DIY- (yes another one) fix a popping door hinge in 7 seconds.
06-26-11, 03:35 PM
#46
The purpose of the sleeve is to hold the door open. Looking at it you will see that there are three bumps stamped into it. From the inside, these bumps are depressions, and the main vertical shaft of the hinge has a horizontal sleeve cast into it that contains a spring pressing against a ball bearing. The ball will, when sitting in a depression, help to hold the door hinge in that spot until you pull or push harder on it. It's what keeps your door open for you when you are parked on a grade and gravity wants to slam it shut.
It seems that there are two different types of door hinge failure that cause the popping sound on our doors. One is a seized up detent ball, which O.L.T. has addressed here with this DIY. THe other is when the main hinge bearings are worn out to the point that the door contacts the front fender, a symptom mentioned by others and is a problem that my car suffered from.
My own car only developed the pop this last spring, and was very occasional for a couple of weeks, but quickly worstened until it was hitting every time and ended up chipping my paint. I replaced the hinge last week, and after I resize some pictures, will do a quick pictorial for all to see.
Okay, here's a link to the replacement pictures:
https://www.clublexus.com/forums/sc-...-pictures.html
-=Photon=-
It seems that there are two different types of door hinge failure that cause the popping sound on our doors. One is a seized up detent ball, which O.L.T. has addressed here with this DIY. THe other is when the main hinge bearings are worn out to the point that the door contacts the front fender, a symptom mentioned by others and is a problem that my car suffered from.
My own car only developed the pop this last spring, and was very occasional for a couple of weeks, but quickly worstened until it was hitting every time and ended up chipping my paint. I replaced the hinge last week, and after I resize some pictures, will do a quick pictorial for all to see.
Okay, here's a link to the replacement pictures:
https://www.clublexus.com/forums/sc-...-pictures.html
-=Photon=-
Last edited by Photon440; 07-15-11 at 10:35 AM. Reason: added link
07-15-11, 05:25 AM
#47
Driver School Candidate
Hi all,
Photon is correct with the description of the detent ramp and what is there for.
What is happening to most of your hinges is that the bearings are wearing/rusting out and the spring pressure of the detent is applying side pressure to these worn bearings, thus you get the 'popping' noise which is from the worn/rusted rollers - there are 7 needle rollers in each bearing which are located top and bottom of the main vertical inner section of the hinge.
By removing the two 6mm bolts and the detent cover just reduces this side pressure - the bearings are still worn and at some time you will have to look into doing something about it.
Also, there are two fixed rivetted links with composite bearings that wear (bearings that is), one at the top and one at the bottom of the hinge. It is usually these, that when worn, allow the front edge of the door to hit the rear edge of the front fender.
One easy way to check if your hinge bearings are worn is to fully open the door and grip the outer most lower edge and see if there is any movement up and down. On a good hinge there should be no movement/slop.
Hope this helps.
Photon is correct with the description of the detent ramp and what is there for.
What is happening to most of your hinges is that the bearings are wearing/rusting out and the spring pressure of the detent is applying side pressure to these worn bearings, thus you get the 'popping' noise which is from the worn/rusted rollers - there are 7 needle rollers in each bearing which are located top and bottom of the main vertical inner section of the hinge.
By removing the two 6mm bolts and the detent cover just reduces this side pressure - the bearings are still worn and at some time you will have to look into doing something about it.
Also, there are two fixed rivetted links with composite bearings that wear (bearings that is), one at the top and one at the bottom of the hinge. It is usually these, that when worn, allow the front edge of the door to hit the rear edge of the front fender.
One easy way to check if your hinge bearings are worn is to fully open the door and grip the outer most lower edge and see if there is any movement up and down. On a good hinge there should be no movement/slop.
Hope this helps.
05-15-12, 06:26 PM
#51
Driver School Candidate
Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: TX
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Thanks OLG...great fix...worked perfectally...all quiet now...I also put a little super high temp urea grease inside the sleve after cleaning & sanding...it now opens and closes smoothly & quietly :-)
01-06-13, 04:28 PM
#52
The paint on both of my fenders where the door met with them had completely chipped and flaked away down to bare metal. I did the lazy fix today, and it worked great. Added a crap tonne of WD40 and grease to all moving parts, open and closed it a few times to spread it about, went back later to take her out and wash her and now it works great. Thanks for the write up! 
01-06-13, 05:57 PM
#53
Oh wow ... I've had mine like this since Day 1, and I never knew why.
I thought the original owner just lost a bolt. Since it's not a problem though, I often forget to take time to replace the bolt (which I've wanted to do) but now that you posted this, I see that there may be a reason it's like that.
Perhaps the original owner has the popping problem ... Hmm.
Haha, now I really wanna replace the bolt, to see if the pop happens.
If not, then eh good, issue fixed.
(I just don't like looking at it, when I open the door. Makes me feel like my car isn't 100%).
I thought the original owner just lost a bolt. Since it's not a problem though, I often forget to take time to replace the bolt (which I've wanted to do) but now that you posted this, I see that there may be a reason it's like that.
Perhaps the original owner has the popping problem ... Hmm.
Haha, now I really wanna replace the bolt, to see if the pop happens.
If not, then eh good, issue fixed.
(I just don't like looking at it, when I open the door. Makes me feel like my car isn't 100%).
Last edited by SEIDO; 01-22-13 at 01:20 PM.
01-22-13, 01:33 PM
#55
I had the fender issue on my '92; doesn't matter now I guess, but I wish I knew what it was back then.
Anyway, I wanna advise you guys to be careful with this.
As I said, I've had the car for 8 months now (bought it in June), and it's been this way since then (unbolted).
HOWEVER, (could be the temperature, being that it's 21° right now, but ...) it just gave in, literally 5 minutes ago. I opened the door to get out, and heard the same "pop" as you hear when you have that fender issue at it's worst. It was loud, "POP!", and I was like "wth?" ... Well, low & behold, there was my sleeve on the ground, and the ball right beside it. Again, I dunno if it was the cold, or if eventually it just gave in, since it's not "really" supposed to be unbolted; but here ya go.
(My door still opens & closes fine, with no pop, or anything however. Hopefully it stays that way).
Anyway, I wanna advise you guys to be careful with this.
As I said, I've had the car for 8 months now (bought it in June), and it's been this way since then (unbolted).
HOWEVER, (could be the temperature, being that it's 21° right now, but ...) it just gave in, literally 5 minutes ago. I opened the door to get out, and heard the same "pop" as you hear when you have that fender issue at it's worst. It was loud, "POP!", and I was like "wth?" ... Well, low & behold, there was my sleeve on the ground, and the ball right beside it. Again, I dunno if it was the cold, or if eventually it just gave in, since it's not "really" supposed to be unbolted; but here ya go.
(My door still opens & closes fine, with no pop, or anything however. Hopefully it stays that way).
