H3 Rear Door Clunking

H3 Specific Information

H3 Rear Door Clunking

Postby HoHummer » Mon Jun 07, 2010 9:36 pm

Don't remember if I saw this specific issue, have read about other noises from H3 owners. It sounds like my back door is not shut all the way, the clunking you get when a door is not shut properly :wall: . When I'm on a rough road it drives me nuts. I made an appointment with my dealer for this friday, he said he has not heard of this problem with other H3's. Does anyone know how they adjust the rear door when it bcomes misaligned? Is it the latch? I'm also concerned as I have been running a 35" tire on the back rear door, dealer may claim that this caused the problem. Any thoughts?
HoHummer
Trail Novice
Trail Novice
 
Posts: 49
Joined: Sun Jan 18, 2009 1:21 am
Vehicle: 2007 H3

Re: H3 Rear Door Clunking

Postby trailerpup » Mon Jun 07, 2010 10:10 pm

Had the same thing on my 07. It is the part below the latch that sits on the door jam that needs to be adjusted. The temporary fix for me was to wrap a couple loops of electrical tape around this metal 'V" plate to snug it up where it mates into the "female" side of the mechanism on the door. Later, I got a torx socket to match those screws in the adjustment plate and moved the plate to the rear 1/8 inch. Hope this makes sense.
Last edited by trailerpup on Mon Jun 07, 2010 10:12 pm, edited 1 time in total.
User avatar
trailerpup
Club Member
Club Member
 
Posts: 408
Joined: Sun Jun 10, 2007 9:18 pm
Vehicle: '10 Alpha H3

Re: H3 Rear Door Clunking

Postby alrock » Mon Jun 07, 2010 10:12 pm

The dealer adjusted mine once (Lund in Phx), adjusting the guides on the door and frame.

Got a new clunk now that I haven't dealt with that is different than the original one; let me know what you find out.
User avatar
alrock
Trail Guide
Trail Guide
 
Posts: 1370
Joined: Tue May 22, 2007 11:54 pm
Location: Scottsdale, AZ
Vehicle: 2007 H3

Re: H3 Rear Door Clunking

Postby 08H3 » Tue Jun 08, 2010 8:33 am

One other thing to check is to make sure there's not something in the door moving around. I store shackles, wrenches, etc. back there and sometimes something will get to rattling around and make a similar noise.
User avatar
08H3
Trail Rider
Trail Rider
 
Posts: 216
Joined: Wed Feb 25, 2009 6:49 pm

Re: H3 Rear Door Clunking

Postby 4speedfunk » Tue Jun 08, 2010 8:41 am

Last year my rear hatch door was thumpin. I grabbed my Torx-bit set and went to work. To my amazment...I could not find any adjustment whatsoever in the latch, striker, or hinges...so I gave it up. The next day, I took it to the dealer and they fixed it in about 10 minutes under warranty. I have no idea how they did it (big hammer?) but, apparently they do alot of em.

Cudos to trailerpup! I loosened up everything, and found no way to slide stuff around like a normal door. Tell me more.

Also...check the lug nuts on the spare tire.
4speedfunk
Trail Rider
Trail Rider
 
Posts: 491
Joined: Mon Oct 01, 2007 7:51 am
Vehicle: 08 H3

Re: H3 Rear Door Clunking

Postby HoHummer » Tue Jun 08, 2010 8:02 pm

I did the same thing, grabbed my Torx-bit, took off all the brackets, the brackets don't slide they have beveled hole, thats why I asked if it was in the latch in the door, that appears to be adjustable. I wrapped dome 3M tape around the v-shapped bracket on the vehicle and it has dampened the clunking. It's the door, I checked for loose items jack, tire, etc., you can tell it sounds like a half closed door, heavy clunking. Let's see what the dealer does on Friday.
HoHummer
Trail Novice
Trail Novice
 
Posts: 49
Joined: Sun Jan 18, 2009 1:21 am
Vehicle: 2007 H3

Re: H3 Rear Door Clunking

Postby trailerpup » Tue Jun 08, 2010 9:33 pm

"4 - Guide Plate
Tip: Adjust as necessary."
rear latch.jpg
rear latch.jpg (95.79 KiB) Viewed 5949 times


edit. i spread the "wings" a little bit and moved it as far back as it would allow... 1/16"
User avatar
trailerpup
Club Member
Club Member
 
Posts: 408
Joined: Sun Jun 10, 2007 9:18 pm
Vehicle: '10 Alpha H3

Re: H3 Rear Door Clunking

Postby DirtyH3 » Tue Jun 22, 2010 3:16 pm

What I did to remove the clunking from the rear door was to remove #9 from the picture I've attached - its attached to the swinggate. Since there are no adjustments to be made as people have found out above, what I did was use a 5lb sledge to bend the plate tighter. What happens is the door hinges are flexing slightly enough that the plate gets opened up from its natural v shape. I haven't had a problem with it since I fixed it. If you don't want to deal with hammering, you could always just buy the new hardware from gmpartsdirect. For me, a 5lb sledge and some of my time was free.
Attachments
striker.gif
striker.gif (6.31 KiB) Viewed 5895 times
User avatar
DirtyH3
Trail Novice
Trail Novice
 
