Noise

[DBMaster]

Recently I started hearing a sort of creak/pop noise from the area of the passenger side door hinges when moving from a stop. I have kept the hinges lubed since the car was new so there is no play in the hinges or sag in the door. If I open the door all the way and push a little I can hear the creak. I have checked the bolts on the hinges and body that are accessible and all are super tight.

Does this sound like deterioration of body integrity or is there something I might be able to do about it?

Thanks!

[Dr_Snooz]

Is this coming from the body side or door side? It might be well to open the door and have a look. It could be your detente arm wearing out. Unless you live in an area with snow or road salt, I wouldn't worry about body integrity. Just gotta pull it apart until you find it.

[w261w261]

Aaaarrrghhhh....just what has started happening to me since it got colder. This is what must have driven the '84 series Corvette owners craaazy, the panel poppings. Mine doesn't creak, just something is flexing and making this noise. Only when I drive of course, and hit a small bump. I've tried closing the door on a piece of carboard and I thought that did it but now I don't. The noise seems to from everywhere yet nowhere, except that it's somewhere in the dash or dash/door on my side. I can't get a fix on it, and I can't have someone else drive while I investigate. Sheesh!

[conozo]

So on my parts car when i took off the front fender panel, it was completely rusted underneath it. It might be worth looking at especially/only if there is noticeable rust elsewhere on the car.

[lostforawhile]

it could be where the detent bar is attached to the door, they often make noise, At least it's not like a lot of american cars of this ear where the doors fall off at the hinge mount. I know of plenty of people with american cars where an entire hinge pad had to be welded in. I need to replace my pins, seems to be more of a problem with coupes and hatches ,longer heavier door, but i'll just use mustang pin kits with the included bushings and pins, needs a little modification to make it work,but not much.

[DBMaster]

I have been messing with this a bit. As I mentioned, keeping the hinges lubed has everything looking pretty good. The detent bar seems fine. I can almost tell that the sound is coming from the top hinge, but I can't tell if it is coming from the body or the door. I adjusted the striker again to make the door close a little tighter. That has cut down on the incidence of the noise, but has not eliminated it. There is no rust that I can find anywhere - the benefit of living here. I am almost thinking there could be a hairline crack in one of the hinge mounting points, but I can't actually see anything. It gets pretty dingy in that area. I am sure I'll figure it out eventually.

[w261w261]

Right after I wrote my post, my noise disappeared. I don't know whether it's because the weather got a little warmer, but I have my fingers crossed.

[greentee76]

You said it happens when you are taking off from a stop, have you checked the bushing to the firewall of the dogbone mount. I believe mine is worn and causing a similar noise.
Just thought I'd mention it.

[DBMaster]

Yeah, I am pretty sure it's coming from the door area. I can duplicate the sound by forcing the door open past the detent. I replaced the dog bone bushings in the recent past. The expand on w's post I have noticed a set of noises the car makes in the summer that are different from the set of noises it makes once the weather turns cooler. I hesitate to say "winter" because we don't really have much of one here. I like to think of that as "character" that you just can't experience with a new car.

[Dr_Snooz]

If it was the driver door, I'd say it's worn out. But the passenger has me perplexed. Let us know what you learn.

LOL. "Character." Yeah, we got loads of that here, don't we?

[DBMaster]

Since I have been driving mine for the last twenty years I notice that the car more truly becomes a reflection of oneself when one "communes" with it.

[1ajs]

u checked the bolts on the steats at all?

[AccordEpicenter]

have you checked your pass side upper control arm or lower bj?

[AZmike]

Your sound replication has isolated the source to be either the hinges or detent mechanism. I found that greasing the hinges with a jack supporting the open door made a huge difference with the heavy doors on my hatchback. Otherwise with the hinges supporting the door very little grease gets on the the surfaces that need it.

[DBMaster]

I tried putting some lithium grease on the hinges rather than using the same teflon "super lube" product I have been using since the car was new. The hinges have no play that I can detect so there appears to be no door sag. The noise has been a bit less frequent since I adjusted the striker. I am going to try a bit of solvent later to loosen up the white grease and get it to "flow" into the mechanism. The solvent will evaporate and leave a film of grease. I'll see what that does for it.

[DBMaster]

I used some WD40 and a long cotton tipped swab and forced the thinned out grease into the hinges and detent mechanism. The noise seems to have abated.