Passenger front door problems!

[Stavros_Davros]

Can anyone offer some advice please?

My passenger front door has always been a bit temperamental, if it's slammed or even closed firmly it won't shut properly and has drained the battery a few times with the courtesy lights staying on for long periods.

It started after a local joey was recruited to change the window winder reg as it had failed on the previous owner, the last owner complained about it and the mechanic said that the door was out of alignment or some other BS and refused to rectify the new problem.

The door needs to be lifted slightly as it's closed now and if I squirt a little WD40 into the lock it improves it but in the cold weather it just will not shut properly whatsoever, it's so infuriating and takes a long time.

I now have to grab the door handle and give it a sharp tug from inside to latch it, obviously this is upsetting the door handle and door card trim, I reckon the handle will come off one day.

It's a real pain as passengers always slam the door - even when you ask them not to, I have to grab it and close it myself from the drivers seat.

The lock does work, something is out of alignment.

I've read the door lock might need de-greasing and cleaning up, any pointers please?

Thanks guys.

[Chema.RB]

Can anyone offer some advice please?

My passenger front door has always been a bit temperamental, if it's slammed or even closed firmly it won't shut properly and has drained the battery a few times with the courtesy lights staying on for long periods.

It started after a local joey was recruited to change the window winder reg as it had failed on the previous owner, the last owner complained about it and the mechanic said that the door was out of alignment or some other BS and refused to rectify the new problem.

The door needs to be lifted slightly as it's closed now and if I squirt a little WD40 into the lock it improves it but in the cold weather it just will not shut properly whatsoever, it's so infuriating and takes a long time.

I now have to grab the door handle and give it a sharp tug from inside to latch it, obviously this is upsetting the door handle and door card trim, I reckon the handle will come off one day.

It's a real pain as passengers always slam the door - even when you ask them not to, I have to grab it and close it myself from the drivers seat.

The lock does work, something is out of alignment.

I've read the door lock might need de-greasing and cleaning up, any pointers please?

Thanks guys.

For fixing the door closing issue, you will need a new lock.

[Stavros_Davros]

Damn! I bet they are expensive.

Any idea which part of the lock fails?

Strange it only happened after the window reg was changed, remember I mentioned the mechanic said the door was out of alignment? could he have messed it up?

I don't really think he knows what he's doing as he fitted a set of front brake pads on my Zafira the wrong way around a few weeks back - he won't be touching any of my cars again for sure.

Could anyone advise the Audi part number please so I can match a pattern part?

2003 A6 B4 C5 Avant SE Sport 2.5TDI Quattro (180bhp)

[mike ryan]

They are around £200 from audi. You can get them cheaper on eBay but I have bought good second hand ones that have lasted well.


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[ceilidhalfie]

First off, if the door is out of alignment such that it will not close properly, you should be able to see its out. Adjusting is easy - simply loosen the four bolts (2 at each hinge) - adjust and then tighten. However, iits hard to see how it got like that unless the door has been adjusted (incorrectly) or removed before.
If you need a new lock, I can give you one - postage cost only. I recently replaced both doors on my 2002 Allroad. I can also give you details on how to do this job - its a bit fiddly with the hardest part being how to rease the old lock from the lock recess. Use the lock I would send you to see how the release mechanism works - it was not obvious (to me). Obviously you reuse your lock cylinder.
let me know and If you wish me to send the lock - I would be tuesday before I could send.

[Stavros_Davros]

First off, if the door is out of alignment such that it will not close properly, you should be able to see its out. Adjusting is easy - simply loosen the four bolts (2 at each hinge) - adjust and then tighten. However, iits hard to see how it got like that unless the door has been adjusted (incorrectly) or removed before.
If you need a new lock, I can give you one - postage cost only. I recently replaced both doors on my 2002 Allroad. I can also give you details on how to do this job - its a bit fiddly with the hardest part being how to rease the old lock from the lock recess. Use the lock I would send you to see how the release mechanism works - it was not obvious (to me). Obviously you reuse your lock cylinder.
let me know and If you wish me to send the lock - I would be tuesday before I could send.

from what I can tell the window regulator failed on the previous owner and he had a local indy mechanic come and fit a new window reg mech, the door worked fine previously apparently. After refitting the new reg he claimed that the door wasn't true or twisted or something and wouldn't line up to close properly after, he said he'd spent a day trying to make it line up and close properly, I'm not sure whether he didn't mark the sliding bolts when removing the window frame - if that would make a difference?

