Hi there
I have a 2000 xj8 x308 and notice that the drivers door has sunk slightly and is not closing as it should. On a normal car there would be easily accessible bolts connecting to the bodywork to loosen, enabling one to lift the door slightly back into re alignment . I notice that there are 6 bolts holding the door to the body but these are quite tricky to get to and tucked behind the wing panel , there is also what looks like a bolt going through the two respective hinges that could possibly be adjustable but I am not sure . can anyone advise on this problem ?

Thank you for your time .

Regards

Ottomoss

 

I don't believe there is an "adjustment" per say. But lets look at a more probable culprit, the pivot pin on the hinge, holding the two points together.
To be able to see a better example, simply look at your rear door hinging (with the front door open) and you'll see the pin directly.

Have you opened the door and picked up on it from outside point checking for looseness? If you have some give, that is where it most likely is.

 

Hi Highorse !

hope you well and thanks for your reply.

It seems that it has simply sunken by about 4mm. I think it has had some repair work done at some point but can't be sure as the painted coachline is intact .
The hinges themselves look ok with no cracks or slack around the joints. It's almost as if I take out each hinge pin one at a time and put a washer between the two sections of the hinge it would lift the door enough to fix it but am not sure this is a good idea. I had an old Volvo 121 and adjusting the door on that was so easy but most things were on that car , an XJ is a different beast entirely. I am embarassed by how dirty it all is in there !

 

As of classic Volvo fan and owner I can lean on that too. Xj is a way more difficulty built than any rear wheel drive Volvo. Spacers doesn't work there like you think. Only way to raise door rearvise is push upper hinge foward and pull lower hinge backwards. If there is round adjusment holes on the A pillar you will lose up and down adjusment too. So then you have to adjust up, down, front and back ways all together. I was going to adjust rear right door on my car but leaved untouched because of this.

 

Thanks Vauxi,

I was looking at a lovely Amazon 131 today and just love the simplicity of those things, one mechanic said that he could teach you how to service them in the time it took for his coffee to get cold !. Also the rustproofing was so ahead of the curve , the underbodies were made of galvanised steel so hardly ever suffered bad rust, it's a shame Jaguar never took that idea on board !

It seems that the answer to the xj8 door problem is to adjust from the interior of the door panel. There are bolts that connect through to the hinge from inside near the speaker aperture.
This makes sense to me as slackening the bottom ones very slightly might allow the door to be adjusted enough without having to adjust the upper ones. The theory being that the lower ones would take all the strain when the door is pressed down through years. I will attempt this at the weekend and report my success ( or failure ! ) wish me luck !!

 

Thanks Vauxi, I don't recall anyone knowing that here as long as I've been around,...and I wish you luck on it Ottomoss.

 

Ask me how I know this Couple years ago it took 8 hours to adjust 2 doors from 242 Volvo. It has all adjustments that you can have plus a bit longer door than normal which always makes it more difficult. And I'm not a body guy.

 

if you can sneek a box end ratchet wrench in the hinge to body loosen two turns, you can lift the door. make sure door stop is good, i also see a void [crack] in seam sealer on body. you'll want to reseal that to keep the weather out. jerk door up and down to break seal,then find the sweet spot and snug. once you find your fit then torque

 

Thanks steven300 .

now I am confused. It seems that there are bolts that are accessed from inside the door panel that can be slackened also. At first I thought that the only way to do it was to slacken the bolts connecting with the body but will investigate the door panel ones first as these might be less problematic even if I do have to remove the panels. I actually want to see what speakers are there anyway so I can kill two birds with one stone.

Re the seal issue many thanks for pointing this out .

have a great day

Ottomoss

 

Typically the bolts holding the door to the hinge will adjust the door inwards or outwards toward or away from the center of the car(like the center console), and the bolts holding the hinges to the body will adjust the door forwards or backward toward the front or back of the car(like the hood or trunk).

Sometimes if I struggle with aligning the door because there is too much play I will only loosen the bolts so that they will still easily hold the door in place and then I will take a stout piece of wood and hammer directly on the hinge with a cushion of some sort between the wood piece and the hing as not to damage the paint. This method takes a little bit of experience to work perfectly.

Good Luck!

also I second highhorse that most likely your hinge pins are just becoming worn. Like he said, to check them, open your door and lift up on the end of it, there should be no movement of the door separate from the car.

 

Hi Kroeger's Jag

Thank you so much for this . This confirms my idea absolutely. I will post further after I have attempted this .

Many thanks to everyone who has contributed !

Ottomoss