Ducati sliding door striker plate adjustment

[Lizbiebrowne]

The sliding door on our Ducato PVC is difficult to shut and when opening, the handle feels tight as though the door is too close to the body. Can the striker plate be adjusted? There seem to be alignment marks on the body next to plate but I’m not sure whether there would be any adjustment if I loosened off the two bolts.

 

[dazandandrea]

Im not sure about what adjustments there are ,but, before you undo anything mark exactly where they are now. Just in case .

 

[RustyRuss]

Show us a picture of the door fully open and fully closed please.

 

[Boringfrog]

Also the two locating pins on the opposite side of the door can be adjusted.

 

[Lizbiebrowne]

Show us a picture of the door fully open and fully closed please.

Are these showing you what you wanted to see?

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[Otter Spotter]

Don’t think it will be the striker plate as in photograph, it is more likely to be the slider which can be adjusted and on my Citroen Relay ( same body) the adjustable bits have been marked at the factory, just see if anything has moved away from the markers. Just seen the additional photos, the rubber block under the handle inside the door look as though it’s entering the doorframe too much ?
I have to be honest though I wouldn’t tackle it myself.

 

[Lizbiebrowne]

Also the two locating pins on the opposite side of the door can be adjusted.

Are the pins here?

 

[Boringfrog]

Are the pins here?

No, it's where the door closes next to the passenges door.

 

[RustyRuss]

Are the vertical gaps between the leading and trailing edges of the door and the bodywork the same? If you look from the rear of the vehicle is the door flush with the adjacent body? Does the door “jump” or appear to be released from tension when you open it? If so where? Do you have to slam it hard to get it to shut properly? As a previous poster said, make sure to mark the door strike plates position in the door frame with a pen.

 

[RustyRuss]

There are two tabs/locating lugs one at the top, one at the bottom of the leading edge of the door, they locate into corresponding pockets when the door is shut, they should look like the locating lugs fit neatly into them and shouldn’t have wear marks on them if the door fits in it’s recess properly.
The door can be moved up and down relative to the door frame, it can also move from side to side, it can even skew so that one side is higher than the other! It sounds complicated but once you have an idea of how the door should sit in the door frame adjusting it will be relatively simple.

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[Lizbiebrowne]

There are two tabs/locating lugs one at the top, one at the bottom of the leading edge of the door, they locate into corresponding pockets when the door is shut, they should look like the locating lugs fit neatly into them and shouldn’t have wear marks on them if the door fits in it’s recess properly.
The door can be moved up and down relative to the door frame, it can also move from side to side, it can even skew so that one side is higher than the other! It sounds complicated but once you have an idea of how the door should sit in the door frame adjusting it will be relatively simple.

The bottom pin locates in its pocket first by a few millimetres. There is a raised plastic section inside each pocket on its outer side; in the lower pocket, the first photograph, looks as though this section is more worn when compared with the corresponding section in the upper pocket (second photograph).

 

[Lizbiebrowne]

Are the vertical gaps between the leading and trailing edges of the door and the bodywork the same? If you look from the rear of the vehicle is the door flush with the adjacent body? Does the door “jump” or appear to be released from tension when you open it? If so where? Do you have to slam it hard to get it to shut properly? As a previous poster said, make sure to mark the door strike plates position in the door frame with a pen.

The door can bounce when trying to close it and when opened the rear side jumps out from the body to the position shown in the photograph. There’s a mechanism between the door and the sliding rail that also look as though it is adjustable - see second photograph (again, this is the resting position of the door when opened)

 

[RustyRuss]

Sorry for delay, I had to go to our MoHo which is in storage about 15 miles away. Back now to laze about in the garden! Right, to business, is the difficulty with the door a recent development or has it always been like this? Check the fastenings of all the components that are involved in keeping the door shut, the locator tabs, the pockets they engage with, the door lock mechanism in the trailing edge of the door, the latch it locks on to (it looks like a very large nail head and is located in the rear door frame), the runner at the bottom of the door and the rail it runs in, the corresponding runner and rail on the mid line of the side of the van and any other locating lugs you can find. Check that they are all super tight, look really carefully for signs of movement between lugs and latches and the doorframe (scrapes in the paint maybe? Clean/not dusty metal components?). Make sure you use the correct size TORX key for each fastening and make sure it fits perfectly into the fastening before you check for tightness. Remember clockwise for tightening, anti-clockwise for loosening! Let me know what you find out, with photos, and we’ll proceed from there. When you take photos try to take a photo of the component and the surrounding metalwork and not a close up, I can zoom in if I need too.

