Door problem (Lock assembly or hinges?)


My doors don’t sag or hang low but they rattle when I go around corners fast and are hard to close. I always have to slam my doors really hard to get them to close all the way (needless to say it’s annoying).

I opened my doors and tried to lift them up and they didn’t budge; my suspension did but that’s another story. So now I am thinking that the problem could be the door lock assembly. The large metal pins that the door lock assembly grabs to physically hold the door shut have scuffs in them making it look like something is rubbing were it shouldn’t be. Additionally, on the driver’s side, the two grabber things that are inside of the door have the plastic worn off them.

Any idea’s on what my problem(s) is?

I called my local Chevy dealership and they said that it would cost around $80.00 per door to replace the pins and busing. What do you think? Good or bad deal?

Additionally the dealership said that if it was the door lock assembly it would cost $110.00 per door to replace them. What do you think? Good or bad deal?

Does anyone know how much work is involved in replacing the door lock assembly?

Thanks

 

Good idea to replace them, bad idea to pay somebody else (especially the dealer) to do it. You can buy the pin kti in the Help! product line for about $6, and all you need to change it out is a hacksaw blade and some patience.

The reason your doors are hard to shut is that they sag. You might not notice it, but they do. It make the latch hit wrong. Look at your latch; I'll bet money the top of the slot where the striker goes into it is all wacked from slamming against the top of the striker, like they always are.

The latch assy costs about $40 IIRC. I changed the driver's one in my Camaro not too long ago, and I've changed them in some other cars too. Not too hard, just tedious; and of course you need to know how to take the door panel off without destroying it, and have plenty of those plastic clips on hand to replace the ones you farkle. Also available in the Help! product line BTW. Sometimes if it hasn't been like that for too long you can take it out, soak it in something to dissolve all the accumualated road grunge out of it, and lube everything with white lithium or something; makes em work like new. Makes the power lock solenoid have that nice snappy action back.

 

I ahve the sme prob. the dors are hard to close cause they are sagging slightly. Relpace the pins and they should work like new.

I also had a door latch stick closed. It sucked cause I ahd to take my door apart completly in the parking lot of where I worked at the time. Just pull the mechanisims out and soak them in gas (or something else) then scrub 'em clean and grease 'em up. Mine worked like new after I did that.

The rattling is probably coming from the bars that activate the latch. they are held in bya clip and are in some plastic tube. looks kinda like a wiering loom. Most likely the loom stuff got old and broke off which is letting the bar bang around. just pull off the panel and stick the bar into some tube of some sort.