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Purchased a new vehicle to transfer everything from my old car to. Car is in excellent but shape and was recently painted. But the PO shaved the handles. The doors have been nothing but a headache and the opening mechanism has been very unreliable. Is anyone familiar with diagnosing these and making them work better? This car will be driven a lot but these doors are a inconvenience.
I don't have an specific diagnostics to offer, but maybe a few thoughts.
Do you know what brand of openers they are? Did they come with any documentation? If you can track down a brand, there may be some manufacturer support for diagnosing problems.
Do you know what the issue is? I'm assuming they are operated by wireless remote, with a hidden cable release backup? So then the questions become, is the transmitter working, is the receiving module and it's antennae in a good location to receive the signal? Is the pulse of 12v to the solenoid arriving reliably? If you can test all of this with the door card removed, and the solenoid is getting a signal, power, ground, etc., then there are a couple of other thoughts.
1) The solenoid is under powered, ie:not strong enough for the job. Or, B) the latch mechanism is binding, creating an excessive load (work) for the solenoid. Or C), the install is so bad, and it's working through bad home made linkage, or mounted at a crazy angle, and creating excessive binding that the solenoid cannot overcome.
That's where my thinking takes me. I helped my neighbor do this conversion on several street rods, but always with new bear claw latches, and lots of room inside the big old '30s vintage coupe doors. And they do take some wrestling to get them right.
I had a 92 RS that had shaved door handles (done by the previous owner) I fought them for over a year before I finally went with replacement doors. I put in several different solenoids during that time in hopes to make it more reliable but at the end of the day they would always fail to open at the most inopportune time..
Do those doors have spring loaded poppers in the jam pushing against the door? If not, they'll never work right. I used to do this back in my lowriding days. You have a solenoid that triggers the latch and at the same time, the spring loaded popper pushes the door out all the way or halfway, however you set them. On my cars, I hit the button and the door would swing all the way open on its own. Heavy doors require poppers. If all you have is a solenoid, then the door can't open on it's own very well. It's like you're standing there lifting the handle, but not pulling on it, if that makes sense. Sometimes the latch will just re-catch. If you do have poppers, they may not be set strong enough.
...and just a tip. If you are going to have shaved door handles, then you need to make provisions to be able to get in that car if the battery dies. I had a second "hidden" hood release under the front of the car. What if both solenoids die on you? I also welded a nut onto the door handle rod on the inside behind the door panel and ran a cable through it, through the door jam and into the engine compartment hidden away. No matter what, I could get into the car. Stuff you have to think about with shaved doors. Of course I had shaved trunk lock too, but with 3rd gens, unless you shave the hatch lock, you can just crawl in that way.
Last edited by kentuckyKITT; 03-22-2017 at 06:42 PM.
Reason: spelling
My 89 RS had them when I bought it and only 1 worked. He said passenger side didn't work since new. Finally got fed up and bought the SPAL kit with key fobs to activate. Been a year and they are still working great. Kind of a pain to get in the door to mount the solenoids but haven't had a problem since I put them in.
I don't have an specific diagnostics to offer, but maybe a few thoughts.
Do you know what brand of openers they are? Did they come with any documentation? If you can track down a brand, there may be some manufacturer support for diagnosing problems.
Do you know what the issue is? I'm assuming they are operated by wireless remote, with a hidden cable release backup? So then the questions become, is the transmitter working, is the receiving module and it's antennae in a good location to receive the signal? Is the pulse of 12v to the solenoid arriving reliably? If you can test all of this with the door card removed, and the solenoid is getting a signal, power, ground, etc., then there are a couple of other thoughts.
1) The solenoid is under powered, ie:not strong enough for the job. Or, B) the latch mechanism is binding, creating an excessive load (work) for the solenoid. Or C), the install is so bad, and it's working through bad home made linkage, or mounted at a crazy angle, and creating excessive binding that the solenoid cannot overcome.
That's where my thinking takes me. I helped my neighbor do this conversion on several street rods, but always with new bear claw latches, and lots of room inside the big old '30s vintage coupe doors. And they do take some wrestling to get them right.
Well so far the door opening is inconsistent. When i push the button on the fob i physically see the door handle move (the one on the inside) and i see the linkage to the latch move but the door does not open.
Do those doors have spring loaded poppers in the jam pushing against the door? If not, they'll never work right. I used to do this back in my lowriding days. You have a solenoid that triggers the latch and at the same time, the spring loaded popper pushes the door out all the way or halfway, however you set them. On my cars, I hit the button and the door would swing all the way open on its own. Heavy doors require poppers. If all you have is a solenoid, then the door can't open on it's own very well. It's like you're standing there lifting the handle, but not pulling on it, if that makes sense. Sometimes the latch will just re-catch. If you do have poppers, they may not be set strong enough.
...and just a tip. If you are going to have shaved door handles, then you need to make provisions to be able to get in that car if the battery dies. I had a second "hidden" hood release under the front of the car. What if both solenoids die on you? I also welded a nut onto the door handle rod on the inside behind the door panel and ran a cable through it, through the door jam and into the engine compartment hidden away. No matter what, I could get into the car. Stuff you have to think about with shaved doors. Of course I had shaved trunk lock too, but with 3rd gens, unless you shave the hatch lock, you can just crawl in that way.
The door do have a a spring loaded popper mounted on each door.
Replacing the doors may be harder than you think, do you know exactly what color the car was painted? If not, you'll have a heck of a time matching the color. Even if you know the paint code you'll probably still need to blend into the fenders and quarter panels if you are concerned about getting a perfect match.
