Hi all.

I've clicked my way through the forum a few times looking for a magic cure for the dreaded 993 door check problem. I naively accepted a car with the spot welds already broken several months back. The dealer (Don Rosen Imports in PA, for the record) offered to pay for the repair; I was happy when they put up the $250 or so it took for a body shop to weld the strap back on the A-frame. A month later the new weld had broken again. The body shop doesn't want to re-weld because they know it'll just break again. They're estimating something like $2,500 to "properly" fix the issue, which apparently involves a full breakdown of the fender and most of the dashboard. Sound fishy? Yeah, to me too. So am I stuck with this horrible CLICK-CLICK everytime I open my door, or is there a way to get this welded/bolted/photon-fused or otherwise connected so that it STAYS connected?

Expert advice would be greatly appreciated!

Regards,
hal

1997 C4S (Black/Black)
....and lovin' it.....

 

<a href="http://p-car.com/diy/doorcheck/" target="_blank">http://p-car.com/diy/doorcheck/</a>

This may ease the pain a little. It will definitely ease the stress on the bracket and whats left of the welds....

 

A question:

Is your door making an slight noise, when you go over bumps, as well? I have been plagued by this nagging noise from the front of my door, but I don't have any other door strap issue symptoms.
I am wondering if mine is just starting to go bad.

 

Chris,

With respect to your DIY. After the changes are made as you outline does the door open real easily. I was just wondering whether it would then be easy for the door to accidentally open all the way and then stress the door strap.

I have a very low mileage car, with no door strap problem yet but it's apparent that it's only a matter or time.

 

Ron, it depends how much rubber you trim off. The detenting action is still very much there after the mod. If you disassemble the check strap, clean and reassemble, it actually lessens the required effort to open the door passed the detents as well. Back to your question, yes it would be easier to get to the end of the stop, which you obviously want to avoid.

 

Chris:

Again, thanks for the DIY work.

Question for you:

If it does make the door easier to open, is there a way to dampen it a bit? I was thinking of putting a rubber donut of some sort to slow the opening rate when it nears the limit. I have not taken a look at my mechanism, so I am not sure if that will work.

TIA

 

My door just started clicking 2 days ago <img border="0" title="" alt="[Frown]" src="frown.gif" />

 

Chris,

Yes, I checked out your DIY article before I posted -- very much appreciated. Unfortunately, I'm beyond preventative measures at this stage -- the weld is broken, re-welded, and re-broken. I'm considering taking it back to a body shop and having them re-weld and paint it (again), then following the procedure you recommend to reduce stress on the weld in the future. Does that seem likely to succeed?

Any other ideas out there?

Kind regards,
hal

1997 C4S (Black/Black)
....and lovin' it.....

 

TomF,

In reply to your question, I'm not noticing any door noise while moving. It's only when I open and close the door when the check strap pops inside it's broken connection to the A-frame. I get an occasional annoying vibration somewhere in the back, but haven't figured out how to pinpoint that one. (so I do the only logical thing and pump up the volume! :&gt

Cheers,
hal

1997 C4S (Black/Black)
....and lovin' it.....