Driver's door not properly adjusted / doesn't close evenly

[Gregadeth]

My passenger door opens and closes perfectly, but my driver's side door doesn't close evenly unless I push it down with some force. If I close it gently like I do the passenger side, I get a gap between the door and fender, as well as between door and A-pillar. The bottom edge of the door just above the rocker panel is also uneven in this case.

My first instinct was I just need to loosen the front striker pin and move it slightly. But I tried a million different configurations, even removed washers, tried different washers, and it seems to only make it worse. I even removed both of the striker pins completely to see how the door would close and this is how it was:
40298 40299

The rear side of the door (the side closest to the rear of the car) actually closes ok with a normal gap and the striker pin latches fine.
But the front side sticks upward for some reason. If I close the door gently, I get a gap like in the picture above. If I close it with force, the door closes fine with pretty even gaps all around including at the bottom edge above the rocker panel. It even latches just fine. I'm thinking in this situation the striker pin hits the door guide and maybe pushes(?) the door slightly back and allows the door to fall into place with no gap?
40300 40301

When looking at the doors from up top, the driver's door looks like it's set too far forward in comparison to the passenger door. Judging by the gaps between the doors and the windshield trim, and the T-panel respectively.
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It's even chipping some of the paint off the black windshield trim, and ripping up part of the weatherstripping:
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My theory was either a) since the door is set more towards the front, the weatherstripping is causing resistance on the front side and preventing the front side of the door from fully closing or b) the door needs to be re-adjusted via the hinges or torsion bar (which is a can of worms I prefer not to open if possible).

Any ideas or help is appreciated, thanks

[81dmc]

First off, can you hear the front rubbing on the a-pillar weatherstripping? If so, you may need to modify the door alignment where the hinges bolt on the door. If that is not your problem, open your you door, grab it from the front and back, and try to twist it. If it twists easily, then your door needs to be reinforced by a professional welder.

As for the windshield trim, it is adjusted by moving the two front infill panels forward.

Always remember that the stainless panels are adjusted to the doors and NOT the other way around.

[David T]

Does it look like anyone every touched the nuts on the hinges? If so, the door may have been removed and/or replaced. Adjusting the doors is the kind of thing that if you have a lot of experience at it you can do it pretty quickly but if you never did it can take a LONG time and maybe never get it good. It does appear the door is forward and maybe a little high in the front but you align the door to the fiberglass body and then align the adjacent panels to the door. This is the kind of thing best done by a Delorean service center if possible.

[mluder]

I agree with David here... The door definitely appears to be too far forward and this type of work would be best done by DMC CA. Doors are finicky. I've gotten pretty good at striker pin adjustment but removing and re-installing a door is something I wouldn't touch if I could avoid it at all.

It was previously mentioned that the inner and outer door panels may have separated and are moving independent of each other. the factory assembly just used an adhesive under the fold over. However another possibility is that the door has not separated but is in fact bent. ask me how I know. When my door is closed the trailing edge lines up perfectly and the front is "over" closed. No amount of front fender adjustment can correct for it. If I adjust the strike to get a good front line then the frame along the A pillar is taller than the side window frame creating a huge gap. It's teh bane of my existence and I just have to live with it until maybe one day I can afford to replace the door.

Cheers
Steven

[Gregadeth]

First off, can you hear the front rubbing on the a-pillar weatherstripping? If so, you may need to modify the door alignment where the hinges bolt on the door. If that is not your problem, open your you door, grab it from the front and back, and try to twist it. If it twists easily, then your door needs to be reinforced by a professional welder.
I'll try all of this today.


As for the windshield trim, it is adjusted by moving the two front infill panels forward.What exactly are the infill panels? Where and how can I get to them?


Does it look like anyone every touched the nuts on the hinges? If so, the door may have been removed and/or replaced. Adjusting the doors is the kind of thing that if you have a lot of experience at it you can do it pretty quickly but if you never did it can take a LONG time and maybe never get it good. It does appear the door is forward and maybe a little high in the front but you align the door to the fiberglass body and then align the adjacent panels to the door. This is the kind of thing best done by a Delorean service center if possible.I didn't see anything that would indicate that the hinges or torsion bar has been messed with. According to PO records, all the door seals were replaced in 2003. I did make sure the seals were fully pressed in.

[81dmc]

I forgot to add that you should try door operation without the weatherstripping installed. When you do this, see the gaps between the door and fiberglass in various locations. The gaps should all be about equal.

