Is anyone experienced in stripping and servicing the door handles + locks

[davidewanprice]

Hi people, im thinking of spending some time sorting the door handles and locks out on my car. The passenger side wont shut from the outside and all locks are all really stiff and it all generally feels like it needs so TLC.
Ive just spayed tonnes of WD40 in to them to help them but its not done wonders... Will leave it to soak overnight. My main worry is the passenger door which just wont shut without pushing REALLY hard on the door (to the point you think the plastic is gonna crack). Your experiences may save me time and stress, ta

Oh and if anyone has good tips for how to keep the inner door panels from coming loose i'd love to know, all my attempts have failed so far! 

[lewisman]

If the WD40 didnt work you may need to remove the mechanism, clean properly with a paintbrush or even something like a brass wire brush and soak in penetrating fluid to get it to work properly.

It is usually the part of the mechanism that works the lock that causes the problems and the springs get weak too.

[roy4matra]

Hi people, im thinking of spending some time sorting the door handles and locks out on my car. The passenger side wont shut from the outside and all locks are all really stiff and it all generally feels like it needs so TLC.
Ive just spayed tonnes of WD40 in to them to help them but its not done wonders... Will leave it to soak overnight. My main worry is the passenger door which just wont shut without pushing REALLY hard on the door (to the point you think the plastic is gonna crack). Your experiences may save me time and stress, ta

If it is not simply poor adjustment, it sounds like you need to strip the door mechanisms out, clean and inspect them.  They may have broken springs or parts.  You could test the latch easily with a round bar like the shank of a screwdriver.  With the door open ease the bar into the latch, just as the anchor point would as when closing the door.  The catch should rotate around and spring to the locked position.  If it doesn't then the mechanism is faulty in some way.  It could be just gummed up and stiff but I think it very unlikely.  Whilst the door is apart, you can check all the other parts for wear or broken parts too.

Oh and if anyone has good tips for how to keep the inner door panels from coming loose i'd love to know, all my attempts have failed so far! 

That's easy.  You need to bond into the door panel some rawl plugs or threaded rivets (or a captive nut), whichever you prefer.  Then the screw has a positive item to lock to.  If you use rawl plugs, don't over tighten the screws otherwise you will simply strip the thread in the 'soft' plug.  Even with threaded rivets, don't over tighten or you may break the bonding.

Roy

[davidewanprice]

Thanks roy, and lewisman, I had today off work, first day in months and went to the car only to find the wind has blown a tile off a roof and landed on my car, gutted! The damage isnt massive but its just my luck at the moment. It seems if it can, it will. Just considering a claim or to just leave it and get it done out of my own pocket...

Ive been playing with the electric window on the passenger side as its not been working well for years, if you unbolt the window from the mechanism the mechanism works just fine but when you put it back on either the weight or resistance kills the motor? Ive tried to adjust the window to work better but with no real success.

[Anders Dinsen]

I have about the same problem on my car, though it is the opening from the outside that's causing the most trouble. This is cracking the glass fibre panel.

Interior handle works fine and the mechanism seems to be working reasonably well too, but I'd still like to inspect and clean/grease all the moving parts. The problem is, however, that I can't figure out how to get the mechanism out of the door. The actual lock on the side of the door is easily removed by looseing the two screws, and that makes the part inside the door loose too - but how can one get it out and in again with all the parts correctly connected afterwards? I can't see what my fingers are doing in there!

David, I hope you have found a solution to the damage?

- Anders

[davidewanprice]

I used A LOT of WD40 which seems over time to have cured the lock problem, infact i'd go as far as saying its great! BUT my panels and widows are starting to make me sad!  Ive spent time working on the panels and thought i'd cracked it and already its looking like its pulling through the fibreglass (at the point just below the lock pin!).. So im going to rivet a metal sheet over this area to give new strength to the damaged fibreglass. All the other screw points are fine now so that doors pretty sorted. The passenger side is all good now except the window motor but short of buying a new one i think my chances are slim of sorting that in a hurry! so both door panels are off and i dream of the finished interior......