Doors piss me off.

[Locke]

I have never seen a blog before in my life. If this is wrong, I don't care. It's my blog. Here goes, my very first ever blog entry.


Summary: An overly descriptive and poorly written vent about today's experience working on the doors of my vehicle that has no purpose, and should not be read.


Earlier today, I decided I would repair the driver-side door's outer window seal. (It has been popping up about 0.375" at the rear.)

After fighting with the interior door handle's bezel, I get the door panel off to find I am missing a screw that would be holding my window switch in place. Sweet. On to the window seal. I quickly found that the plastic screw bung that holds the seal down had popped out of the door frame. Pop it back in. Easy.

Then I decided to investigate the wretched screech emanating from the door while operating the window. Ok, the rear glass track somehow came out of adjustment. 10 minutes later, got it were I wanted it. Everything looked good. Checked all screws, installed the door panel, and close the door...

Shit.

It doesn't close. The front of the glass is now hitting the upper lip. So, I tear it all apart, this time to find that I am missing TWO of the screws for the window switch. That's no good.

I take the door panel to the workbench to epoxy the split screw holes back together, and discover that all of the hardener had leaked out of the syringe for my polymer epoxy. I scrape some off of the outside, and mix a bit together. Wipe it on with a 16 penny nail.

Upon throwing away the cardboard used for mixing the epoxy, I somehow stick my finger in the stuff. Mixed epoxies get hot. Very hot. And they don't wash away very easily. In the thirty seconds it took me to get in the house to wash, the epoxy had already begun to set.

Yeah, it's quick setting too.

So, 15 minutes with a nail brush, and most of a bar of soap, I got most of the epoxy off. Only the grooves of my finger's print are now filled with epoxy. Yay. Feels very weird.

Back to the garage to find some new screws for the window switch. Well, I don't have anything that will work. So I just put the two remaining screws across diagonally across from each other. It holds pretty well.

I have to remember to be gentle with my door switches now.

I get the front door glass stop adjusted, and decide to adjust the glide pads while I am in there. Too easy. So goes the re-tightening of the front glass guide.

Reassemble again. Perfect.

While properly motivated, I recall that my passenger side door glass doesn't tuck under the upper lip at all, and that the inside window seal does the same thing as the outside window seal of the other door did. Pop's up about 0.375" at the rear.

I pull the seal out, and crimp the tabs on the seal to make a tighter fit. That wasn't the problem. Pull it back off, and bend the metal tabs on the door frame out a bit. Fits perfect now.

Adjusted the front and rear glass stops and glide pads, and move the rear track back a bit so the glass will seal better against the door seal. When checking that the guides are tight enough, I discover that the rear one is broken in two. I don't really care.

And that's that. Buttoned her up, and went to get pizza.

 

[swarm]

How was the pizza?

 

[Locke]

Pizza wasn't bad.

 

[diablos991]

I feel your pain.

I have been having fits with my passenger door's weather stripping. It really sucks to wake up in the morning, already rushing late to your 7am MacroEconomics course, to find a nice 3/4" deep puddle on your passenger side.

 

[DSMunknown]

^ Yeah. The smell of mold is freakin' awesome.

 

[Locke]

Fortunately, I have never had any water get into the cabin. The lower door seal was sticking up a bit, but was still pressed firmly against the glass, and not off the door enough to allow water in. It just looked like crap and annoyed the hell out of me.

All fixed now, though.

 

[spyderturbo007]

Well done for your 1st blog. I have never written one either, but I'm having fun reading everyone else's entries.

Oh, and I had pizza for lunch and it sucked. I'm glad I didn't pay for it.

 

[Locke]

Thanks Nathan. I figure I would try to make use of all features offered by DSMtuners. Blogging seems kinda neat.

 

[Locke]

Update! Extra-exiting news; Most of the epoxy has been safe-ish-ly removed from my finger!

 

[spyderturbo007]

I'm going to try writing one today about how much I hate my car. What did you end up having to use to remove the epoxy, a belt sander??

 

[Locke]

Yeah right, I'm not that foolish.... I used a wire wheel for the majority of it.

The rest has been coming off over the last few days with 15 minute scrub sessions with a nail brush.

 

[kenamond]

You sound like a DSM window ninja. I keep giving up on my window. The lower-front mount for the driver's side glass that holds it to the track keeps popping out of the glass and rotating down so that the white pads aren't even straddling the track. Occasionally, the guide somehow binds and the glass leans way too far in when it's all the way up, and I can't close the door all the way (maybe I'll break the glass one of these days and be forced to fix it then). Other times it binds half-way down. When working at it's best, there's a bit of a thump half-way down.

 

[Auto RS T]

The passenger side door weatherstriping on my car has been coming off for a few months now, the clips are good but the rubber is ripped so it does not stay in place. I have an extra set of weatherstripping (actually 2 sets) just waiting to go on my car. I don't feel swapping the strips would be worth it until after my car is repainted because those little clips are such a pain and I fear breaking them or ripping the rubber upon re-removal. So there it hangs, about 1 foot of weatherstripping everytime I open the door.

Don't even get me started on the passenger side window. I am a mechanic, I can honestly say that I do at least 4 or more window regulators a month, I thought I had all the fixes and tricks for a sticking window figured out. Leave it to my car to prove me wrong. Extrememly long story short I took it apart and put it together a ridiculous amount of times spending a few hours doing this, and it still isn't right. I even swapped in a different motor thinking it was weak. Nope. I finally came to the conclusion that I have one or more bent window tracks and that I will just swap everything over from a spare door I have in the attic. Now I just need to do it. For now, I reach over and help it up a little .

 

[Locke]

Mack: DSM window ninja. I use moly lube on the tracks. It sticks well, is very slick, and doesn't wash away. If the window leans inwards too much, you can try moving the glides out a bit. Too much will strain the motor though. You can also move the top of the track inward. The glass will pivot off of the glides, so adjust the two in tandem until you get it where you want. Be sure to pay special attention while doing this that the glass still presses firmly against the outer seal, and that the glass slips up under the upper lip properly.

The glide adjustments are Allen studs with jam nuts, in pairs nearest the top and centre of the door. The track adjustments are similar and near the edges.

I keep tightening the front guide as well, but haven't yet found a good way to prevent it from loosening.

Jim: The passenger window on my 1g slipped out of it track along time ago, but still goes up and down. It has manual windows though, and was very tough to roll up and down, especially from the driver position. I never did bother with trying to fix it though. It wasn't a very reliable vehicle. I spend way to much time under the hood.

 

[kenamond]

Locke (window ninja): Thanks for the info. The leaning-in problem happens on its own every now and then. Something in the door gets into an unhappy place, and the window then rolls up differently (maybe something ends up on the other side of the track). I roll it back down, and there's a loud thump, and the window goes back to kinda-working again. It's the lower-front part that bolts to the glass and straddles the track. It has a bolt and a peg on the part. The peg rests in a hole in the glass that has a white plastic part that keeps the metal from directly contacting the glass. The peg pops out of the glass+white-plastic-thingy, and then rotates downward so that the forked part no longer straddles the track. I'm too chicken to unbolt the part from the window; I don't know if I'll be able to get it back on with my not-small hands. But I suspect that the forked part occasionally shifts leading to the lean-in problem. And I suspect that the slight thump I hear rolling down the window (when it's "working") is that forked part hitting something.

I need an endoscope so I can see what the hell is happening in those blind spots in the door.