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