door detent spring thingy???

The thingy that holds the door open at different widths (sliding spring bar thingy) on my Camry has stopped working, so now the door just flings all the way to maximum open.

Is there a broken spring or something there I could possibly replace, or do I have to buy the whole assembly and replace it? I'm not familiar with how the mechanism works and it's too cold out to take it apart and figure it out myself before I ask someone for advice from the warmth of their computer chair.

Any advice appreciated.

Reply to
Pete Moss
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You didn't say what year.

On some a rubber insert in the hole where the detent arm slides in and out does the squeezing job. Maybe yours ripped and fell out. I don't know how they get replaced. Probably an easy job though.

Reply to
Art

The door check is made up of 2 wedge-shaped pieces of rubber that squeeze the bar that slides in and out of the forward door frame, and the cold may have made the rubber so hard that it no longer grips the bar or the rubber may have broken off. If you want to fix it yourself, purchase a replacement door check at your local dealer, remove the inner door panel, and reach through the opening to unbolt the door check (IIRC, held in place with 2 10 mm bolts). Remove the roll pin from where the bar attaches and pivots on the door jamb and push the sliding bar all the way through the opening at the front of the door frame. Remove the bar and old door check, thread the bar through the new door check, and reverse the process.

Reply to
Ray O

It's a 2004

Reply to
Pete Moss

Super! Thanks very much for your reply. That's exactly what I'll do.

Reply to
Pete Moss

You're welcome!

One more little trick: - after you install the new door check, give it a liberal dose of lithium grease or even better, silicone grease (used for plumbing fixtures), to delay the onset of the squeaking before you re-install the inner door panel. When people hear the door squeaking and groaning, they think it is the hinges making the noise when it is often the rubber on the door checks. The bar acts like a violin bow, and as it rubs against the rubber, the rubber vibrates and the door's cavity acts like the inside of the violin, amplifying the sound.

Good luck!

Reply to
Ray O

On a Toyota, the door check holds the door open and keeps it from flinging open.

Reply to
Ray O

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