My B210 Passenger Door Stopped Closing Shut

[Nicholas7620]

Hi Everyone,

 

After a million open and closes, my '76 B210 passenger door won't lock in the closed position. The door is now always open and is being held closed by a red piece of plastic string. See Picture.

 

 

 

The passenger door is alway open and the door handle will hang in a broken position.

 

 

 

 

 

I know I'll have to take the door panel off. Should I get the door panel removal screw drivers they sell at Harbor Freight or will a regular long screw driver work.

 

I'll post more pictures after I get the door panel off. For now, I can't let my Datsun Dogs ride in the front seat with me.

 

 

These dogs will not stay in the back seat, damn go figure. They won't wear a seat belt either. I can't take them anywhere until I get my passenger door to click shut again..

 

 

 

I'll let you know what happens next. No dogs allowed for any Datsun rides for now.

 

Best,

[ggzilla]

Naw, no special tool is needed. I use a table knife, just slide it in and along the edge until it stops the flip the knife to pop the clip out.

 

If you use a Zip-tie it will be safe for the dog.

[Nicholas7620]

Thanks GGZILLA, I'll get some ZIP TIEs @ 8AM at Harbor, Harbor is giving away great tape measures with each purchase, here in NorCal.

 

How about a radiator clamp with a little rubber cushion underneath, like a bike inner tube. I could undo the clamp each time I worked on the door.

 

The door rattles and thumps when I go over bumps.

[RedBanner]

Ill send you the whole mechanism for the cost if shipping, cant till tuesday or so tho.

[Nicholas7620]

Hi Everyone,

 

The next morning I go out with a table knife, just like GGZILLA recommended, and get the door cover off. I have to take off the red plastic string keeping the door shut to get at all the clips.

 

I'm thinking, and decide to try pushing down the door lock and closing the door. :thumbup: :thumbup: The door clicks shut and locks into place like always. I try lifting the door lock and, Oh! Chit, its trapped, stuck and won't come back up. :w00t: See second picture. Crap, the passenger door won't open up and may never open up again. Oh well at least the door won't swing open when I'm driving. Dogs and contents can't fly out I make a left turn. :thumbup:

 

I'm thinking and looking inside the door trying to figure out what those rods inside the door do and decide to spray lubricant on all the rods and connections since all the rods and connections look a little corroded. Door lock knob won't come back up and the passenger door is locked up tight. My dogs go inside through the drivers side door, my dogs don't care which side of the car they get into, but its going to be tough getting passengers into my car.

 

The door doesn't rattle and thump anymore when I go over bumps. :thumbup:

 

 

 

 

 

During the day when I'm driving, and every now and then, I'll pick up my can of lubricant and spray the lock rods and connections. No change, the lock knob won't come up. By the end of the day I've given up on ever opening the passenger door again. :sleep:

 

It's starting to get dark out. I go outside to see my Datsun. I've left the passenger window down. I start pulling up and pushing down on the passenger lock knob like I'm picking up and setting down silver coins. The knob moves up and down about a half inch and not the required one inch of travel to unlock.

 

I do this for about a minute and suddenly, CLICK, the lock knob comes up the full inch required to unlock the door. :w00t: I reach in through the open window and try to open the door from the inside with the passenger door handle. BooooYAHHH, :thumbup: the door unlocks and closes like always. Open and close, Open and close, Open and close. I do this five times or so. Perfect open and close. WOW! I'm happy. :thumbup:

 

You know, Datsuns have an ability to heal themselves. I spray more lubricant on all the lock rods. Everything is working smooth. You can't open the passenger door from the outside BUT you can open the passenger door from the inside. The outside door handle has broken on the left side.

 

:w00t: More GOOD new I got an offer from RATSUN member RedBanner to send the whole mechanism. It looks pretty scary inside the passenger door. I can't see much. It looks like 4 screws hold the passenger handle on and I can't see much else.

