OBW Passenger Door

[R. Gerard]

May sound like an odd question, but what the hey, I'll ask it anyway.

2005 OBW, L.L. Bean edition. We park the car in a sloped driveway
and like to pull in nose first. When we do so, three out of our four
doors will stay open. I.e., the driveway isn't so steep that you have
to hold the door open as you get out. The fourth door, front passenger
side, will not stay open. You must physically hold it open as you get
out or it will shut on you as you get out. It's really a pain when you
have an old timer who has enough trouble simply getting in and out of
car without having to deal on a door that wants to close on him.

Can this be adjusted somehow?

Thanks,
bob

 

[S]

Hi Bob!

Can this be adjusted somehow?

On the older cars (up thru 2000, anyway) there is a
(what'cha-call-it?) a door "keeper" that 1) keeps the door from
swinging open too far, and 2) has the detents that sort of hold it at
certain angles. I'd bet that yours is 1)already tired, 2)got damaged
during installation/transport/??? or maybe 3)is just too greasy.
It lives at the front of the door, about midway between the hinges,
and is pinned to the chassis. Remove the pin (light tap with a plastic
hammer or the like), remove two screws, and it's out.
You may be able to bend the detents a bit to titen things up if
removing some of the lube doesn't help, or simply find another at a
scrap yard; the ones I've looked at, spanning at least a decade of
models were (or at least appeared to be) all the same.
Hmmmm. You _did_ say 2005 model? I'd be tempted to try whining to your
dealership before taking matters into your own hands. (Note that I
said "before" rather than "instead of" . . . ;-)
Hope this is helpful.

ByeBye! S.
Steve Jernigan KG0MB
Laboratory Manager
Microelectronics Research
University of Colorado
(719) 262-3101