Door latch problem

[Arved]

So the passenger side door closes nicely, the driver side stays shut but is not fully closed. When I move the passenger side door latch manually it clicks twice and stays in the fully closed position. If I move the driver side, however, it also clicks twice, but moves back to the first click position causing the problem of the half shut door. Any clues on what is going on?

Cheers and thanks

Arved

[RRoller123]

Mine does that too, you can look at a few things. The latch mechanism on the frame is oftentimes loose although it will not look so. Tighten those screws. This frame mounted latch mechanism also has some adjustability built into it, depending upon where you hold and position it when you tighten those screws. The screws need some Loctite. I also found that there is some adjustability of the door latch mechanism itself (on my '80), but you need to get inside the door to get at it. There are a couple of small mounting nuts that appear to adjust the placement of the latch (or its latch point, anyway) inwards or outwards. I fooled around with mine until it latches as best it can. The door hinges also play a big part in this, and they can be adjusted at the door frame, or also from inside the door itself, to get the gap even all around, and the placement of the door panel flush with the fender. I suspect that my car was hit at some point in its life, and these gaps will never be perfect. But playing around with all of the above made it quite acceptable, although mine requires a large amount of closing force to get the door to seat fully in and latch, as opposed to the halfway-latched condition you describe. And that is ok.

[Arved]

Wow, thanks for the comprehensive reply. Let me get in there to see what I find. Can you elaborate a bit on the door adjustments? Are those the big Allen screws on the hinges themselves?

Arved

[RRoller123]

Yes, the door hinges on the car side are the visible screws on the frame, but the ones on the door require removing the door card to get at them. If my memory serves me well, the ones inside the door control how far in or out the door sits, i.e., to get the door linear with the body panels. It may require an impact screwdriver to get the screws loose on the car frame. It is also VERY common that the doors sag, so some adjustment is almost needed when we take over the stewardship of these little beasts!

Others have mentioned that the hinges frequently crack, and it may be hard to see the cracks, so I would check carefully for this.

[Frog2Spider]

My '81 uses a door guide, that had broken off (plastic) when purchased. I found out about them by 'accident' and found that they are readily available. The guide guides the door to the latch. Solved my door closing issue perfectly. They likely also hold the weight of the door on the latch side.
Dave

[Arved]

So my mystery is solved. Thanks for all for thinking along: There is a rod that connects the latch to the handle that has a ball joint at the latch side. That ball joint had come out. I managed to put it back in after a lot of fiddling and now the latch holds in both the half closed and fully closed position.

Arved

[Arved]

Well, the problem came back overnight. Looks like it just needed some rest . Can anyone explain the function of that little ball joint push rod in there? It seems to be pushing something up inside the outer door handle mechanism when the inner handle is pushed down. Very mysterious.

Arved

[Arved]

I have found the root cause, I believe. On the door side there is a striking surface that the latch hits to disengage the lock. During the paint job there was paint build up on that surface that caused the striker to hit too soon. I have removed the outer door handle and the door closes perfectly. I have also scratched off the paint and holding in the door handle it now seems to work fine. I will file down the striker a little bit to be sure. It seems this has been done before so perhaps the factory adjusts it that way.

Arved