Do you have to "jiggle and wiggle" your door to get it to open? Here's the fix.
 

We were talking in a discussion awhile back about doors that are hard to open. I know there were a couple of people that had the same problem I did with having to push the handle down, then jiggle the door and give it a yank to get it to open and were looking for advice on how to fix it. I fixed mine today. Here is the solution.

If you look in through the hole in the door where the latching mechanism is (with the door panel off of course), you will see a rod that comes down from the bottom of the outside door handle. It then goes to the latching mechanism. It is kind of more of a large piece of wire than anything, but anyway. It is kind of hard to see, so you have to look for it. Anyway, teh problem is that this rod needs to be bent farther so that it pulls on the latch sooner. If you reach in the hole with a spring tool, or some other tool with a hook on the end you can grab that rod and give it a pull. That will bend it a little farther, making it work. I did that to mine and it works perfect now.

I am sitting here trying to think of how this all works and can't seem to put it together. The rod that I'm talking about must move up when the door handle is pushed down. I don't know.......it all made sense when I looked it over this afternoon. :crazy: My memory must be going south. :rolleyes:

Anyway, for those that said they have the same problem, that's what fixed mine. Any questions feel free to ask. :cheers:

-Justin

Re: Do you have to "jiggle and wiggle" your door to get it to open? Here's the fix. (Dalannex)
 

Does that rod not screw in and out for lenth adjustment? Or is my mind going south?? It's been so long since I've had my door panels off. :(
TC

Re: Do you have to "jiggle and wiggle" your door to get it to open? Here's the fix. (Tomcat)
 

Yes it is threaded. The rod is attached through an arm on the door handle.
It makes some bends around some lock and latching mechanisms, and is threaded on the bottom end. There is a round piece with a stud on it. The stud goes through an arm in the latch. To make the latch open sooner you must CAREFULLY pull the VERY TINY hairpin off of the stud. Next pull the stud out of the hole, and screw DOWN. This makes the basic center line from hole to hole longer, and when the handle is depressed it pushes the rod down. By making the rod "longer" it unlatches the latch sooner. After turnind down 2-3 turns, insert the rod back into the hole and CAREFULLY reattach the VERY TINY hairpin back onto the stud.

When dealing with this VERY TINY hairpin, PLEASE note the emphasis on CAREFULLY and VERY TINY. Basic job is simple, but the VERY TINY hairpin adds about 3 points to the overall PITA factor. Especially after you have it fly across the garage and there is no hope of EVER finding it.

I hope to be able to find some at the auto parts store tomorrow!!!!!! :cry :cry :cry :cry :cry :cry :cry

Re: Do you have to "jiggle and wiggle" your door to get it to open? Here's the fix. (DaBo)
 

Can you reach up in there with the glass and actuator in? I got mine to work, but that is good information. Let me tell you what, I can think of about 10 million other things I would rather do that work on doors. I have to make sure the kids aren't in the shop with me when I'm working inside doors because the language I tend to use would make a sailor run for cover. :)

Oh yeah, for the rest of you maybe you should follow the above information. No sense bending something that's threaded. :D


[Modified by Dalannex, 8:50 AM 2/13/2002]

Re: Do you have to "jiggle and wiggle" your door to get it to open? Here's the fix. (Dalannex)
 

You should not have to disassemble anything.
I am sure that most C3 doors are similar, but on my 76 after you pull the door panel you will find an access hole in the upper corner of the door just above the latch. These arms and rods are accessed through this hole. For those of you who have replaced outside door handles, you know how small this hole is and how tiny the hairpin is.

I read the first thread about 10:30 last night. Thought that I would go out and double check the procedure since I haven't had my door panels off for about 3 years, and my door needed adjusted anyway.

On the first attempt to replace the hairpin, I dropped it inside the door. Somehow I got lucky and it dropped all the way through the small drain hole in the bottom of the door.

On the second attempt the hairpin shot across the garage.

I swept the garage this morning and ran a magnet through the debris.
Another lucky break, I FOUND THE HAIRCLIP!!

I did not find a small enough hairpin at the auto parts store.

If you attempt this you may want to have an extra hairpin clip.

It is possible to run into some clearence issues with the other arms and thing if you try to adjust by bending.