Cheers!

Russ

 

[Lizbiebrowne]

Sorry for delay, I had to go to our MoHo which is in storage about 15 miles away. Back now to laze about in the garden! Right, to business, is the difficulty with the door a recent development or has it always been like this? Check the fastenings of all the components that are involved in keeping the door shut, the locator tabs, the pockets they engage with, the door lock mechanism in the trailing edge of the door, the latch it locks on to (it looks like a very large nail head and is located in the rear door frame), the runner at the bottom of the door and the rail it runs in, the corresponding runner and rail on the mid line of the side of the van and any other locating lugs you can find. Check that they are all super tight, look really carefully for signs of movement between lugs and latches and the doorframe (scrapes in the paint maybe? Clean/not dusty metal components?). Make sure you use the correct size TORX key for each fastening and make sure it fits perfectly into the fastening before you check for tightness. Remember clockwise for tightening, anti-clockwise for loosening! Let me know what you find out, with photos, and we’ll proceed from there. When you take photos try to take a photo of the component and the surrounding metalwork and not a close up, I can zoom in if I need too.

Cheers!

Russ

Thanks very much for your help Russ. The van is coming up to 3 yrs old. It’s never been easy to close the sliding door but opening it seems be getting harder. It’s significantly more difficult to operate the sliding door’s external handle than it is those of the cab doors and rear door, to the point where it’s feels it might fail eventually. I’ll go through the areas you suggested and report back. David.

 

[RustyRuss]

Hi David, make sure to have a really good look at the door latch mechanism at the rear of the door, sounds like it might have moved away from the centre of the vehicle if that makes sense. The up shot will be that the latch will be nearer the outer skin of the door, making the door sit further into the door frame when it’s shut, so pressing the sealing rubbers harder and making it harder to shut.

I’ve just looked again at the photo in post #7, the bottom torx bolt is off centre to the south west if you will, there is an oblong hole in the doorskin and the lock mechanism can be seen through it, it looks to be off centre, suggesting that the lock mechanism has moved closer to the outer skin of the door, this fits with my comments immediately above in THIS post.

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[Guigsy]

Adjust one thing at a time. Make sure you've got a good record of where it all was. Each adjustment, check it locks, releases, slides OK and the panel gaps are still good all the way around. Also make sure that no metal edges are banging against anything, it's not always obvious. I spoke to a guy that ran a fleet of Ducato hire vans and mostly maintained them himself. He said that sliding door adjustment is bit of a dark art. He generally avoided mucking around with it until it was really bad or it'd often end up chasing different issues for days.

 

[Lizbiebrowne]

Hi David, make sure to have a really good look at the door latch mechanism at the rear of the door, sounds like it might have moved away from the centre of the vehicle if that makes sense. The up shot will be that the latch will be nearer the outer skin of the door, making the door sit further into the door frame when it’s shut, so pressing the sealing rubbers harder and making it harder to shut.

I’ve just looked again at the photo in post #7, the bottom torx bolt is off centre to the south west if you will, there is an oblong hole in the doorskin and the lock mechanism can be seen through it, it looks to be off centre, suggesting that the lock mechanism has moved closer to the outer skin of the door, this fits with my comments immediately above in THIS post.

Ok, thanks Russ. I’ll concentrate on this area first.

 

[RustyRuss]

Well said Guigsy, I recommend NOT to adjust anything until you discover what has moved. I have adjusted quite a few of these doors, on Mercedes Sprinters (replaced the door on my mate’s one as he’d had a “coming together” with a gate post!), and my dalliances with Citroen Dispatches and Fiat Scudo work vans, and several 2000-2008 Ducatos. I find that the constant opening and closing of the side door affects the tightness of the lock mechanisms, the runners and the latch/pockets. The locks move relative to the door, the pockets and latches move relative to each other and the rails and runners seem to go out of synch with will full disregard to your sanity! The one thing they all have in common is that they leave telltale traces of where they were originally positioned when new and working properly, a paint scrape, a clean piece of exposed metal, lack of rust, a bolt that’s suspiciously loose, a grating noise as the offending article opens or closes, missing paint. The list is probably endless…….

