Doors won't open reliably

[lionvt]

I'm having this problem with both my 95 Disco I and my 91 RRC. Over the winter, one by one, the doors began sticking shut. They are not frozen shut. If you pull on the outside handle 6 to 16 times, they will eventually open. Something is obviously not "catching" or something right away. Very annoying. I have the weekend to pop the door trim panel off -- but I could use some help for what to be looking for.

Thanks!

 

[Quentin]

Got the same problem on my passenger door. It looks like the link to the door handle has worn slightly. Haven't got around to sticking a shim in there to take up the slack yet. That could be your problem too. If you've got a LR workshop manual, check out section 12.

 

[dhuddleson]

I had this problem during winter months until I added some lubricant to the door latch assembly. What I mean is the part on the rear face of the door itself, the moving parts that latch to keep the door shut. Some good penetrating oil (not WD40!!!) sprayed at the moving parts worked wonders for me.

I have not have any problems with the link rods as yet (touch wood!), but that certainly could be the problem too.

 

[nferno]

I had some similar problems, door would not completely unlatch. The problem was a very small spring in the door lock system. I found replacements on eBay and after a few hours to install they doors work great.

This spring failure is a common issue and can act like a bad actuator or linkage.


Good Luck.

 

[lionvt]

Thanks for all the input. Although I was prepared to pull the door apart (as I have had broken spring issues before) yesterday, as per my normal M.O., I doused everything in WD40 until it ran out the drain holes -- as Voila, all 6 sticking doors were cured. I then sprayed it with machine oil and hopefully that will keep her working until next winter.

Thanks for all the input.

Will

 

[peter]

anyone got a pic of the door apart and where the spring is.

 

[JMK]

Where one find one of these springs? This weekend we took care of this problem but its more of a tempory fix. Went to the parts store looking for springs and didnt find what I needed so I bought different ones and went to work cutting and bending into a shape that is close to the one I pulled off. I would rather fix it right. There is no way in hell I am going to spend 100-150 to replace a door latch because of a spring. Thanks guys

JMK

 

[damienb]

I had this problem with my previous RRC. As I recall, it was very straight forward once I got the door apart, and involved shortening the rods by screwing them in a couple of turns. The problem with one of the handles was I had pulled it so many times in the interim, it broke off.

 

[ptschram]

I had this problem with my previous RRC. As I recall, it was very straight forward once I got the door apart, and involved shortening the rods by screwing them in a couple of turns. The problem with one of the handles was I had pulled it so many times in the interim, it broke off.

Ding, ding,ding, we have a winner!

The arms all wear and don't push the rods far enough to adequately unlatch the doors. If one opens the door, one can see what arms are moved when you try to open the door and can see what link rod needs to be lengthened to improve door reliability.

PT