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Door coming open while driving

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Johnny

Johnny

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I've noticed lately that the driver's side door is coming open much more frequently, particularly when making right turns. Good thing I have (and use) seat belts! Mind you all these parts are brand new. I've found the chrome striker mounted on the body is of a base metal that's wearing prematurely and causing the problem. The latch assembly mounted inside the door itself is a much harder metal and has not shown any wear. I removed the striker and filed it down, sort of reshaped it, so it now has a better "bite". I also had to increase the number of washer's to extend the striker a bit.
Does anyone know of a better solution, or is this just something you have to contend with frequently?
Thanks for your help as always.
 
...mmm ... are you sure that your chassis isn't flexing and widening the gap. The chassis rusts from the inside outwards weaking as they go . . sorry to be a harbinger of doom!!!
 
If the chassis is starting to flex, couldn't it be reinforced by welding an iron bar along the frame runner until the money and time are available to replace the frame.

I know that this would be far, far from the correct fix, but would keep you on the road.

[ QUOTE ]
...mmm ... are you sure that your chassis isn't flexing and widening the gap. The chassis rusts from the inside outwards weaking as they go . . sorry to be a harbinger of doom!!!

[/ QUOTE ]
 
[ QUOTE ]
...mmm ... are you sure that your chassis isn't flexing and widening the gap. The chassis rusts from the inside outwards weaking as they go . . sorry to be a harbinger of doom!!!

[/ QUOTE ]
No it's not the chassis flexing. The chrome striker was actually worn down quite a bit, in an unregular shape, until it no longer would hold the door. I read this is a common problem, just wondering if anyone has found a better solution.
Thanks for responding though.
/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cheers.gif
 
judging by the image that is part of your signature, it appears that the driver's door is not latching fully shut?
 
The right door of my Healey used to do that during autocross runs; I was accused of trying to pick up course workers! My temporary fix was a bungee cord.

My (bolt in) permanent fix is as shown below...

Healey_Rollcage.jpg
 
The striker (chrome thing) has an outboard notch AND a 3/8", fairly deep hole inboard of the notch. The door latch is a round beveled end "bolt" that is supposed to firmly drop into the striker hole when the door is latched. Likely problems are that the door is not closing far enough for the bolt to firmly drop into the striker hole. This causes the bolt to be caught only in the outer safety notch & not locked into the inboard hole. The door will never come open if the bolt is fully seated.

It's a little hard to tell when the bolt has dropped completely into it's striker hole, but if you're looking for it you will be able to tell.

If this is the case, the striker assembly can be adjusted outward to allow the bolt to drop well into the hole, maybe 1/4" of engagement. The striker mounting holes in the door pillar are slotted to allow adjustment. In a few cases, the holes must be elongated to allow the striker to move outward enough. The striker should be firmly mounted in it's support & just loose enough to rotate slightly, self align, when it meets the door slot. With proper adjustment, there should be a position where the door fits flush, the bolt fully latches, & requires only a little weatherstrip compression to latch.

Another possibility is that the latch/bolt assembly mounting is not adjusted far enough to the rear to allow the bolt to drop far enough into he striker hole. Or something in the latch/inner pull arm is not letting the bolt move far enough back to give positive engagement in the striker hole. Or maybe the whole works is binding. It would be very unusual for the striker to wear unless something is mis-aligned.

The striker can also be adjusted in the fore - aft direction by using shims between the striker & it's mounting plate. This gets a bit tricky due to the tapered, keystone, profile of the striker & it's receiving notch. The whole latch engagement can be changed by shimming the striker.

I'm sure that you can get it adjusted once you know what to look for.
D
 
Dave.........Bingo this is what I remeber doing years ago when I had this problem on left hand turns when the passenger side would open.
 
Hey John,

Once the door latch pin breaks through the chrome surface of the striker post, the brass wears away pretty quickly.

I fought the problem for a few years, even shimming the striker plates forward and moving the door backwards, until I finally bought new striker plates/posts.

They weren't cheep, but they solved the problem.

While I think of it, I don't remember seeing you at Tri-Healey in Branson in October. T'was a GREAT time and the scenery in the Ozark hills was fantastic as the leaves were changing.

Everything OK ?

Tim
 
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