1978 280z door latch rattle

[hansonsaid]

the driver's side door on my car has been progressively making more noise and visibly shaking on the latch when closed and encountering any sort of bump in the road.  when closing the door i no longer get the definitive thump that i do from the passenger side, yet i can't see any mechanical differences between the two latches.  both lock and go through their range of motion quite smoothly.  the passenger side closes, latches and sounds totally normal.  if my window is down and my arm is out the window(i.e. downward weight/force on the door) the movement of the door persists, but if i keep my arm inside(on the armrest) and apply outward/lateral pressure all symptoms disappear.

here's what i've attempted so far:

-cleaning and lubing latches on both doors(as thoroughly as possible without removing them from inside the door) with no change of results on either side

-adjustment of the body-mounted half of the latch.  up, down, and outward all had negative effects, and currently both sides are adjusted all the way inboard(as they were before the symptoms started)

i've never had to slam the doors to close them fully, the door seals both appear to be oem in great condition(car had a fairly extensive resto in the late 90's), windows roll up/down very smoothly(door doesn't seem bent out of normal clearance).  i have the rubber bumpers/stoppers that attach to the body, are there supposed to be any on the underside of the door itself?  what's my next step, yall?

Edited July 20, 2016 by hansonsaid

[hansonsaid]

should this be moved to the body forum?

[siteunseen]

I've read where people have to re-bend the rod to tighten all that back to the original feel.

[gwri8]

Funny, I just finished removing and adjusting both doors on mine.  While I was doing this I replaced both of the door locks, While doing that I noticed that the passenger handle was a little wonky.  Turned out he handle was a little loose. I recommend removing the door panel and inspecting/tightening/adjusting everything there including the catch on the frame. It's all very simple, but it helps to have slender hands, which I don't. 

As to the latches, I didn't catch the year of your car.  The 70-76 have different Striker latches/catches than the 77-78 280. The early Z's also have a dovetail that the 77-78 do not have. Either way, those parts are still available if yours turns out to be worn.

[hansonsaid]

the car is a 78.  the door panels were recently off to inspect/clean/lube as best as i know how(which sadly isn't expert level).  as far as i can see/hear, all moving parts are operating identically between driver and passenger doors, but when closing the driver's side there is a small but visible amount of bounce-back after it latches.  there doesn't seem to be any resistance, it's as if there's extra room for it to move around upon the body portion of the striker/latch about 3/4" laterally. 

the car was repainted prior to my ownership and it would seem the doors were never off, as all the hardware was painted over in-place.

siteunseen, are you referencing the rods that connect the door handles and locks to the actual latch?  could reshaping those potentially take up the slack in an otherwise fully functioning system?

[gwri8]

Before you start bending rods, can you post a picture of the door striker? If there is bounce back It could mean the door striker is a little out of adjustment.  You need to visually line it up to the latch for the vertical alignment then do the horizontal, mine was almost to the back corner.  Also,There is a plastic sleeve over the striker post that sometimes wears out and the latch can make a rattle sound if it is worn off. Here is a shot of my old striker that I just replaced. You can see some wear but It worked fine, I just changed it to look better (second picture).

If you haven't done so already, you can download the FSM for you car here. 

 

Edited July 21, 2016 by gwri8

[siteunseen]

This is the closest I could find to what I read in the past.  When I first bought my '77 the doors would lock but I would have to crawl through the hatch to unlike them, still do, I've yet to fix it.  The article I read was on classiczcars.com but I can't find it now.  It was talking about the rod connecting through the plastic retainers, the plastic would wear out and they fixed theirs by bending the rod.  This thread kinda sorta touches on it, http://www.zcar.com/forum/10-70-83-tech-discussion-forum/91565-driver-s-door-lock.html

But I agree with Greg, if it bounces back it's most likely in the striker.

[ramsesosirus]

Just a thought:

I always had a problem when shutting my doors (both).  They wouldn't shut all the way.  I would close the door, then have to "lean" against them when partially latched to get them to close all of the way.  I tried adjusting the door latch/striker several times, on both sides.  Up/down, In/Out, and it never helped.

A few weeks ago I was spraying some Silicone spray and decided to try the latches.  Amazingly, this fixed my problem.  I am not able to close the door normally without much effort.  I couldn't believe how simple this solution was, and, honestly, felt at little dumb for have not having tried it before.   Sometimes simple things help HTH> 

[hansonsaid]

fellas, i feel dumb.  i had not noticed the driver's side(the one with the issue) was missing the plastic sleeve from the body mounted striker.  seeing as everything else is fully functional, i can only assume this is the issue. 

can the striker be disassembled to add a bit of plastic, or is it worth it to just buy a whole new one?

[gwri8]

1 hour ago, hansonsaid said:

fellas, i feel dumb.  i had not noticed the driver's side(the one with the issue) was missing the plastic sleeve from the body mounted striker.  seeing as everything else is fully functional, i can only assume this is the issue. 

can the striker be disassembled to add a bit of plastic, or is it worth it to just buy a whole new one?

It's hard to know your missing something when it's not there to begin with.  Been there many times.  

Unfortunately I do not know of a fix for that sleeve.  Maybe somebody here does and they will chime in.  Until then, I know of two places for that part. Not outrageously expensive but not exceptionally cheap either.   Zcar Source for new or used http://www.zcarsource.com/content/p/8/stype/product/?searchVar=door+striker and Z car Depot https://zcardepot.com/interior/door-parts/door-striker-latch-oem-77-78.html.