Door won't stay shut (too cold)

[thekidd]

Well, its cold here in PA again, so that means that my drivers side door will not shut.
When it gets cold out, I'd say around 32*F (22* as we speak) I can unlock my drivers door and close it. But once I pull on the inner door handle, it doesn't go back to where it was. It just stays however far I pulled the door handle. So if I have to make multiple stops, after I get out the first time, I have to hold the door shut. Kinda hard to hold coffee, shift and steer at the same time (but I do have a round CV joint as a cup holder now Every winter I have to do this, or tie the door shut with something. I have had the door card off multiple times to try and see what is the matter, and can never find out what the hell is going on in there. I have bout new lock assemblies and handles before thinking that would help, I've greased, lubed and oiled the innards before (last was about 3 months ago) hoping that it would help during the winter, but just found out that it didn't Has anyone had this problem before? What would be peoples thoughts? I will take the door cards off tomorrow and take another look at them, and hopefully they will be "frozen" to refresh my mind on what I have done in the past. Too dark now, but I will take a few pictures also for you guys tomorrow, or whenever I get to it. Thanks.

[curtisr]

It makes sense that the driver's door might sag a bit after 30 years of use which the warmer weather should forgive. I guess this might be evident when the door is not quite closed. Perhaps the striker might need a bit of adjusting. Just a suggestion...

[thekidd]

I'll try the striker. I think I manually closed the striker, and it was still frozen, but didn't adjust anything then. Thanks for the opinion, work a try.

[Backyardbodyman]

Right on Curtisr. I was thinking the weatherstripping gets hard when it's cold. Not letting the door go in enough for the latch to grab on to the striker. Striker adjustment might do the trick. Let us know if that works.

[thekidd]

When I was trying to shut the door last night, it would go flush with the body, just wouldn't latch shut. And the inner handle was sticking out, like I was pulling on the handle. I just went out to see if it was cold enough (31*F) and she was working fine. Put some WD on the door panel part of the striker. Will see if it does it again tonight, and I will try and post a video and take some pictures. The striker your talking about, is that the part on the body, or the door?
Also, I was not able to push the lock down, even if put the door release/ door panel striker in the position as if the door was shut. Don't know if I said that last night. But thanks guys.

[Backyardbodyman]

Your striker could be to far in. Striker is on the body(door jam).loosen the striker and move it out a little. Sometimes they move from the door closing a million times over the years. I'll take some pics of mine when I go out to shop later.

[Backyardbodyman]

The striker is in first pic. Move that out and line up the hight(last pic). The little plastic piece in second pic is to adjust your handle. The push down lock will not move with door open. Need to use key to lock left(drivers)door. This is so you don't lock keys in car. Hope this was helpful. Let us know how it works out. Cheers

[thekidd]

Thanks guys. It has not been cold enough here for my handle to be stuck again. But does it make sense that my door works absolutely fine when it is 30*F or above, but will not catch ad shut when below 30*? I always thought that the grease in the locking mechanisms were frozen or just hard enough to lose it lubrication properties. I have checked that the stricker and door catch were just about perfect (sticker was just about in the middle of the door catch by eye). I hate that I brought this up, then hasn't happened since, but it's good to have some ideas on what to look for when it does happen again. Thanks again guys.

[Backyardbodyman]

One more thing to consider,there's a little mechanism in there that releases the latch when the handles are used to open door. If it doesn't spring back the latch won't fully lock. It's getting stuck in the cold. I have the same problem with hood latch on my truck when its to cold. This should have been my first guess but my brain is slow.

[thekidd]

Hasn't happened again, yet. But the other day, I was playing around with the latch, and the locking mechanisms, and decided to re-grease everything that I could reach, and sprayed a good amount into the latching part on the door. Opens, and closes just a little better. Hopefully the WD-40 i sprayed in the latching part lubed the catch enough to have it not stick. Maybe there was a bit of water in the latch, can't see how it would get in there, but so far so good. thanks guys for your input. i will post again, and what I did to try and fix it, if it happens again. Thanks.

[924RACR]

Spray white lithium grease is a better answer for maintenance, once you've got the lock/latch bits cleaned and unstuck enough with WD40 or PB Blaster or the like. Might as well also put some in the locks themselves and work it in with a key - that's part of my regular pre-winter maintenance.