[PJ Grady Inc.]

I know a fix but it's complicated. PM sent.
Rob

[Gregadeth]

I forgot to add that you should try door operation without the weatherstripping installed. When you do this, see the gaps between the door and fiberglass in various locations. The gaps should all be about equal.Yeah I was thinking about removing the weatherstripping and seeing how it closes.

How about if I sprayed some silicone on the weatherstripping? Could that help as well?

[81dmc]

Yeah I was thinking about removing the weatherstripping and seeing how it closes.

How about if I sprayed some silicone on the weatherstripping? Could that help as well?

That would work on new weatherstripping to shape it, but your old weatherstripping is already damaged. Just remove the weatherstripping and the driver's headliner, and while sitting in the car with the door closed, use the tip of your finger to measure the gap on the front and back.

[David T]

If the hinges have not been disturbed then do not touch them. This kind of misalignment can occur by driving into a garage with the door open and hitting the wall. It may be possible to "untweak" the door and then weld it. This is not something most owners can do.

[81dmc]

If the hinges have not been disturbed then do not touch them. This kind of misalignment can occur by driving into a garage with the door open and hitting the wall. It may be possible to "untweak" the door and then weld it. This is not something most owners can do.

If he has some time on his hands, I'd say he should do it. Even I successfully did this (with zero experience) on my original passenger door which is still tweaked to this day, but I guess it just depends on the person doing it.

[Gregadeth]

This kind of misalignment can occur by driving into a garage with the door open and hitting the wall. Now that you mention it, I did find some light scratches/scuffs on the bottom rear edge of the driver's door. So I guess it is possible something hit the door at some point.

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[David T]

Well then, you have two choices, either get another door or try to repair this one. Once they get tweaked it is difficult to fix. On the other hand another door is expensive and not easy to R & R.

[hmcelraft]

Your location indicates you're near a DMC service center. What do they say about the door?

[bfloyd]

Have you replaced your inner door seals recently? My doors worked perfectly until I replaced the inner door seal on my drivers side. I've tried greasing the gasket, etc., but nothing really seems to help. Taking the gasket off the car, the door works perfectly. As it is now, some days I can open the door, some days I can't. Really embarasing sometimes to pull into the gas station and you can't get out of your car.

My issue is the door doesn't seem to latch all the way down on the front striker pin.

[Gregadeth]

The door seals were replaced by a previous owner, years before I bought the car. Mine actually opens and closes fine everytime. it doesn't get stuck or anything. The only thing is I just have to push/pull it a little harder to close properly. Maybe I should just live with it. I just don't want it to get worse over time or cause other issues. It's been this way since I got the car. I haven't asked DMC CA regarding the door, I wanted to see if it was something I could tackle myself first. Thanks for the suggestions

[cdmcali]

I know a fix but it's complicated. PM sent.
Rob

I have the exact same issue. What was the fix you Pm'ed to OP?

[dn010]

I got so tired of trying to adjust the alignment and gaps out, that I now just deal with it. I even went to the extent of enlarging the square hole where the pin is located on my problem door but that did not do much. My doors closed great without weather stripping, now I have to literally pull up on the driver side door handle to open the door (as opposed to the passenger side that just flies open) so I'm sure a new handle is in store for me down the road. I don't drive daily yet but when I do which will be shortly, I'm sure I'll get annoyed by this all over again.

[Drive Stainless]

I got so tired of trying to adjust the alignment and gaps out, that I now just deal with it. I even went to the extent of enlarging the square hole where the pin is located on my problem door but that did not do much. My doors closed great without weather stripping, now I have to literally pull up on the driver side door handle to open the door (as opposed to the passenger side that just flies open) so I'm sure a new handle is in store for me down the road. I don't drive daily yet but when I do which will be shortly, I'm sure I'll get annoyed by this all over again.

Dan,

Have you considered trying a weatherstripping with a smaller profile? If your doors close well without weatherstripping, maybe it would help to reduce the amount of rubber?

25 ft of this slightly smaller profile would do one door and allow you to test:

http://www.mcmaster.com/#1120A422

[mluder]

Well then, you have two choices, either get another door or try to repair this one. Once they get tweaked it is difficult to fix. On the other hand another door is expensive and not easy to R & R.

