Door Latch Issue
 

OK, so I'm in the process of redoing the interior of the car ('84 911 Targa), and have just reinstalled the door panels. Prior to installation the passenger door closed fine, now with the door panel in place the door just sort of bounces off the latch and won't secure. This has happened to me once before a couple of years ago, but could never figure out what could have happened. After completely removing the door panel the last time, then reinstalling - it worked fine. Has this ever happened to anyone else? I've read several other posts about lubrication and so on, but not sure that's it based on the fact that it worked a short time before. Any comments / thoughts would be appreciated, before I yet again remove the panel.

Thanks.

The latch plate on the body may need adjusting. Look very closely as you move the door close to the latch and see where you need to move it. Also, with the door open, pull on the handle as if you were opening the door (you want to activate the latch opening mechanism) to make sure that the part of the latch on the door is in the proper position to engage when closing the door.

Thanks much - I'll try to do that this evening. It seems to me that a lot of the challenges I have may be related to reinstalling the locking knob with the screw. Sometimes rotates out of position when I'm putting it back - I'll compare both doors as well. More to follow. Cheers.

The catch mechanism on the pillar may need to be adjusted. Did you change the door body seal? Often this occurs with new body seals that result in pushing the door out so it can't fully latch into the door latch catch plate. You may simply need to readjust the catch.

I didn't actually adjust any part of the door or body, just removed the door panel and reinstalled, and then the problem. I'll have to also check to ensure nothing is getting caught between the door and body, but I can easily push the door to the flush position with the body, so doubt that's it.

I suggest you have activated the door mechanism so the latch is in the closed position and when you slam the door it bounces off. Operate the latch mechanism on the door with a screwdriver to open it up and all should be fine again.

I meant to try it today, but ran out of time, will have to wait till Saturday, but thanks for the suggestions. I'll advise how it goes Saturday morning.

Cheers.

^^^^ this

OK, so now I'm more confused, but expect it's something simple. Was out working on the door and looked / did each of the recommendations. Door catch was correct orientation (compared to driver door (exact mirror) and it appears that the latch does try to rotate around the door stop on the body, just doesn't "lock in place". I accidentally (maybe inadvertently on purpose?:)) locked the door before closing it, and it closed perfectly, but then I could open it from the outside, so not truly locked. I didn't fiddle with the internal workings of the door when I removed the panels to replace, but am thinking somehow I may have affected / knocked the door lock mechanism perhaps? Not sure what the correct layout should be either. Of note, the locking mechanism does rotate freely including the up and down of the small knob.

Bump. Any additional ideas - anyone?

Thanks.

I recently replaced the outer window felt strip that has the 5 or so button head fasteners. Of course the old felt strip disentegrated on removal and luck would have it one of the button fasteners fell down into the door latch mechanism. I could open the door from the inside but not from the outside. Murphy was with me that day.

I just checked inside the door for any sort of obstruction, but still don't see any issues that I can tell. Printed out the PET page for the door lock, and it looks pretty much the same as I can see.

Maybe your door stay is hanging up?

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/porsche-911-technical-forum/775658-door-stays-replace-both-like-headlights.html

OK, hopefully final update, not sure what actually happened (again...), but I think it had to do with the internal mechanism somehow. I locked the door while open. I then closed the door and it closed properly. While closed I looked at the inner bar that links the locking dial to the actual lock on the edge of the door, the long bar was bent for some reason. I removed it, straightened it and it appears to work. Seems very strange to me how it could have bent, but hope that was it. Any thoughts on whether the bend was coincidental?

Thanks to all for your comments - hope to have the car back out within days :-) +15 C expected in the next day or so...

The good ol door bounce. Happened to me 4 years ago. Took apart panel, sprayed lube on any part that moved, problem fixed.

Great suggestion.

I sprayed everything I could without opening up my S-10 door with ignition lock Teflon, and the door now opens from the inside.

Tri-Flow........that's the ticket!
http://www.out2win.com/catalog/oilch.html
http://www.out2win.com/catalog/images/TriFlow.jpg

Well, I thought my problem was solved and today, after flawless operation it happened again, guess the door will come apart for the lube - thanks for the recommendation - makes perfect sense. Another Porsche owner locally suggested that the tension spring in the inside door mechanism could also be worn out. Thoughts on that aspect - should I order new tension springs to replace them while I have the door panels off anyway?

On my car, when I removed the panel to adjust the window and later to replace the window motor, the latch mechanism between the inside door pull and the long rod to the latch was very fidgity and required some attention to make sure it was assembled correctly and worked properly. Compounding this was the condition of the plastic retaining inserts. You might want to make sure that all is good with this assembly.