Alan Smithee

My car has developed a series of godawful cracking sounds when opening the drivers' door; appears that one of the hinge bolts has backed out a bit. Has anybody else had this problem?

DrDrilZ

did u accidently slam the door open?

H20NOO

Not yet but, Porsche has a proud history of weak, cracking door hinge mounts. On 993's is wasn't a matter of "if" so much as "when" the door hinge would tear out of the body. The factory usually covered the repair.

The 997 feels like solid granite so if you don't see any flexing or tearing where the hinges mount, it could be in the mechanism or on the door side. Sounds like a shop visit may be in order.

MC

rebe1

Very weird. My car just developed this today (5300 miles), and I was searching for anyone with similar problems here on Rennlist when I saw your post!

I noticed it when I got home today, a terrible sounding noise, and yes, one of the bolts (special pattern, so I don't have something to temporarily tighten it) is loose and causing the mechanism to scratch the rest of the car. Actually when looking at it, I was surprised one of the arms in the mechanism is plastic!

Anyways, I guess I have to get it to the dealership to tighten, hope its just an in and out thing!

H20NOO

A little LocTite Blue might be a good idea when they assemble these things.

MC

gota911

I have had this occur on my '04 996 on the passenger door. The strange thing is that the passenger door has been opened about 10% as frequently as the driver door. I have simply re-tightened the offending hinge bolt and the god-awful clacking is eliminated! If it occurs again, I'll try LocTite.

997Opus

I have had this problem as well. Took the car to the dealership and they tightened up the hinge and I have not had any problems since. Not quite sure what the special bolt pattern is but I did not have one in my garage. I must admit it was a nice 2 hour spirited ride to the dealership for a 1 minute fix.

AS

i too hv had this problem on my passenger side door. took car to dealer, no probs since.

fourplates

This just started happening on my 997. Does anyone know which adapter I need to put on my screwdriver? Thanks

ajayabb

I believe its a triple square . Someone will chime in as to the metrics

Edgy01

I have to say that this is one of the tighter cars I have ever gotten from Porsche. Usually you can expect things to loosen up over time, and I have had a few, but very few. Thanks for the heads up on the door hinges.

One thing to remember is to go ahead and lubricate the hinges. Many people forget to consider doing that. I forgot to do it on one of my 911s many years ago and sure enough the hinge was destroyed over a period of years from that neglect.

In the aerospace industry we have some tightening rules that I like to follow for automotive applications. All fasteners need either a loc-tite type material added to the threads during assembly, or a mechanical devise like a split washer. Use one or the other. Fasteners need something like that to keep them tight. If it's good enough for the space shuttle, it's good enough for my Porsche.

gripshifter

Hi Dan, what did you use to lubricate the hinge? WD40, special lubricant?
Thanks!

wbellinz

I've had luck using white lithium grease. It comes in a spray can. Wd-40 isn't what you should use. I've used the lithium most to get ride of squeaks on other cars I've owned.

Edgy01

Lithium is the best.

slicky rick

Lithium get the place very dirty fast as dust adheres to it...will silicone work?