Need Help With Door Latch Alignment

shaw, you might try looking at the door hinges pins before going further. When I bought my car the top hinge pin was was so worn, that the door would move up during closing, due to the tapered pin in the door latch pulling it up. Like you, the passenger side door was fine, because it didn't get used as much. These hinge pins are a common wear item from what I hear.

This won't explain the cold weather problem, but worth a quick look. The test is to open the door just a little, and lift up on the rear. The door is heavy, so you'll have to make some effort. If you can lift the rear of the door, that most likely means one or both hinge pins is damaged.

 

WD-40 is good for washing old goo off, but make sure you wash the WD-40 off with some other non hardening lube before sealing up the door. WD-40 turns into a sticky, gooey varnish after a couple years, that eventually hardens up after several years.

Make sure your doors are aligning properly first, make sure the striker isn't doing the final aligning by raising the door to proper height as it closes, then clean and lube your latch mechanism.

Doug

 

Removing the interior door panel and re-installing it is no problem whatsoever, you can do it in minutes without incident. (an hour IS 60 minutes) Can't wait to see new interior pics as I am looking forward to mine also being new.

 

Simple enough.

Check your hinge pins. Can you lift the door up and down say 1/8" with a noticeable shifting? If so, your pins probably need to be replaced.

If not, you have to make some shims to go between the door pillar post and the hinges.

A .020" shim will raise the back of the door about .080".

I am fussing with this now. My pins are fine, got them all out and no noticeable wear, but the door needs to be raised in the back. I am not sure if it is from body shifting over the years, or someone used the passenger door in a big way to pull them selves up out of the car at sometime in the past. Or maybe the hinge pin hole is slightly worn, but brass shim stock will be used to correct the issue.

There doesn't seem to be any hinge adjustment like I find on older American cars.

Doug

 

There are lock lubes using graphite in an alcohol base or similar cleaner/lubes using silicon lubes. I find that I can clean the latching mechanism with those without taking the door panel off, but you have to do a lot of wiping up as it dribbles out the bottom of the door.

Also check the alignment of the door. You should get the door to line up first, then make the latch match the door.

Drawing a circle around the pin in grease pencil will let you see which part of the circle gets rubbed off by the latch.

To adjust the frame latch vertically, I've found that the floating plate allows you to loosen the hex bolts enough to let the latch move around (up/down), and then let the pin on the door realign the frame latch vertically just by pushing the door closed gently. Then just tighten it down there.

If your pin is striking too far forward or aft of the receiver pit, then the door or latch will likely need more/fewer shims to shift things. Shims on the hinge will also adjust the gaps on the front and rear of the door.

 

IIRC, Superformance had them for ~$15-$18 or so on their website. Plus shipping. I am sure they can be sourced locally, even if a bit more, to avoid shipping costs.

Doug