Passenger door does not fully latch

[gotham22]

I am struggling to get the passenger door to close fully.  It seems like it only catches to the safety point but never fully closes.  I adjusted the door striker in every which way but can not find a position to make this work.  I removed the weather stripping as well to rule that out as a possible cause. The door seems to line up when I close the door.   Can anyone shed some light on what I should try to do next?

[SteveJ]

First put the year of your car in your post. It looks like you have a 77 or 78, but I can't be sure.

[Patcon]

With the door open, can you manually latch the mechanism to the second position?

[siteunseen]

It looks like it sagging or low. See if the main hinges are tight then you could carefully jack the bottom of the door up some. Is it an ongoing gradual thing or all of the sudden?

I've had good luck with a piece of 2x4 and a floor jack under the door to raise it but you should go slow and stop when it latches.

 

[dutchzcarguy]

Your mechanism could already be in the latched position, unlatch with a screwdriver (turn it in opposit direction)  this has to be a sudden thing..

Edited January 18, 2022 by dutchzcarguy

[qz16]

If it isn't too much trouble could you post pictures of the entire door to see all of the gaps. Also, post a picture of the B pillar to see the lock and the dovetail, and the door side of the striker as well.
In the past has the door closed properly?  If so, has there been any recent work on the door?  Have you changed the hinge positions?
With you sitting in the car can you determine if anything is making contact and preventing the door from closing?  With the weatherstrip removed  there should be some space all around the door, including the door bottom. 
Is the door sash (window frame) hitting the door frame?
There is a door seal mounted (with three plastic retainers on the top front of the door, is there contact in this area with the frame?

 

 

[gotham22]

The car is a 78z.  I thought that was in my profile, sorry for leaving out the info.

I will post more pictures today.  The door never closed properly but I saw that the weather stripping was not letting it close so I thought this would be an easy fix.  I can manually latch to the second position.

[qz16]

One more thing - It's hard to tell but in the first picture it looks like the door is hung with the rear bottom corner a bit low.  You might check the entire door frame and the bottom of the door for scratches.

[Patcon]

I have found if the jamb side latch is too far in towards the interior,  the door runs out of room before the second latch engages. Sort of a compromise between the door sealing good and being able to get the second catch

[gotham22]

After reading the advice given here I did some more investigating.  I tried to latch the mechanism manually and it definitely feels gummed up.  It does go into the second position but if I take a screw driver and give it a little pressure it easily pops back to the first position.  Definitely night and day with how this works on the driver side of the car. I guess I need to replace it.  Adding some pics just in case.

[qz16]

The gaps look pretty good.  Before replacing it I would suggest that you soak it in something to see if that resolves the issue.  Maybe we are overthinking it.  Perhaps it is as simple as just being gummed up or suffering from overspray.

Just curious - when you adjusted your striker (on the body side of the door frame) did you ever try rotating it.  By this I mean holding its top position (single screw) and pushing the bottom clockwise (toward the door).  If you can't move the striker clockwise then push the top screw in towards the interior just a bit.  I would also check the wear on the striker.  Don't mean to be just creating work for you, but please continue to post your progress.  Hope you are able to solve it quickly.

 

regards,

ron

[Zed Head]

Remove the striker from the car body and manually insert it in to the door latch.  That will give you a clue if it's an adjustment problem or a sticky latch.  If it's a sticky latch you might try removing it and giving it a good hosing with carb cleaner then relubricating.