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Had a passenger in my Vette today. They slammed the door and the door would not open. I managed to get the door panel off. After an hour or so of messing with the latch, I found a white piece of plastic obstructing the release, just below the striker. Is there anything plastic inside that latch? It's white plastic. Thanks, Bill
So none of the door handles work? Inside, Outside?
There is a long rod that goes to the latch from the inside handle and a small linkage from the outside handle. If neither work then the latch itself must be bad. Do you have the AIM manual. You will find it in there. I wouldn't think there is any plastic parts in the latch itself. I''ve never had mine out but you never know.
Outside linkage. If no one else has a picture of the inside linkage I'll scan my AIM and post it up when I can.
I was able to eventually get the door open. There was a piece of white plastic, broken, stopping the latch from releasing. The plastic was at the bottom where the latch closes on the striker. I had to remove a second larger piece once I got the door open. On the 70 mile drive home I noticed the door now rattles in that area. I thought maybe the plastic was some type of anti rattle clip.
Last edited by HT1663WB; Sep 10, 2017 at 07:55 AM.
There is plastic on the striker pin, usually pvc or teflon, i have seen this happen before on different vehicles. The plastic gets chewed up and wedged in the latch. Its usually hard to tell if the pin has it or not. I thought it was after 80 that gm started using it but i dont know for sure.
i just looked on the web and dorman sells stricker pins, and from 71 onward they in fact do use plastic on them. Looks like the correct part number is 38420.
Hi,
I'm unaware that the striker used on 68-72 cars has any plastic parts to them.
???
Regards,
Alan
I didn't think they did either but the remanufactured ones indeed have plastic on them, maybe someone replaced them. I have also seen a lot of pins that looked plastic free BUT if you dig at them there was indeed plastic on them.
I just checked, the metal sleeve around the striker is split. I checked the drivers side and the sleeve on the striker appears to have plastic under it.
I have seen some of the door striker pins with a plastic/teflon sleeve on them, but most I've seen have a metal sleeve on them like this picture;
Many of these pins will also have more than one washer on them to adjust the striker in and out to better interface with the door latch.
There is a company that manufactures them in Stainless Steel and will machine them in just about any length if you are currently using more than one washer. (The SS pins do not have a metal or plastic sleeve they are machined to work without them.) All you need to do is tell them how many washers you're currently using and they will machine the striker to length so it requires only the one washer.
WOW the cheapest one in the list is for a covette!!!! Well thats a first for sure!!! It does say that they manufacture them larger to eliminate the plastic shell?? I believe i seen some with plastic shells as well on 80's chev's.
71 Corvette door won't open.