 

Best to everyone, I'll get back to you with more PICS as I try to fix the broken door handle. I'll probably have to borrow a better camera to shoot a picture up into and behind the door frame.

[Nicholas7620]

Hi All,

 

Today in the bright sun I was able to get a good look inside my passenger door. In the next picture is a loose rod I found hanging in the door. With the bright sunlight I was able to see that the loose rod should be inside a metal tab with a hole in it. When you push down on the tab, a closed passenger door will open up. I could feel a broken corner behind the handle. I'll try and take out the handle when I have more Datsun time.

 

 

 

 

 

I tried taking pictures of the small tab inside the door but the pictures didn't turn out. Pressing down on the tab when the door is closed will open the door.

 

 

 

 

Other than the door handle problem, my B210 is running great and still fun to drive, I just passed the 240K mark on my stock 1.4L, the engine is running good. The B210 just passed the Cali Smog test in June putting out ZERO hydrocarbons at 2800 RPM's.

 

 

I had done major maintenance, including retorquing head, resetting valves gaps and replacing all vacuum lines. I also removed carb, put all new gaskets, used a gasket sealer and replaced carburetor fasteners with nylon locking nuts. Engine now idles nicely at 800 rpms and never dies at stoplights, stop signs or stop and go traffic. Thank you Ratsun Forum.

 

Happy Driving All.

 

Best,

[ggzilla]

Congrats on getting the linkage freed up.

 

Looks like you only need to replace the outside handle:

 

It's fairly easy, two nuts hold it on. And one rod goes down from it.

 

[Nicholas7620]

Thanks GGZILLA, you always find great diagrams. My friend Eric drove up. Eric is like GGZILLA, They look at problems and quickly find solutions. It was immediately clear to Eric the window glass had to be loosened. Eric loosened up the door glass and tipped the glass up with the window lowered to the bottom and the glass was out of the way. More on that later with PICS.

 

 

The FIRST TWO PICs are my Old door handle. I was able to remove the door handle with a little jiggling because it was broken and hung limply behing the window glass, even though the window was raised to the highest position it was tricky for me to get the Broken handle assembly out.. It's a little difficult to see the break and NYLON nut/Bushing. The BLUE screwdriver in the the two PICs is pointing at the break, be sure to notice the NYLON Bushing, the nylon busing holds the rod in place..

 

 

 

 

 

The next picture clearly shows GGZILLA's DIAGRAM to a TEE and the nylon bushing. The nylon bushing in this PIC is broken in half but still worked, DATSUN INGENUITY. The intact plastic bushing extends down over the rod and locks in place. You need a flat screwdriver to unlock a perfect intact bushing and MOST IMPORTANT you must have the door window glass loosened up, lifted out of ii's holder and tipped up so can get CLEAR EASY access to the door handle assembly. Thanks to ERIC we quickly and easily removed the door assembly. I was putzing with the door assembly for about 20 minutes before Eric drove up into my driveway and easily diagnosed the situation and loosened the door glass on my PARTS CAR.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I have a Datsun Parts car. This next picture is the inside view of the glass holder assembly. We had to loosen the glass in the assembly to get CLEAR and EASY access to the door handle assembly.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The next picture is my parts car with the door handle assembly removed. The removal went so fast I didn't get a chance to take PICs.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Installing the door handle assembly went very fast with the the window glass tilted up and out of the way. The nylon bushing was a little tricky to remove but easy to return back into place. You will need a flat blade screwdriver to unlock the lower part of plastic nylon bushing and the rod is easily forced out. However a broken nylon bushing like I had in the first PIC will still work.

 

 

 

 

 

This last PIC is a close up of the DOOR assembly. It works great. The door handle lifts up, pushes on the rod, which pushes on the metal tab and unlocks the door. I'm not sure who first said this but "I alway like a HAPPY ENDING".

 

HAPPY DATSUNING. Hope you DATSUNholics have a Great time at Blue Lake, I wish I could be there. Red Banner I still want the assembly for my parts car.

 

 

 

[ggzilla]

Datsun Saves!