Re: Door Panel Removal XJ6

["Kirbert" <palmk@mailer.gadcomm.net>]

> > BAYER wrote:
> > > 
> > > Jag-Lovers,
> > > I have an 1986 XJ6 and the front passenger side door lock will lock but
> > > will not unlock when the driver's side door is actuated. The two rear
> doors
> > > work well. I think that the lock may just need some lubrication.

Allow me to relate a finding regarding my XJ-S locks.  The links within the 
locking mechanism include a bunch of rods, such as the rods from the levers 
to the locks, from the solenoid to the locks, etc.  At the end of each rod is 
a 90-degree bend, and the resulting sideways stub is inserted through a hole 
in a lever to make a connection.  There is a small nylon bushing used, and a 
spring steel clip to hold the rod in place.

In most cars designed by non-British engineers, this clip is shaped to 
surround the lever itself and then swing around to snap onto the rod.  The 
rod then cannot pull out of the bushing, because the portion of the clip on 
the OTHER side of the lever cannot be pulled through the lever.

But the British have a far worse idea.  While the parts look remarkably 
similar in design and operation, they in fact have a far inferior mode of 
operation.  Instead of the clip having a design to surround the lever, it 
actually only has a simple flat end with a hole in it.  It therefore will do 
nothing to hold the lever in place unless there is something to hold the CLIP 
in place.  To do this, the Brits made the hole the size of the OUTSIDE of the 
nylon bushing, and use the bushing to hold the clip in place; the bushing is 
pushed through the clip first, then into the lever.  The nylon bushing is the 
type that snaps into the hole and the presence of the rod in the middle will 
prevent it from popping out, so the whole assembly is quite secure from 
coming apart on its own.

However, the reason the bushing is there is because the rod must turn 
relative to the lever in operation.  The clip is attached to the rod and 
turns with it.  The rod turning within the bushing is just great, but the 
clip is turning OUTSIDE the bushing -- between it and the lever.  The result 
is that the rod no longer turns within the bushing; instead, the combined 
friction of the rod within the bushing and the clip outside the bushing 
causes the bushing to turn WITH the rod.  Now, instead of the bearing being 
between the rod and the bushing, it's between the bushing and the hole in the 
lever itself.  Wear is rapid, even on parts that only move twice each time 
the car is driven.

In my car, one of the bushings described had worn all the way through on one 
side, resulting in the rod fitting VERY loosely in the lever, so motion of 
the various locking mechanisms only resulted in very little motion in the 
parts that were supposed to move with them.  When the door was locked by 
solenoid by the other lock moving, the lever on the inside of the door would 
barely move.  Lotsa play in the system.

Everybody understood all that, right?  Good.

Unfortunately, while I have identified the problem, I don't have a solution.  
Mine had a broken clip as well, and I was able to buy similar clips in a 
local auto parts store -- complete with the feature of wrapping around the 
lever -- but they cannot be used with a bushing at all, so I had to cut the 
back side off and enlarge the hole in order to use them the same way the 
originals worked.  For a bushing, I found a type of nylon nut -- intended to 
be pushed into a hole in sheet metal -- that was close enough in shape that I 
was able to modify it to make a perfect replacement for the original bushing. 
 As a result, this linkage is now as good as new -- but no better, and will 
probably suffer similar wear rates in the future.

One possibility is to do away with the clip altogether, and retain the rod in 
place by other means.  One possible method is to install a simple push-on 
clip onto the end of the rod after it's in place, preventing it from backing 
out.  This may work fine in some of the locations, although it'd make it a 
PITA to get apart again later.  Another possibility would be to drill a tiny 
hole through the end of the rod and put a tiny cotter pin through it, but 
that would also be a little difficult to work with.

 -- Kirbert      |     If anything is to be accomplished,
                 |     some rules must be broken.
                 |          - Palm's Postulate

---

References:

• Re: Door Panel Removal XJ6
• From: "BAYER" <gfb@ioc.net>

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