The door when it needs closing, has to be lifted slightly, you can see the door 'ride up' when it hooks onto the stricker latch, if its been left some days it just will not close, 20, 30 attempts and it just won't latch to make the courtesy light go out at the rear of the door or extinguish the dash warning that the door is open.

If I spray some WD40 onto the latch - the door closes instantly, first shot and is fine all that day, next day - back to square one.

I'm not convinced the door latch is broken I think it's an alignment issue and the door is sitting too low, I've seen some internet jabber to suggest that sometimes the hinges wear and need shimming but you'd think that would be on the drivers door due to excessive use and not the passenger door .

I haven't had a good look at the problem yet but if I can adjust the door stricker latch or the hinge height as you've suggested it may solve the problem and negate the need for a time consuming strip down and replacing the lock mech.

Thanks for the offer - very generous, I'll bear it in mind and it is a possibility, let me have a look at the door height and see if I can adjust it first, you'd think a competent mechanic would have had no trouble with this but I've seen other incompetency he's committed on this car and more recently on my other! never again!

I'll be in touch but in the meantime if you have any more suggestions based on the info I've given I'm all ears!

[ceilidhalfie]

Feel free to adjust the door at the hinges - its no big deal and easily adjusted back again if you end up with a bigger problem. When I changed both front doors on my Allroad, I could hear a terrible wind noise from the passenger door. On inspection I could see it was out at the side near the top hinge. As I said above, a quick slacken - adjust - retighten and problem fixed. If you need to lift the door to get it to close you definitely need to raise it at the hinges - I would suggest slacken both hinges and lift slightly. You can clearly see when you close it if it needs to go up or down, or out/in at top or bottom.

[fishybusiness]

If I spray some WD40 onto the latch - the door closes instantly, first shot and is fine all that day, next day - back to square one.

The solvents in WD40 will dry out leaving you back where you started.

I have the same issue with mine, its been 6 years now and I've tried GT85 which is a better lubricant, if I had another go I would probably use a light oil/spray which will not dry out over time.

[AudiAvantAwx]

Have same issue with mine
Learned to live with it as it does not effect lights on
Fitted new lock made no difference
I am like a chaffeur when I close it,like you said I have to lift my door and gentle push will close it,slam it and it will bounce of the steel bracket

[Stavros_Davros]

I've had a good go at adjusting what is immediately accessible and have had some partial success.

First off the lock mech was absolutely lathered in white grease inside, I'm assuming as the weather gets colder the grease thickens up and slows the claw down on the door latch?

I've cleaned it out with copious applications of electrical switch cleaner and a rag/cotton buds which has removed a lot of the crud, I also lubed the lock with Napier gun oil/cleaner which I had to hand.

Now for the adjustments, I loosened the two torqs bolts on the latch on the 'B' post and adjusted it, The other thing I did was turn the the latch around so the previously unused side now latches, there was some wear to the latch in the area the claw in the door lock grabs it. I also cleaned all of the rubber strips around the door jamb and the seal between the front and rear doors, they were very sticky with residue and were hindering the seal around the window frame from sliding into position.

It has improved it to the point were the door will shut nicely with a gentle push from the first checkstrap position or if the door is pushed with finger tips in contact while it latches, it will also close and latch with a gentle pull of the door handle from the inside but any more than gentle and it still bounces back and the courtesy light and dash warning stay on. I can't hard slam like the other 3 doors.

What I have also observed is that the top part of the door/window frame seems to be making contact before the latch and the rubber seals are acting like a spring hindering the latching, it may be slower due to more grease in the lock mech and causing the claw in the latch to be slow to grab before the rubber seal pushes it back again, some monkey has definately been messing with the window frame and has either not aligned it properly or has forgotten to tighten all the fixings properly as there is a little 'rattle' compared to the drivers or other doors.

The latch seems to work perfectly mechanically though and does what's expected when activated with a screw driver and the handle lifted, it locks and releases smoothly and there is no obvious wear or damage to the components I could see.

Anyway it's 100% better than before and at least I can close the door from within and outside now without dozens of annoying and humiliating attempts. The acid test will be tomorrow if the oil dries out a little but being light gun oil it is usually very good.

I'm convinced the lock mech is still good, maybe needs a more in-depth clean, I'm wondering if this can be done with my compressor and an air gun rather than completely stripping it down? I'll be doing that next summer if neccessary. @ceilidhalfie, I've PM'd you about your kind lock offer as I think it would be a good idea to have one at hand considering the work involved stripping the door and rebuilding it.