Door mechanism question

[8ball_Rob]

Following on from my other thread, it seems as though all the door solenoids are currently behaving themselves, at least from an electrical standpoint (touch wood...). However, I can't quite figure out how to get the replacement solenoid for the driver's door hooked up to the door release mechanism - it seems as though the G-shaped linkage that connects the solenoid arm to the brass lever is too long, so when the solenoid is at the bottom of its travel the catch still hasn't released. See the pics below:

Solenoid fully extended, i.e. as far as mechanism will allow:



Solenoid fully retracted, i.e. gaiter fully compressed - note that the L-shaped arm connected to the solenoid has barely moved along the crescent-shaped slot in the mounting bracket. In this position the door is still locked, but the solenoid cannot move any further and so cannot release the latch:



As a temporary bodge, I have just bolted the solenoid directly to the brass L-shaped arm using a spare M5 bolt that I happened to have lying around in my toolbox, with threadlock applied (a nyloc nut would have been better, but I didn't have any to hand). This allows enough travel in both directions for the solenoid to release the latch, and then to return to the 'locked' position:





This seems to be working so far, although I haven't driven the car yet. My only concern is that the solenoid now reaches the top of its travel before the brass arm is in the 'fully closed' position, which means that the mechanism is being held slightly closer to the point at which the catch releases. There is still quite a bit of movement required before the door unlocks, so hopefully it will be secure, but I guess this could increase the risk of a sudden jolt causing the mechanism to open when the car is moving (e.g. hitting pothole at high speed).

I think the ideal solution would be to fabricate a new G-shaped linkage to connect the solenoid to the brass arm, probably about half the length of the original one. The alternative would presumably be to lower the solenoid, but I think the bottom mounting hole is already pretty close to the end of the bracket.

Presumably others must have encountered this problem before, although I haven't been able to find anything useful via the search function. Can anyone suggest a better solution?

[Malcster]

Bit of a thread reserection, but was there any update on this?

I've found the same problem when replacing the solenoids. As a part time botch I've used two cable ties, which seem to be holding up.

I think having another loop fabricated is likely the best way, will need to look at getting the old g-shaped loop cut down and the 90 degree bend put in again further down the shaft.

[Malcster]

P.S. I didn't want to go down the route above as it seemed to pull the solenoid 'rod' very slightly out of line. The good old cable ties allow a bit of play!

[8ball_Rob]

Hi Malcolm, as it turned out my bodge didn't last particularly long - the threadlock evidently wasn't sufficient to hold the nut in place over repeated actuations of the solenoid. If memory serves correctly, the nut escaped within a matter of days and went AWOL (presumably now residing somewhere in the deepest darkest recesses of the B pillar/sill cavity...).

In the end I tried swapping the black solenoid with the one from the boot mechanism, which was the white OEM type, just to see if it made any difference. Turns out they're not quite identical in terms of dimensions, and the white OEM version has sufficient travel to fully open the latch. I decided to give up on the black one and bought one of the 'proper' white solenoids - not cheap, but at least it all works correctly now! Fitted it back in September 2016 and haven't had any problems since then (*touches wood*).