Car Door will not shut!!!!

[jaross15]

The passenger door on my Chevy Lumina door will not shut. The latch will not come forward to allow the door to shut. What should I do?

[adams3463]

Originally Posted by jaross15

The passenger door on my Chevy Lumina door will not shut. The latch will not come forward to allow the door to shut. What should I do?

Are you able to manually rotate the latch down with your hands? You may have to hold the handle open while you do this. I've had this happen to me before on other vehicles where I've accidentally closed the latch when a piece of clothing caught on it.

[Schurkey]

Is it just that the latch has "closed" and you need to open it so it can "grab" the striker post?

Pull the door handle to open the door, rotate the latch to the open position, let go of the handle, shut the door.

[jeffcoslacker]

Don't forget to slam it as hard as you can, bouncing the closed claw off the post about a hundred times while screaming "WHY WON'T THIS MF'R SHUT!!??" before looking to see what's really happening

[sinepunk]

I Had this problem on a '96 Lumina I bought as an agent for my flatmate. nothing worked even taking the door panel off and fiddling with it. Ultimately i ended up spraying it liberally with some WD-40 and then gave the mechanism a few very hard raps with a 20 oz hammer directly to the flat surface that has the 2 or 3 torx screws you can see that mount the latch. after whacking it with the hammer, i slammed the car door as hard as i could and it worked from that point on. I gave it more wd40 and opened and closed the car door probably 100 times to make sure it held... good luck so far.

Sinepunk

[jeffcoslacker]

Originally Posted by sinepunk

I Had this problem on a '96 Lumina I bought as an agent for my flatmate. nothing worked even taking the door panel off and fiddling with it. Ultimately i ended up spraying it liberally with some WD-40 and then gave the mechanism a few very hard raps with a 20 oz hammer directly to the flat surface that has the 2 or 3 torx screws you can see that mount the latch. after whacking it with the hammer, i slammed the car door as hard as i could and it worked from that point on. I gave it more wd40 and opened and closed the car door probably 100 times to make sure it held... good luck so far.

Sinepunk

Sounds like that claw was stuck open, rather than closed, which is usually the case.

I'd spray it with some white Lithium or light graphite grease to keep it working...WD-40's lube properties disappear pretty much the first time it rains...

[jeffcoslacker]

occaisionally you'll find one that has been slammed with the claw closed so hard, the post has been beaten out of place, and the door won't shut, or just shuts one click, with a big gap when closed.

In that case, if you look at the post, it's one big Torx bolt. Loosen it slightly, and it can be positioned. Usually the lack of factory paint under the post's correct position is a good indicator of where it needs to be....just slide it into position, and tighten it back up. Tight as hell, like you are trying to break it, or it'll move on you...

[richtazz]

Originally Posted by jeffcoslacker

Don't forget to slam it as hard as you can, bouncing the closed claw off the post about a hundred times while screaming "WHY WON'T THIS MF'R SHUT!!??" before looking to see what's really happening

Jeff, I laughed out loud when I read that, funny stuff!!!
Seriously though, lifting the door handle while manually pushing the latch back down will fix the problem. You probably got the seatbelt caught in the latch, which closed it before the latch engaged the door striker post. It's a fairly common problem with GM's wonderful seatbelt retractor mechanisms.