Don’t let your door blow open!

[Burnerman]

Toyota RAV 4, 60 plate.
Drivers door window stuck halfway down but was attempting to move, so:
Door card off, mirror off, noticed the glass had jumped out of its front channel and was solid.....slackened everything off I could see and heaved the rubbers out of the way.
At this point I noticed that the front window channel was heavily distorted because the door open check mechanism had caught it at some time when the door had blown back
Managed to release the glass and pull it out and set to work pulling the channel back into shape with slip joint pliers, mole grips and a short wrecking bar.....two hours later it was as straight as I could get. These channels are welded in front and back, so no replacing them
Put the glass back in but with the window down the check mechanism was scraping against the glass, so back out with that and gentle work with the grinder.
Sorted! Plenty of silicone spray on the runners and put all the trim back, working great.
Finally had to adjust the door striking plate which could indicate that the entire door may have distorted slightly.
Quite a day....hands and wrists are shredded now, many sharp edges.....I’d never thought a door blown back could wreak such havoc.
John

 

[Peter.N.]

I love those sort of jobs John. Have you tried changing a thermostat in a late C5 2.0 diesel.

Peter

 

[Burnerman]

I can’t say I’ve had the pleasure, Peter.....both radiators out, is it?
John

 

[Peter.N.]

I've done a 'how to' on the FCF forum. One chap got half way through doing it, put it back together and took it to his garage. The engine is pretty well built round it, gasket and housing was only about 25 pounds on ebay but it took me about 3 days to do it - not continuous. Had to buy a special tool to remove the rear hose. I would rather not do another one.

This was after I had partly put it back together - with jubilee clips!

 

[Burnerman]

It looks a real treat to do, Peter!
John

 

[Notch7]

thermostat

thats a heap of aggro for a £25 thermostat.

back in the old days they were on the top!

 

[Burnerman]

Indeed they were.....
The idea these days is to get the whole engine up to an optimum temperature quickly and maintain that temperature (around 90 deg C) - this is to minimise pollution by reducing fuel consumption - that's why the thermostats now live at the bottom of the engine around where the bottom radiator hose enters the block.
So, the engine takes a wee while longer to warm up (minimised by thin radiators and small coolant volume) but once its up to temperature it tends to stay there.
In the old designs, the engine would heat up, the stat on the top of the motor would open and cool things down before the bottom end of the engine had a chance to heat up.
Access was great though!
John

 

[Peter.N.]

Yep, about 10 minutes then. The old Citroen XM 2.1 diesel seems to have been the pilot for that, the thermostat was in the bottom hose at the back of the engine, but at least you could get at it, couldn't see it though, had to change it by feel. It was a very good engine for its time. Came out in '89 I think, ran up to about 2000, 12 valve, 110 bhp and very good on fuel.

Peter

 

[ericmark]

I remember being told a story, don't know how true, the governor on the Falklands had a taxi as his official car, and a driver, the new governor had been in Chicago before the Falklands, and the driver was taking the governors wife out, and he said hang on I will turn the car around first in case the wind gets the door, I have just come from Chicago was the answer I know all about wind, stop here, well being fair a taxi's doors are rather big, she did not let go, it took her as well as door, so she ended up sitting on the floor, driver suspended for laughing.

It may be a tall story, did not see it myself, but had I saw it likely I would have also been in trouble for laughing, but we got 100 MPH wind as normal, and 140 MPH was experienced at least once a year, I was there when the wind hit the UK and uprooted loads of trees, we listened to the news, and thought what is all the fuss about it was only 90 MPH.

So really a car designed for international sales should be able to stand some wind.

 

[johnny2007]

Doors gone with the wind: buy a VW or Audi.
Thermostat: done mine last weekend on my Passat B5: 15 minutes flat (+ another hour between tea, biscuits, chat with neighbour and sneaky fag)
Proper engineering.

 

[Peter.N.]

Yes, that's how I would like them, unfortunately the VW's don't ride like the C5 so I will have to put up with it.

Peter

 

[ReganAndCarter]

Yes, what is it with most modern (especially German) cars these days. Hard ride, hard seats and dark, sombre interiors. Bring back velour and suspension built for comfort not hammering round the Nurburgring!

 

[johnny2007]

You don't drive Vag, do you?
Otherwise you would know about comfortable rides.

 

[Peter.N.]

I don't like to feel any bumps at all and the C5 comes closest. Skoda Superb good but not as good.

Peter

 

[Burnerman]

Missing a magic carpet ride?
That'll be the Citroen GS, BX and Xantia then......absolutely superb comfort, road holding and braking with its hydropneumatic system and LHM fluid.
An amazing system which got unfair reviews from the motor trade because of its complexity ......totally unjustified, in my humble opinion.
I can't comment on the C5 which I believe has much more electronic input but remarkable nevertheless.
Standing by for the hoots of derision
John