Drivers Door Dropped

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gwoolie
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Joined: 23 Jun 2003, 22:09
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Drivers Door Dropped

Post by gwoolie »

The Drivers door on my Xantia Estate has dropped. Ive seen this problem a while ago and a solution?
The Citroen bodyshop has said the dash has to come out and a new hinge welded in place to do a proper job....Loadsa cash.
Any help welcome please.
jeremy
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Post by jeremy »

has the hinge come off the pillar? If so obviously you will have to have it welded back but this may not be too difficult for an experienced welder (specialist MOT welder?)
If not and all that has happened is that the door or the pillar/hinge has bent then things may be a bit easier. Try oening the door a small amount and graspint the bottom of the door at the rear and lifting a bit. Repeat if you don't get it right first time.
This is more scientific than it seems and was the way the door was fitted in the first place.
If its hinge wear then replacing the pins may help.
jeremy
gwoolie
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Post by gwoolie »

Yes if I open the door slightly and lift the door from the catch end the door moves up and down. With my old car (Astra) I put a trolly jack under the door and gently lifted, but with the Xantia it makes no difference at all!
The door stays up for a few opens then drops again!!
[:(]
algieuk
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Post by algieuk »

Is it the hinge attached to the door that is breaking, or the hinge attached to the body? If you remove the two hinge pins and the check strap you have enough room to weld the hinges without disconnecting anything. The hinge on the door is quite easy. The hinge attached to the body may be more difficult due to heat transferrence into the dash behind, but I would have thought that a good welder with a CO2 extinguisher should be able to do it.
Dave Burns
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Post by Dave Burns »

Common on xantia estates unfortunatly, the estate bodywork was farmed out to another company I believe, seems they didn't have such good quality control.
The problem came about if the bulk of the weld did not penetrate the thin exterior sheet metal to the structural body part under it, eventualy the little bit of penetrated weld thats doing the job fractures and leaves the hinge hanging on the thin sheet metal, get it seen to soon before it breaks that off too because it will make accurate repositioning the hinge difficult.
Dave
farnellp
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Post by farnellp »

I had this problem on my xantia est. about two years ago. A local body shop removed the door, drilled holes through the pillar, so they could "catch" the loose bit inside the pillar, then welded the loose bit to the edge of the holes. It's a bit difficult to describe without the bits in front of you to point at! What they didn't do is remove the dash, that is not necessary.
ghostrider
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Post by ghostrider »

Now why was this not posted before I bought an estate? :-)))) I knew about the other deisgn fault transfers from the BX, rear arm bearings etc, but I had hoped they'd sorted this one as on my Bxs it has proved the most problematic to solve, I like Farnellp's solution is it woth getting it done before it happens?
Pete
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Last edited by ghostrider on 22 Feb 2011, 05:37, edited 1 time in total.
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