 

[Landy Andy]

Draw around each item with a sharpie pen before adjusting or loosening anything.

 

[Geistguy]

A bit on the basic side but is the sliding mechanism well lubricated ? My wifes car has a sliding door which I have to lube monthly.

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[Boringfrog]

My door is attached to a huge step which come retracts when the door is shut, the hinged brackets joining this to my door made it impossible to open the door from the inside. I don't think yours is connected that way though.

 

[Boringfrog]

Has anyone mentioned the cable that connects to the bottom of the door?

 

[RustyRuss]

Did you get it fixed then?

 

[Lizbiebrowne]

This is what I've found so far:

Using this tool I can loosen all the Torx screws (i.e, the eight securing the two pins and their corresponding pockets on the door's front edge and the latch on the door's rear edge that engages with the striker plate) without difficulty (though none were loose) but the two securing the striker plate will not budge against the amount of force I was prepared to offer them.

On looking closer at the rear of the door and watching the latch engage with the striker plate it does seem that they are not perfectly aligned: the striker plate is offset toward the top of the latch (or more likely visa versa) and is in contact with the inside top edge of the latch housing as the door closes. This might be consistent with your observation that the lower screw is not central. The top of the striker plate is scratched where it first engages with the latch.

I'm tempted to loosen the three screws securing the latch and try to arrange it to engage more centrally. Any suggestions very welcome

 

[TheBig1]

A common fault on van conversion sliding doors is that the hardwear is set when fitted allowing for the standard door. The converters add considerable weight to the door and over time it drops by a few mm causing it to be hard to open and shut. Lifting the door on it's adjusters solves this, but the problem may return. If you adjust and solve the issue, mark the new position on the door and body carefully, then one at a time remove each bolt, add some loctite thread locking to the bolt and tighten it in position again. Test the door after fitting each bolt to ensure it did not move. The locktite should keep the adjustments for much longer

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[RustyRuss]

As per the TheBig1 sounds like the door has dropped a bit. As you look at the photo in post #7 loosen the top right torx bolt by 1/3 of a turn, loosen the top left torx bolt by 1/2-2/3 of a turn and loosen the bottom torx bolt by 1.5 turns, this means that the top right torx bolt will be a little less tight but will still act as a fulcrum/pivot point. Put the blade of a slotted screwdriver about 2-3mm into the grey metal slot in the bottom hole below the latch mechanism, (you may be lucky and find that pushing it further into the hole makes it catch on a slot that will make the screwdriver act like a lever), hold it very firmly in your right hand and hit the blade of the screwdriver towards the bodywork of the van with the hammer you'll find in your left hand. It could be worthwhile having a buddy/spouse/GF/BF hold a flat piece of wood wrapped in a thick towel to protect the body work of the van in case you miss with the hammer!! You will need to move the latch/lock towards the centre of the van and probably about 3-4mm for it to have an affect. The door is likely to "bounce" when you hit the latch so give it a decent whack. Tighten everything back up again before closing the door. I would strongly suggest that a quality set of torx keys is purchased before loosening anything and retightening, the guy in the factory will have had a setting on his pneumatic torx driver that will be equivalent to F@@@ing tight!! Definitely tighter than you will manage with your ratchet driver.

MAKE SURE TO MARK EVERYTHING WITH A THIN SHARPIE PEN BEFORE YOU MAKE ANY ADJUSTMENTS!!!

Let us know how you get on.

Cheers!

Russ

 

[Lizbiebrowne]

A common fault on van conversion sliding doors is that the hardwear is set when fitted allowing for the standard door. The converters add considerable weight to the door and over time it drops by a few mm causing it to be hard to open and shut. Lifting the door on it's adjusters solves this, but the problem may return. If you adjust and solve the issue, mark the new position on the door and body carefully, then one at a time remove each bolt, add some loctite thread locking to the bolt and tighten it in position again. Test the door after fitting each bolt to ensure it did not move. The locktite should keep the adjustments for much longer

Are these the adjusters that you referred to

 

[Lizbiebrowne]

