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Wedge Stuck Door TR8

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chrisc

chrisc

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Anybody ever have their door stick on a TR8, and what did you do to solve the problem?

My door just decided to stick over the weekend. It will release only so far and then go no further. I've taken the panels off both sides to see how the internal mechanism works and can see no difference in the way they operate. I suspect something is "hung" in the latch mechanism itself, but it seems almost impossible to resolve (after 4 hours of effort yesterday) and the access to the latch and the striker mechanism is not good. I hope I don't have to go to the crowbar method.

Anybody else had this problem, or a similar problem? I've sprayed just about everything I can with WD40 with no impact.

Thanks,
Chris
 
I had the same thing happen on mine and WD40 took care of it. The metal latch guide, not the internal parts, need to be lightly coated as well.

Have you tried pushing from the inside out?
 
I, too, have been victimized by the infamous TR8 Door Stick. I took off the panel, cleaned and blew with compressed air and sprayed with WD40. Worked fine for a while and then stuck again. Before taking it apart again I found that if I held the door latch open and pulled at the door, it would open. It's been operating this way for a couple years now and really hasn't been a problem -- it only sticks rarely now and opens easily with the above method.
 
Thanks for the comments and suggestions...

I'm 6'2" and in excess of 240 lbs so application of force is not usually a problem. All I'm doing at this point is deforming the inside door shell. /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/hammer.gif

I have tried pushing and pulling from all angles and holding the exterior handle wide open with no luck. I'm bracing myself for a fresh round tonight with the door. Maybe the WD40 will have penetrated enough by now!
 
I went another 4 rounds with the door and got disgusted after an hour or so and stopped for the evening before I really damaged the door out of frustration. I'm contemplating taking the door off from the front hinges, but not sure that will work. It has to be that the metal hook that is in the plastic door mechanism is locked in-place somehow and can't move beyond the striker hook on the door post. ARGHHHH!!!

If anybody has any further suggestions, I'm all ears!

Thanks,
Chris
 
/bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/cheers.gif

Success at last!

It's funny when you finally solve a problem, how stupid you feel for not diagnosing the "fix" sooner.

If anyone ever has this happen to them. There is a simple release button on the inside of the latch mechanism that is barely accessible and visible protruding inside the door frame. The locking mechanism did just that -- lock in place, and that's the only way to release it. I finally duplicated it on the other door and took the latch mechanism off to see how I might fix it. That's when I discovered the release button.

What a relief, I was about to resort to drastic measures that I know I would have regretted later. It reminded me to not get impatient in solving and troubleshooting problems with our cars, there is a logical fix if you take enough time and think through the situation...

Chris
 
Very good information to know. I think it had plenty of us stumped and murmuring of sawzalls and drills. /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/wink.gif
 
Yes, thanks, Chris. Any way you can post a picture of said button culprit?

Mickey
 
Sure, I've got the offender off the car at the moment and I can take and post a picture of the "backside" of the latching mechanism.

As I mentioned to TDSKIP, the worst part about this whole fiasco is that I just brought beast home on Saturday from substantial bodywork and paint. The LAST thing I wanted to have to do is rip the door off somehow!

As I think back on the events that led up the the mechanism locking in-place, all I did was push the door lock down. Since the interior panels were off it's entirely possible the body shop monkeyed with the linkage somehow. Got to spend some time studying the linkage a little further, but when I'm done -- I'll be one of the experts in this sub-area of TR7/8 trivia.

Chris
 
I guess I'm somewhat web challenged here....I have photo's to share, but apparently need to post and link them from a web page/home page somewhere. I don't have an active home page, so unless there is an easier solution I'm happy to e-mail the pic's to anybody that wants to see the release button.

Chris
 
Chris, go get a Photobucket dot com account, It's free, and works great!
 
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