Posts: 12
Joined: Tue Mar 09, 2010 5:39 pm
Vehicle: 2006 H3

Re: H3 Rear Door Clunking

Postby HoHummer » Thu Jun 24, 2010 10:22 pm

Well I had to take it to the dealer as I had the ignition switch go out. Had them look at the door and they just told me that the suspension is so stiff (Rancho) that if makes things bang around that you would normally not hear with the stock suspension. Time to get out the sledge hammer.
HoHummer
Trail Novice
Trail Novice
 
Posts: 49
Joined: Sun Jan 18, 2009 1:21 am
Vehicle: 2007 H3

Re: H3 Rear Door Clunking

Postby alrock » Thu Jun 24, 2010 10:46 pm

the hammer solution worked for me, though I just took a normal hammer and worked the piece while it was still attached to the door. Maybe 10 hits each top and bottom and it is no longer clunking.
User avatar
alrock
Trail Guide
Trail Guide
 
Posts: 1370
Joined: Tue May 22, 2007 11:54 pm
Location: Scottsdale, AZ
Vehicle: 2007 H3

Re: H3 Rear Door Clunking

Postby Seth » Fri Jun 25, 2010 12:17 am

HoHummer wrote:Well I had to take it to the dealer as I had the ignition switch go out. Had them look at the door and they just told me that the suspension is so stiff (Rancho) that if makes things bang around that you would normally not hear with the stock suspension. Time to get out the sledge hammer.

I get tired of dealer's excuses. They would make a nice humorous anthology.
Keep your wits sharp, your heart open, and your gun loaded.
User avatar
Seth
Chapter President - SoCal
Chapter President - SoCal
 
Posts: 9621
Joined: Wed Jun 13, 2007 3:51 pm
Location: San Diego
Vehicle: JK Rubicon Unlimited

Re: H3 Rear Door Clunking

Postby HawaiianH3 » Thu Apr 07, 2011 4:34 pm

I love this place!!! :up: Both me and my desk partner have this issue and will attempt to work it this weekend!!!! Thanks for the diagrams DirtyH3!!!! ;)
2006 Red H3 Base w/Chrome & sunroof. 54k miles! Upgrades: Front tint, mud flaps, roof racks, custom rear tire cover, Poly cross-member bushing replacement (still strategizing). Soon to come: Clear corner lights, brush guard, front level w/Bliestien shocks and bump stops. PCMpluss computer upgrade
HawaiianH3
Trail Novice
Trail Novice
 
Posts: 82
Joined: Tue Mar 08, 2011 3:25 pm
Vehicle: 2006 H3

Re: H3 Rear Door Clunking

Postby apellafr » Sat Mar 02, 2013 4:34 pm

I got to say Thank god for this site, cause for the last 3 months I have been going nuts with a sound of the back door seeming that it was open and clunking and searching for anything that could be loose or causing the sound. Then once I read this and with a 5 lb sledge and a few love taps to the top and the bottom, and I am as sane as I can possibly get and no more cranking the stereo to drown out the annoying clunk!!

Thank you
User avatar
apellafr
New User
New User
 
Posts: 5
Joined: Sat Jan 30, 2010 2:26 pm
Location: Bethel, CT
Vehicle: 2006 H3

Re: H3 Rear Door Clunking

Postby kylesvoboda » Mon Sep 02, 2013 1:57 pm

Before checking on here I took my H3 to the dealership to have the door adjusted. They charged me $90.00!!! Apparently they found adjustments that we all couldn't.... Yes that was sarcasm! I fixed the door clunking with a $2.00 roll of electrical tape after reading this forum. Thanks for all your help.
kylesvoboda
New User
New User
 
Posts: 2
Joined: Sun Jan 27, 2013 11:27 am
Vehicle: 2007 H3

Re: H3 Rear Door Clunking

Postby trailerpup » Sat Sep 07, 2013 10:22 pm

Beware.

I was having this issue again on my Alpha. I used the 5lb sledge to squeeze the wings back together. After that the clunk was gone but the door latches kept clicking like the doors were locking and unlocking. When I checked it out 2 spot welds were broken (see photo) and i could actually push the latch area in an inch or so. :o

If you pull back the weather stripping (see photo) you can see that the raised portion of the body panel (with the 2 latch pieces attached) is only spot welded to the surrounding panel. Looks like there are only a few spot welds holding the panel with the latches. :duh:

file.jpg
file.jpg (58.51 KiB) Viewed 4815 times


IMG_6362.JPG
IMG_6362.JPG (97.92 KiB) Viewed 4815 times
User avatar
trailerpup
Club Member
Club Member
 
Posts: 408
Joined: Sun Jun 10, 2007 9:18 pm
Vehicle: '10 Alpha H3

Next

Return to H3 Tech

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 1 guest