I have a 2000 Cavalier four-door sedan with about 280,000 miles on it.

This last summer, we encountered a problem - the front passenger door's outside panel began to clip the front quarter panel when the door was opened.

I got along with this 'click' every time we cycled the door, but today we drove to Seattle and when my son went to get out, the door would not open.

The door panel runs smack into the front quarter panel now, and prevents us opening the door more than a few inches. The door itself latches just fine.

Any ideas? Is the hinge pin worn out? The shims? Is this a common problem? I need to fix this ASAP, so any help at all would be grand.

Steve

 

first off congrats on the miles!! secondly its probably a bad case of hinge pins an bushings. it is somewhat common. if you can get the door open enough grab the end with the striker and lift up see if you can feel slack in the door. if you do there you go. replace the hinge pin and and bushings. its not to hard to do. once thats done see how it is chances are itll need a little adjusting. the gm dealer in the auto body dept has a a special tool that hooks into the striker and to the striker bolt and bends it back to where it should be works pretty well. they will usually do it for free to take a couple minutes lol. or get a piece of wood and a jack and jack the flat part of the door up and it does the same thing. but there tool worked better for me in the past

 

It appears the door is no longer centered on the pins correctly.

Here are some images to clarify things. Has anyone seen this sort of problem? What's going on here, so I know what to do? Most important, how do I realign the door, even temporarily, so that I can get it open to work on the hinge pins without destroying the front quarter panel?

Again, the passenger side front door latches properly and does not appear to drop when you open it.

 

hey. will the door open at all? if it will even a little bit jack the door up to try to adjust is back somewhat. honestly though if that doesnt work you may have to remove the fender and then do it. from the pics it looks like the hinge pin bushings are bad. you can buy bushings and pins for a few bucks at oriellys. and can adjust it properly using the gm certified tool they have it at any gm body shop . if you cant open it at all id pull the fender its the easiest way i can think of.

 

You can easily determine if the hinge pins are bad, by opening the door with the window all the way down, then try to life the door up by hand just a bit, if it flops up & down the pins are definetly bad. This happens way more on the drivers door because it is opened & shut far more the the other doors so it wears out faster.

 

Who out there knows how to replace the hinge pins? They are of the strangest type I have ever seen.