too high. The reverse occurs when the plate is too low, although in this instance the door usually will not latch.

If you find that you have to move the door within it's opening, then it gets a little more complicated.

In a nutshell; you need to remove the electrical components attached to the kick panels, remove the kick panels, and preferably with a jack supporting the door, or a friend, loosen the hinge bolts located behind the kick panels and adjust the door to fit. It makes it easier to remove the striker plate mechanism in order to ensure a good fit.

DO NOT remove the hinges from the door, or loosen these bolts unless there is a problem with the hinge. The hinge pins must be PARALLEL and IN LINE to work properly, and it is too easy to get these out of line and introduce serious stress to the door.

Sorry for the length, but hope it covered your question and options.

Enrique Scanlon

[Si|v3r72]

Ok after reading all of your responses (which I thank you for very much, and btw EScanlon I recall reading your door article once before, I suppose a site search should have been in order on my part), I checked a few things. First I checked the vertical play in the door from the end of the door. It has about a 1/4" wiggle in it. My door seals are new and are in good position (no I didn't fill the gap in the body seal - and let me add what an improvement replacing all the door rubber made). I then loosened the latch assy, made sure it was as low as possible, and then rotated the bottom piece of the latch away from the door. Still no good. I rotated the bottom piece towards the door as much as possible, and, viola, the door closes nicely, without extra effort. Hopefully this is a permanent fix.

Thanks again for your help!

Tom

[EScanlon]

A 1/4" "wiggle" at the end of a 36"+ long lever is minimal. Yes it shows SOME wear, but I would be surprised to see a 30 year old hings on a car that's been used NOT have some wear in it.

The key thing to your adjustment is that the latch latches completely and not just to the safety. Try locking the door from either the inside or out. If you CAN lock it, it's ok. If you cannot, then you are just on the safety latch.

Glad it worked for you.

Enrique Scanlon

[Si|v3r72]

Ack, I think I'm back to square 1. My door performed horribly today. I now realize the biggest problem is that the three screws that secure the latch plate and dovetail are all stripped. So the entire assy moves when you try to close the door. Driving home tonight wasn't fun .

[thefastestz]

I had this problem on my 73. if you line up the door hinge and the striker plate correctly it should be fine.

You said the bolts were stripped did you try the socket set?

( if you have those kind of bolts there, 10mm socket head bolt is what mine had.)

[Si|v3r72]

Yep 10mm socket. The bolts just spin and spin. I'm going to try to replace them today.

[2ManyZs]

If you have one, try running a tap into the captured nuts before you put the now bolts in. If the old bolts have rounded off the threads, perhaps you can restore the threads with the tap enough that the new bolts will tighten securely.

[Si|v3r72]

Originally posted by EScanlon

A 1/4" "wiggle" at the end of a 36"+ long lever is minimal. Yes it shows SOME wear, but I would be surprised to see a 30 year old hings on a car that's been used NOT have some wear in it.

The key thing to your adjustment is that the latch latches completely and not just to the safety. Try locking the door from either the inside or out. If you CAN lock it, it's ok. If you cannot, then you are just on the safety latch.

Glad it worked for you.

Enrique Scanlon

Since I reassembled my door, I have been unable to lock the door. The plunger simply will not go down, nor will the key turn in the lock. How do I fix this? Do I have to take the door all apart and try it again?

[2ManyZs]

Sounds to me like you are going to have to pull the door panel and do some adjusting on the rods. It probably is too tight against the lever on the latch assembly, you should be able to access the plastic adjustments nuts fairly easily on the back edge of the door by just pulling the door panel. It could also be the adjustment on the rod coming from the inside door handle as well, and that if I remember right is the one that is a bit tougher to get to without nicking your hands on the sharp edge of the inner door panel.

One way to know which way to adjust them is to see how far the outside handle has to be raised to unlatch the door... and conversely the inner door handle as well. There is no real adjustment setting for either of them as every door is going to be different due to the differences in striker plate adjustment etc....Just one of those things you do buy the trial and error method.