Chevy & GMC Vans

Is there an adjustment or does something just wear out? I did a search and found nothing about this. Also checked my haynes manual to no avail. Both doors do close all the way but when you lean against them, they do move in another 1/8" so something is loose. The latch and bar are fixed in their positions, there seems to be no room for adjustments.
Thanks,
Jim

Not sure how old your van is but my guess is if it has some age on it the hinge bushings are probably worn or top surface of bushing has worn off which gives room for door to actually move up and down when you hit a bump. Where the two parts of hinge mesh are hitting together when you go over what I call a quick sharp bump.

Or, you can drive on smooth roads with no bumps.

CaptSquid wrote:Or, you can drive on smooth roads with no bumps.

Here in Rockford there is no such thing as a smooth road. Anyways, the doors do not move up and down, they move in and out. If you apply pressure towards the front of the vehicle, no rattling.

Have you got dutch doors or barn doors? my van has dutch doors and at the bottom of the doors are sprung loaded stops, they push the doors towards the back of the van and stop them rattling...Johnny

mattblackratbus wrote:Have you got dutch doors or barn doors? my van has dutch doors and at the bottom of the doors are sprung loaded stops, they push the doors towards the back of the van and stop them rattling...Johnny

It's an 89 with barn doors.

If you apply pressure towards the front of the vehicle, no rattling.

out of curiosity,,how did you do that ?

If it's an 89, your hinge pin bushings are worn. They should have a wider top that covers the top of hinge and lower bushing suface face is against lower part of hinge. This wears away giving more for doors to move up and down. Open the rear doors and move toward the hinged section of door then lift the door in a jerking motion,, you'll see that the door moves up and down on the pin. My guess is when you pull doors inward this puts the door in a bind and puts more side pressure on pin which may keep door from bouncing on pin.

Rebel wrote:

If you apply pressure towards the front of the vehicle, no rattling.

out of curiosity,,how did you do that ?

If it's an 89, your hinge pin bushings are worn. They should have a wider top that covers the top of hinge and lower bushing suface face is against lower part of hinge. This wears away giving more for doors to move up and down. Open the rear doors and move toward the hinged section of door then lift the door in a jerking motion,, you'll see that the door moves up and down on the pin. My guess is when you pull doors inward this puts the door in a bind and puts more side pressure on pin which may keep door from bouncing on pin.

With the doors closed and me sitting inside the van, I open the window and pull inward. The hinge bushings are not worn. When I jerk the doors upward, all that does is lift the van, not just the doors. The doors do not move up and down. They just seem to not be closed all of the way when they are latched in the closed position.

No one has ever had this problem before?

It would apear not, whats odd is that even if the doors were not closed properly the rubber seal around the door would stop any rattling, if you open both doors and lay on the ground look up, do you have spung loaded tensioners fitted to each door? failing that have you checked to see that the striker and door lock catch are not worn?..keep us informed we will try and help if poss....Johnny

I have an 89 and the same problem. I think that the door seals have compressed over the years and allows the doors to bounce in and out. I solved the problem the same way my wife solves her car problems, I just turn up the radio.

I had the problem before and agree with the seals being compressed over time.

In my case, i found that the bottom latch was frozen up so i took it off...soaked it in parts washer and got it freed up again so it would latch. That helped most of the rattle.

*Another thing you can do too is to either move the "rod" that the left lower door latches to, inward or hammer/bend it inward just a little so the door is pull inward more, compressing the seals more.

* Check the nader bolt on the left door also...it probably has a groove worn into it. loosen it up and slip a thin shim (aluminum, plastic, etc.) underneath the flange area and tighten the bolt back down. That should put the groove of the nader bolt in a position where it doesn't allow the right door latch to rattle. Position of the groove depends on thickness of the material you used. Hope that helps! It helped mine quite a bit!