Hi all, had the ambla off one of the doors to tighten the door handle as it was rattling. Very intuitive, couple of bolts, tighten, all good. But the door lock moves round some as well, and so adds rattle. This is driver's side; other door everything nice and firm, no issues.

I've added some pics.

The issue: I just can't work out how to tighten from the inside the door lock so it won't move. Anyone ever had success with this job? There doesn't appear to be screws or clips to work on.

Thanks!

 

Exactly!! There is a spring clip missing; a flattened, elongated C-clip sort of thingie. See attached image from a Corvette.

It slides on as shown and engages those flats on the cylinder. There should also be a gasket of some sort between the lock itself and the metal of the door. Doubtless that's Long gone.

You might find a replacement clip on the HELP wall of a local parts house or if you can work out the dimension, the Corvette one might work.
(';')

 

My recollection is the Jag does not have that clip clamp on the door lock cylinders like an American car. That would be too easy and it's British after all. The lock is held in place with spring tabs on the cylinder itself. When the lock is inserted in the door, the tabs expand and hold it in from the back side. There is a slot in the door that matches a protrusion on the lock cylinder which prevent it from rotating. On my car the edges of the slot on the door became worn away allowing the lock to rotate in the door until it jammed against what metal remained. My door was so bad the metal was so thin that it was necessary for me to cut a new piece of metal and welded it in and refinished the door. If that's not an option for you then can back the door with a new piece of metal using an automotive grade epoxy. I will be necessary to roll the metal so it matches the curve of the door. It's doable but not easy. If clean and if enough surface area is used epoxy will hold because modern automovite body use catalyzed epoxies are super strong.

 

Thanks both!

I looked around the bottom inside of the door to see if anything had fallen off, but nothing.

I think @icsamerica might be right. There are two spring tabs in the cylinder and they move but not tighten. The door itself is in great shape. Maybe I could try to find some clip as per @ LnrB and modify it. I'll try that route first.

At least I know now not to waste more time looking for something that isn't there. Thanks!

 

My spring tabs were flattened so I removed the door locks a pried them out a bit with an o-ring pick, then when I refitted the locks I used to pick position the weak tags as best I could. Drivers door is perfect,passenger one turns a bit but is ok if gentle with it. I usually unlock that one from inside anyway.

The o-ring pick is probably the best $11 I have ever spent on a tool, it gets used on almost every garage job. Perfect for cleaning hard to get places and like a really skinny extra finger for fiddly jobs.

 

Great suggestion, Clarke.

I might indeed be able to pull out the tabs with this tool. Will let you know.

Great! Just the tool I need. Also great for getting back on the distributor clips which can be super tricky.

Working on those b/c yesterday did a dwell angle test and it only came up as 25 instead of 35!!!!!!! I've been having timing issues so now know one reason why (though maybe more than one thing going on).

Working on contacts today and more on timing tomorrow.

Off to buy this tool now though

Thanks,

Graham