Re: IML: Door Won't Shut: 1960-1966 Door Latch Assemblies

[randalpark@xxxxxxx]

I have more trouble with rear doors which are frequently left unopened 
for years. It seems that inside the door, the "click" doesn't fall into 
the "star" apparently due to solidified grease, dirt, etc. This causes 
the door not to close properly, if at all. Closing is a two stage 
process with this type of safety latch. In this case, the door will not 
close, and "bounce" back open, or will close only partially, allowing 
it to pull away from the door seal, but still requiring operation of 
the handle to open it the rest of the way.

Removing, cleaning, and re-lubricating the latches usually corrects 90% 
of the trouble. So far, I have not run into any trouble whatsoever on 
doors that have been regularly opened throughout the years. I suspect 
those are the ones with the most wear and tear, yet they seem to work 
fine. I am familiar with the looseness that occurs when the "click" and 
the "star" become worn. With the door fully closed, it can be moved 
slightly in and out in the closed position, and will shake badly on 
rough roads. I haven't experienced one of these regularly used, fully 
functional, but very worn latch systems opening by itself going around 
a corner. The safety aspect still seems to work in spite of the wear. 
That's a good thing!

However, I have had one of the seldom used, "sticky" latch problem 
doors open under these conditions if it was not made certain to be 
fully closed. Sometimes, operating the door latch wheel manually with 
fingers through a few cycles of "clicks" while open will allow it to be 
closed until work can be done later on. Once closed, it's advisable not 
to open it again until that work can be done.

Either way, the latches seem to be repairable. I recently purchased two 
rear ones to fix the "seldom used door syndrome" problem in my parent's 
'60, but plan to repair the ones I remove, and save them for future use.

Paul W.

-----Original Message-----
From: gearhead@xxxxxxxxxxx
To: mailing-list@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Sent: Sat, 19 May 2007 3:42 PM
Subject: IML: Door Won't Shut: 1960-1966 Door Latch Assemblies

On the door latches for the 1960-1966 Imperials, there is a star wheel 
on the forward (inside) part of the latch that the Lever-Detent 
Actuator rides against to hold the latch in the closed position. This 
star wheel is adjacent to the Lever-Detent Actuator (K) in this FSM 
photo, http://www.imperialclub.com/Yr/1964/FSM/html/23-032.htm

Yesterday, I took the latch out of the driver's door on my '64 Crown 
Coupe. I found a couple of things that I believe causes the latch to do 
the much discussed "door won't latch" syndrome for the Imperials of 
these years.

I noted that the assembly that comprises of this star wheel on one side 
of the latch and the latch wheel that fits into the door jamb striker 
plate had a lot of lateral play. After moving the various components in 
their range of motion, I saw that the riding surface of the 
Lever-Detent Actuator had gouged a trough on each of the six star 
'fingers' of the adjacent star wheel. Instead of a smooth motion of 
this lever cinching down into the star wheel crotch, I caught a glimpse 
of it jambing up, mid-finger so to speak, preventing full rotation of 
the latch wheel to lock closed the door.

The Aha! light went off (on?) upstairs and I pressed down in a vise the 
cup that captures this wheel assembly taking a sizeable amount of play 
out of the mix. This causes the lever to ride in alignment with each 
star finger.
Then, I filed down each of the six star fingers to take out the trough 
ridge and to a lesser extent the deformed crotch part that the lever 
notches into to hold the door solidly closed. This work fixed the 
trouble, the door closes every time That little star wheel holds it all 
closed and seems to take the brunt of the wear.

Now here is the question that could solve the latch issue. Does anyone 
make, sell, or fabricate these star wheels? It appears that they can be 
pressed out/in for replacement.

Eric
1964 Crown Coupe
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