Yeah... Done by a pro you're looking at $2000. $1000 for the door itself and another $1000 in labor costs fro stripping everything out of the old door and putting it into the new plus fittment etc...
Not Cheap

Cheers
Steven

[Drive Stainless]

Yeah... Done by a pro you're looking at $2000. $1000 for the door itself and another $1000 in labor costs fro stripping everything out of the old door and putting it into the new plus fittment etc...
Not Cheap

Cheers
Steven

It actually costs a lot more than that if you're having one of the notable DMC vendors doing the work. :)

[mluder]

It actually costs a lot more than that if you're having one of the notable DMC vendors doing the work. :)

That's the "ballpark" figure I was quoted by Toby at DMCNW - a notable DMC vendor if there ever was one.

Cheers
Steven

[dn010]

Hi Matt,

I did consider the weatherstripping posted. Removing the current stripping would result in a huge mess to clean up (current one is packed with some kind of paste in the channel and it is not easy to remove) so I haven't gotten up enough will power to do it yet. The bulb on the one you posted is 7/16 height and the one I'm using now (if I'm looking at the correct source) is 7/8 so my only concern would be it not containing enough rubber to seal but for the price it would be worth a shot.


Dan,

Have you considered trying a weatherstripping with a smaller profile? If your doors close well without weatherstripping, maybe it would help to reduce the amount of rubber?

25 ft of this slightly smaller profile would do one door and allow you to test:

http://www.mcmaster.com/#1120A422

[Drive Stainless]

That's the "ballpark" figure I was quoted by Toby at DMCNW - a notable DMC vendor if there ever was one.

Cheers
Steven

If Toby can swap a complete door, including but not limited to: removing and replacing the t-panel, glass, interior trim and headliner, regraining, adjusting torsion bar and hinges, rub strips, mirrors, wiring harnesses, door seals, and latch and lock adjustments - all in 8 hours as you allege, then more power to him. Even if only 1 hour was spent on each of the items I just listed, he would not be able to complete the swap in 8 hours. DMC franchise rate is $125/hr.

I have had a door replaced twice and can tell you that this estimate is discrepant by several magnitudes.

[Gregadeth]

I have the exact same issue. What was the fix you Pm'ed to OP?Rob was in Northern California at the time and offered to look at my car if I was willing and able to make the drive up there. He said he would need a t-bar fixture to adjust the torsion bar and hinges realigned. He also mentioned the door may need re-twisting and/or re-welding. But hard to determine without seeing it in person.

[mluder]

If Toby can swap a complete door, including but not limited to: removing and replacing the t-panel, glass, interior trim and headliner, regraining, adjusting torsion bar and hinges, rub strips, mirrors, wiring harnesses, door seals, and latch and lock adjustments - all in 8 hours as you allege, then more power to him. Even if only 1 hour was spent on each of the items I just listed, he would not be able to complete the swap in 8 hours. DMC franchise rate is $125/hr.

I have had a door replaced twice and can tell you that this estimate is discrepant by several magnitudes.

I never said he could do it in 8 hours... Like I said - It was ballpark and I would't take it as an exact price quote. It was conversational... I asked what it takes he said (paraphrasing) "It's $1000 for the door but that's just the start. It's swapping out all the components which can take another day so there's another $1000 or so there..."

Cheers
Steven

[GS450-Junkie]

I'm trying to do some adjustments on my driver's door. It seems like the front latch isn't moving as freely as it should. It just looks like the small rods and plastic pieces in there that are supposed to move are all Gummy so I'm sure that old Grease is affecting the movement. My question is how to properly remove that latch so I can decrease and regrease that entire area for better performance. The shop manual just says to remove the three screws that hold the latch in place. It also says to slide that latch and three connecting rods out from inside the door. Just for my reference, is it really that simple? I remove it, I clean it, I put it back in and everything is pretty much in the same alignment as before I took it out? Or should I mark something to verify the current latch positioning before I remove it?

[spikeygg]

I'm trying to do some adjustments on my driver's door. It seems like the front latch isn't moving as freely as it should. It just looks like the small rods and plastic pieces in there that are supposed to move are all Gummy so I'm sure that old Grease is affecting the movement. My question is how to properly remove that latch so I can decrease and regrease that entire area for better performance. The shop manual just says to remove the three screws that hold the latch in place. It also says to slide that latch and three connecting rods out from inside the door. Just for my reference, is it really that simple? I remove it, I clean it, I put it back in and everything is pretty much in the same alignment as before I took it out? Or should I mark something to verify the current latch positioning before I remove it?

