I've got a weird problem with my passenger door. The door hardware does not seem to line up properly when shutting. When I close the door slowly, I can feel it hit the guide and move a little before it latches. I don't know if the latching mechanism can be adjusted or if the entire door hinge needs adjusted. I'm not really sure where to start fixing this problem.

 

Buy a T40 torx if you dont have one already and loosen the striker just enough to where it barely moves. Needs to be fairly tight still because when you open the door it needs to stay in place, and not move around.

If you have it loose enough the latch will align the striker where it needs to be when you close the door. While the door is closed check your edges to make sure the door gap is where it needs to be as well as the door edges matching the quarter. If nothing looks good, you have a hinge adjustment issue. If everything looks good, you need to gently open the door trying to not move the striker. Then all you have to do is tighten, and your good to go.

The latch has no adjustment, so its either your striker, or you door alignment from the hinges.

 

^ this, end of story.

btw where are you in Chandler? Have i seen your car around? Im in N Scottsdale.. alot of time on the 101 east side tho..

 

I had this problem recently and the top bolt on the door hinge was loose. After tightening, it aligned back up. Good luck.

 

Awesome, thanks. I will look into both those things tonight.

 

Pm sent

 

Did you check this?

I'd check the door hinge bolts first.

 

Alright, I checked the door hinge bolts and found the top two to be loose. The frustrating thing is that it's the two that go into the car body, not the two that go into the door. When the door is open it blocks those two bolts so now I have to take the frikken door off. Lame...

 

Hmm, that doesn't sound right/good... :/

How does the FSM say to do this op?

 

I imagine you unbolt the door stopper, then loosen the door hinges where they attached to the door enough to get at the bolts that go into the car body. That's what I'm planning on doing anyways. Unless I can find a wrench shaped oddly enough to get at the bolt without going through all this trouble...

 

Thats one of the few things I haven't looked at yet. Maybe you could pull the splash shield/fender liner, and access the bolts that way behind the fender.

 

Alright, I took the door off (not that hard actually), and tightened the hinge. It had absolutely no affect on lining up the door hinge. So now onto buying a T40 torx to see if that works.

 

Torx the bolt type on the door? you'd align the hinges to change door alignment, not the jamb catch, surely?

 

I used the torx to take off the door catch. I pushed the door closed without the catch there and it was clearly not aligned. So WTF do I do now? Can the hinge be adjusted somehow? Since the door is hanging low I'm thinking about putting washers on the bottom hinge to angle the door up back where it should be. This is a weird problem...

 

Yes, as i was saying, the hinges contain the adjustment, not the latch. Have you followed the FSM to do this yet?

PS you don't need/use washers to do this, the adjustment is just done from the hinge locations.

 

I hadn't realized the hinges could be adjusted. I will look into this. I think I've got a PDF of the fsm somewhere.

 

Yes the hinges allow for adjustment. That's where you get your up/down, forward/back adjustment comes from. The striker allows the adjustment in/out for the rear of the door. Or unless you don't have the striker lined up. Then it raises or lowers the rear of the door also. Have you taken the fender off? If so Id recommend taking it off. It'll allow you to access the bolts easier. What you need to do is take the striker off. Close the door, and slightly loosen the bolts, just enough to get the door to move. I hold onto the door handle/front lower edge to move the door up and down. If you loosen the bolts too much, it'll be a pain to tighten them back up when you get the door where you want it. If you dont get it lined up with this method. Take a pic of the door closed to the quarter panel, so I can see what needs to be done.

 

I believe I may be having the same, or a similar, problem. Today I went to close my driver's side door and it sounded weird when it shut. When I opened it to look at it I noticed my window wasn't adjusting like it normally would when you open and close your door. Now the door won't shut properly and my window won't go up or down. I am also unable to lock my door. OP does your window still adjust up and down a little when you open and close your door?

 

metman, no, that's a problem with the window not moving, not the door being out of alignment (99%)

You need to check see if your window still works for starters. Then check if the interior light operates when you open/close the door. The switch is on the door jamb, check the rubber boot hasn't gotten misaligned and that it's still able to move in and out.

 

I definitely need to take the fender off. Any idea how much of a pain that is? I'm guessing I need to take the wheel well liner out, and possibly the front bumper to get to some of the bolts.

I haven't had any problems with the window or door lock. When the door is finally shut, it is in the proper position because the latch forces the door up.