Door

[Immeraufdemhund]

My doors don't shut properly anymore, what a supprise for an old car. My passenger side door looks like it is still open and the light for it says that it is open. If i remember correctly my drivers side does that too but it beeped after a certain milage. So what i did was put an earplug in the plastic thing to fool the puter. My question is how do i fix my door? i have a general idea, but what should i level it too?

[89lxi95zx7]

my driver door does that. i had to modify my door/dome lgt switch so i wouldn't kill my battery. but still i don't like the ugly door gap. also clueless....

[Immeraufdemhund]

My grandpa told me that if i get a block of wood and a jack. I could loosen the bolts and push the door up with the jack. But the question still remains how do we fix the problem with making sure it's roughly level.I dowbt a torpedo level would do the trick, but then again i just dont know. Does haynes or Chilton say anything abou thtis?

[smufguy]

this is how my mechanic fixed the door when i got the car. reading and special instruments are just not suited for this small job. Just loosen the bolt enough to have the hindge adjust itself when u close. have like a dye makers, like white out or something smeared around the hindge (smear it on the body, not on the hindge) then close the door shut.

then once u open it, u will find streak marks made on the white out u just put there. and as u can guess, it stops at a point where the door is perfectly aligned with the door lock.

then all u gotta do is, aling the door hindge to the end of the streak mark and wipe off the excess white out with WD40 or any other alcoholic thinners or shit removesr. takes about 20 mts for this trial and error mentod, but hey, its home made. no money to spend, but just a lil time.

[Immeraufdemhund]

do you have to take off the fender for that side that you are fixing?

[Mike's89AccordLX]

you need to get a new door sensor to fix the light problem.

[offthahook]

My buddy just adjusted the striker. It's on the door jamb. Prolly need new hinges, but this works fine for now. Try adjustine the striker.

[Immeraufdemhund]

no it's deffinatly the door. You can tell it's a bit down.. I'm going to try that one suggestion with the white out.

[bigpoppa88]

If your door is sagging, adjusting the striker will NOT fix the problem. If you adjust the striker to level the door, when you close it (although the door will apper level now), you'll hear a bang/clunk sound as the door is pulled up on the misaligned striker and will not open smoothly. You have to loosen the door hinges on the chassis post.

NOTE: a cause for a sagging door is just the age of the hinges, lossening the top and bottom hinge bolts will give you some adjustment, BUT there is a recall on a water leak problem along the firewall chassis post. You may find when you remove your fender that your hinge/bolt plate is rusted out which is causing the problem (hopefully not).

Good luck.

[smufguy]

Immeraufdemhund U dont have to remove the fender near the door ur working on. and also, when aligning with the streak marks, go with the top most one, the bottom one will not be accurate since the door will sag. also, have another person to gently watch where the hindge actually is, when u open the door (after the white out is applied) and u (cause u trust urself) open the door gently having it kinda straight from the lock as u open. Then ur friend watches where the hindges are and so he can tell u where the door hindge actually needs to be tightened at.

[bigpoppa88]

Take the time to remove the 7 fender bolts and 4-5 fender skirt clips, the more room you have to adjust this the better. By loosening the hinge bolts you'll get better left/right, up/down adjustments. Plus you'll be able to check the rust issue mentioned earlier.