Well so far the door opening is inconsistent. When i push the button on the fob i physically see the door handle move (the one on the inside) and i see the linkage to the latch move but the door does not open.
That sounds like the spring loaded poppers aren't strong enough or are not mounted in a good position to be strong enough, meaning they are too far away from the door and even on the highest setting won't push against the door enough. Most of them thread in and out to get them stronger or weaker. Your door should be somewhat hard to close, about the same as if you had brand new weatherstripping on the first day. Your doors should always be like that. The key to this, is once the solenoid releases the latch, the popper does the rest immediately pushing the door outward to prevent the latch from catching again. It's kind of like when you lift on the handle and only pull a little, it will catch again.
Also, depending on how your solenoids function could affect it. On the kits I had back in the day, if you press and hold the remote button, the solenoid would stay released until you let go of the button, then it would go back. Try holding the button longer and see how the solenoid functions. I would also get the door panels off and see how the solenoid is mounted, it may not be pulling on the rod enough to release the latch. Watch the solenoid pull on the rod while you press the button. It should open the inside door handle all the way. It could also be mounted under the latch and pulling on the actual latch instead of the rod, but most people don't install it that way at least we never did. Tried it one time and it seemed to put the inside door handle in a bind.
Post some pics of the solenoid mounting and the location of the spring poppers.
Last edited by kentuckyKITT; 03-23-2017 at 06:22 PM.
The door do have a a spring loaded popper mounted on each door.
Just saw this. That is part of the problem if the poppers are mounted on the door itself. The poppers have to be mounted in the jam to push against the door. You want the load of the spring on the solid car body. It might seem trivial, but they work better this way. Trust me, I did this for years and installed these systems for a lot of people back in the day.
Being that you did not install the system yourself you basically need to start from scratch as if you were putting them in. In my build thread I posted a few pictures and info about them starting here: https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/memb...ml#post6078090
With shaved door handles everything is equally important to get right, otherwise the system will not be reliable.
For starters, the solenoids need to be directly below the latch mechanism so that they pull straight down:
If the solenoids are mounted up by the handle you can get very undependable responses. You also need to ensure that the solenoid itself is grounded. The kit I went with was AutoLoc and they even say in the instructions to just bolt the solenoid to the bracket and bolt the bracket to the door. That is the furthest they go in terms of grounding, ridiculous IMO. The solenoid itself needs a real and dedicated ground to be dependable. There is also the issue with the transmitters. Could be as simple as a weak battery, probably not. Possible that the transmitter is programmed wrong. The transmitter probably has several "modes" for outputs. It could be on for a set amount of time or on as long as it's held down. Possible the timer is too short. Could also be that the antennae is not in a good spot to receive signal. It's also possible that the latches themselves are the problem. you want the striker to be in the middle of the latch and when the door opens the door should open straight out. If when released the door starts it's sag--well that's your problem there, a saggy door. Could alos be the latch needs cleaned and lubed.
It is most likely going to be easier to fix this then to replace the doors with doors with handles.
They are pricey. I originally wanted to fit 2013 Dodge Charger handles in my doors but my body guy said it would be just as expensive installing them and getting them to work as it would be to just get the Kindig-it ones. In the end I think the Kindig-its look way better than my initial plan.
I stuck mine on about the same level but on the body side. Over time it is possible that the door, in that spot, could bend in. You would need some really forceful poppers and lots of cycles for it to happen though. You can check to rule out the latch and popper if you just sit in the car and close the door. Tie a string or zip tie to the door handle and very slowly and gently pull the handle back. If the door pops open then you know it's not the popper, door latch or a saggy door.
the spring loaded popper pushes the door out all the way or halfway, however you set them. On my cars, I hit the button and the door would swing all the way open on its own.
What car(s) was this, what brand popper was this and any idea what it was rated at? I have my door latch perfectly aligned with the striker and not rubbing on anything and the door only opens 4" or so.
What car(s) was this, what brand popper was this and any idea what it was rated at? I have my door latch perfectly aligned with the striker and not rubbing on anything and the door only opens 4" or so.
When the door does open it opens about an inch or so. Enough that I can grab it.
I got the door panel off. I did Not see any marking on the soleniods. It looks like some sort of generic kit in my opinion. I did take some video im having an issue uploading it.
What car(s) was this, what brand popper was this and any idea what it was rated at? I have my door latch perfectly aligned with the striker and not rubbing on anything and the door only opens 4" or so.
The car was a 79 Caprice Coupe (heavy doors!!) I don't remember the brand as it was over 15 years ago the last time I ordered set. I ordered them from a vendor out of Lowrider Magazine. At the time, you could order different adjustable spring rates and stiffer springs for the poppers. They also had different tips you could get.
In the video, the solenoid, although strange looking to me, seems to be doing the job of opening the latch. I would grease/oil that latch mechanism good, but I think most of your issue is in the spring popper not kicking the door out.
This is actually a picture of my solenoid. When I looked at it I remembered that it is possible for the locking mechanism of the latch to give you an issue. Make the the tab on the latch that goes to the lock is firmly in the unlocked position. Mine was partly down when I put mine in and gave me a small issue.
I think you can buy the solenoids and brackets on eBay for cheap. Try buying some and setting it up like I have. I used 1/4-20 bolts to attach the bracket but I'm here to tell you rivets will look much better. Better yet, make a bracket that the solenoids mount to and weld it to the door.
03-21-2017, 11:38 PM
