Door latch repair....., The importance of maintenance Options

[billh1963]

This is old news to those who have been around 914's for a while. But, for the newer owners this might be useful:

Decided today was a good day to fix 914 door latches. Two cars had inoperative passenger outside door latches and the drivers door on one of them was getting harder to open. I knew at that rate it wouldn't be long and I would be locked out of the car!

Did the normal research (thread searches, reviewed the procedures in the Porsche workshop manual, etc) and figured I knew what to do. The plan was to replace the plastic cam pieces (I had purchased four new ones a couple of months ago) and clean/degrease the latch assemblies.

The first door I tackled (inoperative outside latch on passenger door) had a broken cam as suspected. The cam was black. Isn't that a replacement unit? The latch mechanism inside the door was very grungy. Experimentation between purple power, simply green , gunk engine degreaser and brake cleaner showed that the best results were obtained by spraying the mechanism with gunk engine degreaser (gel) and letting it sit for 15-20 minutes. Rinse off and follow up with brake cleaner. YMMV. I sprayed the moving pieces with white lihium grease before reassembly. I cannot explain how nicely the door operates now. Just a slight pull on the door handle and the door pops open.

The second door was the "good" drivers door. The cam looks to be original (white plastic) and in perfect shape. The door mechanism was very dirty and operated sluggishly. A good cleaning and the door now pops open with a light pull.

The main purpose of this post is a warning on what was found on the other car. On that car the passenger door was not opening with the outside handle and it took a lot of effort to open the drivers door with the outside handle. On both doors, the cam had deformed from all the pressure exerted trying to activate the sticking latch mechanism. The picture below is the drivers door. The passenger door cam was deformed even further and would not push the latch. If I had waited much longer I would have been "locked" out of the car!





I replaced the cams and after a thorough cleaning of the latch mechanisms (and new grease) the doors operate like new. This is a really simple project and I did four doors in about 3.5 hours. That was taking my time and doing other stuff while waiting for the degreaser to work.

So, if your door latches are sticking, don't put off this project. It's easy and very rewarding!

[euro911]

Are they available through 914rubber.com too?

[JawjaPorsche]

Are they available through 914rubber.com too?

Don't know if this is it because there is no picture.

http://shop.914rubber.com/door-cam-actuator-914DCA.htm

[Mikey914]

Are they available through 914rubber.com too?

Don't know if this is it because there is no picture.

http://shop.914rubber.com/door-cam-actuator-914DCA.htm

Yes,
I'll add the picture.
-Mark

[billh1963]

Are they available through 914rubber.com too?

Don't know if this is it because there is no picture.

http://shop.914rubber.com/door-cam-actuator-914DCA.htm

Yes,
I'll add the picture.
-Mark

Mark,
The one I posted a picture of did not have a lot of strength in the "two legs". From a compression perspective (I guess compression is the right term) the "legs" will need to be pretty stiff or they will deform like the one I have shown in the picture. How stiff are the "legs" on the ones you sell?

Bronze may be overkill; however, at least you won't have many worries about the "legs" deforming under pressure. You may break the tabs off the door handle but your cam won't break! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[Mikey914]

Are they available through 914rubber.com too?

Don't know if this is it because there is no picture.

http://shop.914rubber.com/door-cam-actuator-914DCA.htm

Yes,
I'll add the picture.
-Mark

Mark,
The one I posted a picture of did not have a lot of strength in the "two legs". From a compression perspective (I guess compression is the right term) the "legs" will need to be pretty stiff or they will deform like the one I have shown in the picture. How stiff are the "legs" on the ones you sell?

Bronze may be overkill; however, at least you won't have many worries about the "legs" deforming under pressure. You may break the tabs off the door handle but your cam won't break! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

Plastic is what the factory used, and will work ok as long as you don't deform it trying to put it on. that's what the notches are in the plastic.
-Mark

[DRPHIL914]

Are they available through 914rubber.com too?

Don't know if this is it because there is no picture.

http://shop.914rubber.com/door-cam-actuator-914DCA.htm

Yes,
I'll add the picture.
-Mark

Mark,
The one I posted a picture of did not have a lot of strength in the "two legs". From a compression perspective (I guess compression is the right term) the "legs" will need to be pretty stiff or they will deform like the one I have shown in the picture. How stiff are the "legs" on the ones you sell?

Bronze may be overkill; however, at least you won't have many worries about the "legs" deforming under pressure. You may break the tabs off the door handle but your cam won't break! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

Plastic is what the factory used, and will work ok as long as you don't deform it trying to put it on. that's what the notches are in the plastic.
-Mark

I worked on mine not long after buying the car, one of my first projects, and i found that the white plastic was broken but so was the tab that the bolt attaches to to hold it in place so i still need a new outer handle. I found the black nylon replacements to be very flimsy and deform rather easily.
A note to anyone doing this, if you don't clean the mechanism and lubricate it well, it will take too much force to open the latch and it will cause it to deform or bend .
ask me how i know! also the P.O. used too long of a screw on the inside when putting it in, and it went into the lock cylinder and ruined it, so this was why my key would not work! I found the proper screw down inside the door, so P.O. must have dropped it and just grabbed one that fit(but was too long) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/blink.gif)

so i still dont have 2 doors that work properly!, maybe this will inspire me do get it done! I should have done it when i took the old door panels out and replaced them! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/headbang.gif)
now i get to take it all apart again!

thanks for the inspiration, bill!