Door sagging?

[Rachel]

Is anyone elses door sagging? My driver's side has just started doing it. You can feel that it's much lower then the passengers side. Forgive me but is that an easy fix?

[0o7]

Haven't had that problem. Have you checked the hinge for loose screws?

[RegGuy]

What part is sagging? The whole door or interior, exterior. I find it hard to believe it's sagging as a whole if there aren't some screws loose on the hinge. I just went out and looked at my door, it's solid.

More info is needed Rachel.

[CarNut]

The old Europas used to do this.

[Seabiscuit]

Everything goes south with age. My old Europa had the identical ailment. Many women I know complain of it as well.

[TimMullen]

Originally Posted by CarNut

The old Europas used to do this.

But the old Europas used a abrasive washer in the hinge that actually ground away the surfaces. The more you used it, the more it wore away, and you couldn't lubricate it to reduce the wear. Not exactly one of Colin's best ideas...

First two are the Elise Door hinge, the rest of the Europa Door hinge:

[paulhastings]

My doors are not perfectly lined up side to side and never have been. They open and close well but, you can see one side is flush with the body and the other just lifted slightly. Not sure if this is a similar issue?

[Seabiscuit]

fixing the Europa hinge was a PIA! Thanks for letting me relive the problem.

[Slag]

Originally Posted by paulhastings

My doors are not perfectly lined up side to side and never have been. They open and close well but, you can see one side is flush with the body and the other just lifted slightly. Not sure if this is a similar issue?

You can adjust the bolt that the door closes into to make it a better fit. Not sure how to describe it, but it is the big bolt that the door latch mechanism catches on to. My passenger door started to not shut properly & I noticed this bolt was loose & tightened it up. Then I noticed the driver side door wasn't as flush, so I adjusted that one.

[paulhastings]

Two dealers have made some adjustments. The first dealer returned the car with the door not closing as well. The second returned the car with the doors closing well but still off a bit. I probably will just leave alone at this point but, being a bit of a perfectionist, it would be nice to have just right.

[LotusLust]

oh man, that is a tall order for a Lotus

[BZRD69]

I installed these...much more solid feel when closing door compared to OEM door pin. cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=27375&item=4618812 765 ...though they probably won't help a sagging door.

[Hayseed]

I also experienced some door alignment issues in the first couple months of ownership. I had the doors realigned under warranty. The overall design of these cars is going to warrant periodic panel alignment (just my opinion) and retightening of body fasteners. These cars are much closer in overall design to race cars than they are to street cars, therefore as they age they are going to require more care and upkeep.

If you want something to last, make it out of steel, If you want it to be fast, make it out of aluminum and plastic. Too bad we cant have both.

MS

[TimMullen]

Originally Posted by Slag

You can adjust the bolt that the door closes into to make it a better fit. <...> I noticed this bolt was loose & tightened it up. Then I noticed the driver side door wasn't as flush, so I adjusted that one.

If the bolt was loose, that might have fixed that one, but simply adjusting the bolt without adjusting the hinge could cause problems down the road.

Adjusting the striker bolt so that things line up when they other wise don't is simply forcing the striker latch to "bend" things into position. You need to adjust the hinges so that the door lines up to the body properly, then adjust the striker bolt (if necessary) so that it is in the proper position when the door is closed. Also the striker bolt's move "in and out" adjusts how tightly the door closes (and additionally lines up the door edge in and out) - but it is not a cure for a sagging door.



As for Europa hings, well, the Elan's were simple. There is a plastic "half sphere" on the end of the hinge bolt that fits into the concave "half sphere" bonded into the body. That hinge bolt adjusted up and down, and it's mount moved it around for alignment (after loosening a couple of bolts). Correcting the door sag simply required tightening the "half sphere"/bolt to compensate for the wear, or in the worst case replacing the plastic part for a couple of bucks - I'd show a picture, but I only have the hard copy of that manual (actually I have two hard copies - my original manual, and a spare I bought on Ebay for $25...)...

[Slag]

Originally Posted by TimMullen

Adjusting the striker bolt so that things line up when they other wise don't is simply forcing the striker latch to "bend" things into position. You need to adjust the hinges so that the door lines up to the body properly, then adjust the striker bolt (if necessary) so that it is in the proper position when the door is closed. Also the striker bolt's move "in and out" adjusts how tightly the door closes (and additionally lines up the door edge in and out) - but it is not a cure for a sagging door.

Striker Bolt - That was the phrase I was looking for.

My door wasn't actually drooping, just not closing flush.

[TimMullen]

Originally Posted by Slag

Striker Bolt - That was the phrase I was looking for.

My door wasn't actually drooping, just not closing flush.

Then that was exactly the right thing to adjust.

[Rachel]

My drivers side door doesn't close if you close it gently. It's not the inside of the door but the entire thing. If you close it slowly you can feel where it's not hitting the latch properly and it has to lift up a bit to go over it. The seal on the window isn't closing totally either.

I guess I need to make a list when I take it in for the first service!

[EburgE]

The seal on the window is a different issue. There are good posts on here for aligning the windows yourself. Or have the Lotus dealer do it.

I need to do it too.

[GaryD]

Posts from Tim about the Elan doors remind me of a quote from Colin Chapman ... I went looking for my Lotus books but they must be in box somewhere ... But I can paraphrase the anecdote... something about Chapman coming in and expressing frustration to the design team at Lotus "why is it that other people's car doors close with a satisfying thunk and ours sound like someone dropping a suitcae down a flight of stairs?"

Sooo ... door problems have a long pedigree at Lotus - part of the tradition

[zvezdah1]

Rachel,
A big problem causing the sag is people using the door to help exit, ie door open and putting left arm on the door to help lift them out of the car, this knocks the door out of alignment.
Chris