As per the TheBig1 sounds like the door has dropped a bit. As you look at the photo in post #7 loosen the top right torx bolt by 1/3 of a turn, loosen the top left torx bolt by 1/2-2/3 of a turn and loosen the bottom torx bolt by 1.5 turns, this means that the top right torx bolt will be a little less tight but will still act as a fulcrum/pivot point. Put the blade of a slotted screwdriver about 2-3mm into the grey metal slot in the bottom hole below the latch mechanism, (you may be lucky and find that pushing it further into the hole makes it catch on a slot that will make the screwdriver act like a lever), hold it very firmly in your right hand and hit the blade of the screwdriver towards the bodywork of the van with the hammer you'll find in your left hand. It could be worthwhile having a buddy/spouse/GF/BF hold a flat piece of wood wrapped in a thick towel to protect the body work of the van in case you miss with the hammer!! You will need to move the latch/lock towards the centre of the van and probably about 3-4mm for it to have an affect. The door is likely to "bounce" when you hit the latch so give it a decent whack. Tighten everything back up again before closing the door. I would strongly suggest that a quality set of torx keys is purchased before loosening anything and retightening, the guy in the factory will have had a setting on his pneumatic torx driver that will be equivalent to F@@@ing tight!! Definitely tighter than you will manage with your ratchet driver.

MAKE SURE TO MARK EVERYTHING WITH A THIN SHARPIE PEN BEFORE YOU MAKE ANY ADJUSTMENTS!!!

Let us know how you get on.

Cheers!

Russ

Thanks Russ. Yes, I need a set of Torx bits so I’ll get those first and then try your approach. Thanks for your help, much appreciated. David.

 

[TheBig1]

Adjustment up and down is via the brackets on the door itself.

 

[RustyRuss]

This one will move the TRAILING EDGE of the door in and out of the doorframe and also lift or lower the trailing edge of the door in relation to the doorframe. To adjust the door OUT of the door frame you will need to loosen the torx bolt next to the three white adjustment lines and pull the door OUT of the doorframe. To adjust the door UPWARDS in relation to the door frame you will need to loosen the bottom nut on the bolt that acts as the hinge and correspondingly tighten the top nut by the same number of turns, every full turn will translate to about 1-1.5mm up/down vertical movement of the door relative to the door frame. You may have an issue with the door dropping so lifting the trailing edge of the door will help, however I still think the issue is the latch mechanism.

This one will move the LEADING EDGE of the door up and down and in and out in relation to the door frame, it has to be adjusted UP AND DOWN at the same distance as the corresponding slide mechanism at the top of the door ( the photo below) To adjust the door UPWARDS relative to the door frame you will need to loosen the three torx headed bolts ON THE DOOR, by a max of 1 turn each to give you some friction between hinge and door and prevent the door from going completely out of alignment, to make the door move UPWARDS relative to the doorframe use a lever or a strong helper to lift the bottom edge of the door making the hinge move down the door (I hope that makes sense!!). TIGHTEN AT LEAST ONE TORX BOLT IMMEDIATELY! To make the BOTTOM OF THE DOOR move IN AND OUT of the doorframe you need to loosen the grey nut and move the door in or out according to the three guide marks.
THE TOP OF THE DOOR MUST BE ALTERED UP OR DOWN AT THE SAME TIME AS THE BOTTOM OF THE DOOR, IT DOESN'T MATTER TOO MUCH ABOUT IN/OUT.

This one alters the UP AND DOWN and IN AND OUT of the top of the door, it works a bit like the trailing edge adjuster in that there is a threaded hinge that allows the door to move up/down relative to the door frame. To move the door UP loosen the top nut by the same amount you moved the bottom plate/door joint (pic above), then tighten the bottom nut by the same number of turns. To move the TOP LEADING EDGE of the door loosen the bolt in the middle of the mechanism and adjust in or out accordingly.

Having said all of this I still think your issue is the latch/lock mechanism. My reasoning is that the stick on decals on the trailing edge of the door seem to line up perfectly with the those on the side of the van, the swage or fold contours in the door seem to line up well with the the door frame when the door is shut, and you say the lock/door opening has gradually become more of a problem. My experience of dropped doors is that it looks really obvious that it's dropped because the swage lines are out of alignment and getting the blighter to open or shut is a pain in the Arras all the time and doesn't materialise gradually.

Hope this helps!!


Cheers!

Russ

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