Haha, I just tried to do this too without the knowledge... I saw in another thread (http://dmctalk.org/showthread.php?10020-Door-alignment-Tub-issues) someone posted steps that seem simple for adjusting how the door fits. YOU CANNOT AND SHOULD NOT LOOSEN THE FRONT HINGE WITHOUT RELEASING THE TORSION BAR!. The front hinge has pressure applied by the torsion bar and it will not reset without removing the torque from it first. Over the last couple weeks I built the "PJ Grady" apparatus for releasing/applying the torque to the torsion bar and I have reset the front hinge on my passenger side door with it. Works like a charm.

Here's a photo of my car with the torsion bar adjustment apparatus installed:
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By the way, the torsion on the bar is only about 30-40°


EDIT: I may have misinterpreted your post... I was talking about the hinges and I just realized that you were talking about the latches. Anyway, I'll leave this post as is.

[David T]

Removing, cleaning and regreasing the latches is certainly a good thing to do. It is all just a matter of careful disassembly being very careful not to get cut up by all of he sharp edges of the S/S. In fact, cover them with some masking tape BEFORE you start. Take pictures and notes. The rods may have to be bent to better adjust things after you get everything back together and lined up. You should either have good, fresh door seals or you should replace them before adjusting the striker pins. The torsion bars should be adjusted and the struts should be fresh. Follow the procedure in the Workshop Manual or the Service Bulletins and do it EXACTLY as written. You may have to do it more than once till you get good enough to get it right.

[Jonathan]

On the subject of door alignment (which I picked this thread to put my question in as there are many different alignment threads and I figured we don't need another quite yet)...

Has anyone else found that if you have the car parked on uneven ground, it can make it difficult to properly align your doors?

The place I am in now (for about 2.5 years) has a garage with a floor that is sloped down towards the opening so that the front of the car is higher than the rear. I measured the difference as about 3" of height change from front wheel to rear wheel. From the centre of the front wheels to the rear wheels I got pretty close to 8 feet. So 3 inches over 96 inches works out to be a percent grade of like 3.125%.

This isn't an amount that would make you tired if it was a hill you're trying to climb. But with our cars and the fairly tight tolerances and balance with everything in the doors, hinges, striker pins, fiberglass, roof box, adhesive and anything else that comes to mind, I wondered if it could be contributing?

And contributing in my case is where the rear side of each door comes into contact with the fiberglass portion right around the striker pin location just as you get it almost all the way closed. If you look at those three screws that secure the latch in position, the heads of those screws have scrapped on my car enough that you can see the scratches on the fiberglass just above the striker pin spot.

I feel like it's almost as if the rear end of the door (both driver and passenger sides do this same thing) is dipping down slightly so that if you looked at the car from the side, the bottom edge of the door is no longer exactly parallel to the door frame and instead, this cock-eyed angle is just enough to scrape into the door frame.

I thought with the garage floor as it is, and how I have done striker pin adjustments on that same uneven floor, it might all be contributing? About a week ago I put the rear wheels on ramps and then the front wheels on a couple pieces of wood and was able to eliminate the 3" difference for the most part. I let it sit that way for a while and have done a striker pin adjustment on the doors and it seems like it helped. Not sure if that is my imagination or not, but with how much weight is in the door and the careful balance for the torsion bars and hinges and whatnot, it seems to have impacted things.

Was just wondering if anyone else has seen a similar impact on door alignment from an uneven surface their car has been parked on?

[David T]

Parking on uneven ground will affect the door alignment. In fact, that's why the door guides were added. You should never try to do any door adjustments unless the car is on flat, level ground. If your doors are hitting the screws in the rear you *could* try moving the doors forward. A big deal and not always possible especially if you have an early car. You could try grinding the heads down on the screws or removing any washers (if there are any) under the screws. Often when the doors are not aligned properly they got "tweaked" meaning they got twisted and the welds and glue inside the door are no longer holding it rigid. An experienced tech can tell by opening the door all the way, grasping the bottom edge and twisting it. If it feels "floppy" the door was tweaked or twisted to the point that it is not as rigid as it should be. Try closing the door by pushing it down by the rub strip in the middle of the door (not near the rear). Do it slowly and notice if it still hits the screws. If it doesn't hit the screws that way but does when you close it by pushing it down near the rear of the door it is probably bent. If you have an early car and it hits the screws, often there is no good fix. Find screws with a smaller head.