Dave928S

I've had two new door seals for my GTS for a while and was put off quickly replacing them because of the difficulty in replacing them without cutting and gluing.
I know that many are done this way ... but I'd really prefer to not cut and glue.

I've searched previous posts on this issue and can't find pics or detail on disconnecting the harness in the door (GTS doesn't have a connector under the dash like up to MY89 .. ) ... can anyone give me a rundown (or link) on how involved/PITA that is? This method would mean I disconnect the wiring in the door, and the door stay and then install the seal.

The other option I'm considering is disconnecting the hinges/stay and supporting the door ... install seal ... refit hinges/stay. There are 1/8" holes through the hinges that seem like pin alignment guides for remove/refit? Bad idea? ... comments.

Advice would be appreciated.

Dave928S

Here's a pic of what looks to be a re-alignment hole .... these aren't on my 82 BTW, so maybe they put these in to allow the last method of door seal replacement after they no longer fitted the under dash harness plug and socket?

Mrmerlin

if you dont want to cut the seal along the bottom edge and reglue it with super glue, you could practice this on the old seal BTW
then remove the parcel trays,
then remove the 2 phillips screws holding the door harness to the inner part of the chassis under the dash edge.
then disconnect the harness connector then remove the old seal then fit the new one

Dave928S

Thanks Stan ... but from 89 onwards, as I mentioned, there is no connector in that area ... it's just continuous shrink wrapped harness. I can't understand why they deleted the connector in later models (my 82 has them, a friends 87 has them .. my GTS doesn't). I've superglued lots of seals in the past on other cars ... it just goes against the grain to spend IIRC $160 on each and then cut them. What do you think about the hinge idea?

Tom in Austin

I've been wondering about this too Dave ... I'm going to try putting a drill bit into those holes on my car to see if they are aligned.

I once saw a video of photographing a GTS for the brochure, and in one scene a guy's taking the driver's door off the hinges for a shot of the interior. I wish they had shown what they did with the wiring to be able to get the door off ... I don't think there's a single harness connector on either the body or the door, so I'm guessing you'd probably have to get into the door and take loose several connectors to free all the wiring, then you could pull it all out of the way.

Leon Speed

I have not replaced the door seal, but I would not cut the seal either. I'm sure that gluing works fine, but I would prefer to do some more work to leave the seal whole.

So, if there's no connector on the body side on the GTS, that only leaves the door side right? Looks like the only way is to take off the door panel, vapor barrier and remove the electrical wiring.

I would be hesitant to remove the doors from the hinges for fear of realignment issues. Besides, it would take a helper and some balancing while you install the seal, than quickly get the door on the hinges again. If you leave the door on the hinges you have all the time in the world to install the seal.

Dave928S

Thanks ... I saw that video too Tom ... maybe I might need to be the first to try it ... they sure look like alignment holes to me, and they are perfectly aligned on mine. If they do actually ensure re-alignment, then I think the door could be suspended with the harness still connected, while the seal is installed.

Thanks too Aryan ...

The WSM is about as useful as a parachute in a submarine on this, and quite a few other things.

StratfordShark

OK guilty, I cut seal at bottom and superglued! It's completely invisible even if you know where to look.

Have often had door cards off and have replaced stays on both sides.

I wanted to do job without cutting seal, but believe it or not I couldn't find how to disconnect the harness at the door. Just didn't want to come out despite moving/prising a few tabs. I didn't want to risk breaking the connector so resorted to the cut and glue method. Normally I also would not work that way.

the flyin' scotsman

The connectors are inside the door aren't they?

IIRC they can all be accessed by romoving the door panel, disconnect the wiring and feed it through the door, remove door hinge and install seal.

Randy V

That seal is glued together in the original manufacturing process.

Crazy to go through all that to avoid cutting and gluing it.

shadowknight

To install the door seals without cutting is not to difficult. Under the dash, directtly below the vents that feed air to the doors there are three plugs (2 pin white, 6 or 8 pin black and a 12 pin white). Access to the passenger side plugs is easier to get to than the drivers side due to location of the ABS Module and Seat Controller. Once the plugs have been taken care of the wire loom (plastic channeling from door to chassis) need to be unscrewed there will be two Philips screws that hold it in place. The harness is now free all you need to do is remove the hex bolt from the hinge giving you complete access to the door. I will add some pictures tonight.
This picture is of a door harness as you can see on the left hand side are the three connectors.

The connectors for the drivers side is up and to the left of the ABS and Seat controller. You can see the white connector the black connector is above it.

Here is a picture of the three connectors for the passenger side.

The picture shows one of the two screws that holds the loom in place

Removing the bolt below and the disconnected harness will give you access to the door so you will not have to cut the door seal.


Admittedly cutting is the easiest way to go. However I received it as one continuous piece and that's how it's going to stay, besides nothing else on this car is easy to work on... so why should the door seals be any different.

Mrmerlin

just cut the seal for gosh sakes dont be silly,
the seal is glued together when its made with super glue if you look very carefully you can find it.
in the grand scheme of things you will never know where the cut you made is just use a fresh razor..
You will be really pissed if after trying to remove the door hinge bolts that you strip one or worse that the door slips off whatever you have it resting on and damages the paint then a cut in a seal wont seem like such a big deal,

Seal install instructions,
Cut it,
fit it,
glue it,
forget it

you know they could have probably left the seal unglued when it was made,
this would have then given you no reason to install the seal any other way that what i posted

jon928se

I would cut it too if only because lots of people have reported that the door hinge bolts are made of cream cheese and normally don't come out without a drill.

svpmx83

Agreed, the bolts are very soft - I had to drill out 3 of the 6 when I took the doors off for painting.

Cut the seal

GeorgeM

Just replaced mine recently. Not sure of the harness locations inder the dash, never saw them, so I removed the door panels, pulled the harness plugs just below the speaker, unscrewed the door strap bolt and replaced the seals.

The door panels are a piece of cake to remove, they take 10 minutes apiece, and the rest is right there.

I strongly recomend against messing with the hinges... not sure why one would do it that way.