old car doors tip

[old3bob]

 

Tip for anyone working on an old car door:  if you adj. the door alignment by loosening its hinge bolts and move the door to a new position and then re-tighten those bolts,  how the door strikes the keeper/lock tab may get thrown off enough to where the door will not re-open after closing it to check your new adjustment,  in that case one has a major headache !   When or if in doubt about such a problem occurring one could first remove the door panel on an open door before making any adjustments since it can be extremely difficult to remove a door panel if the  door is closed and won't re-open !   (then it may have be to ripped out!) But with a  previously  removed panel out of the way one might be able to trigger the door to open by probing its hopefully accessible lock mechanism with a long screwdriver or whatever works. (from inside the car)  I've been through this before the hard way...

 

One might ask what does this have to do with this website?  Well I'd say because all of the yoga like positions one has to get in while crawling around inside a car which tests one's flexibility, determination and temper!  ;-)

 

 

Edited Wednesday at 08:09 PM by old3bob

[Taomeow]

Just yesterday a taiji student of mine, after the lesson, said her good-byes and then discovered she can't unlock her car.  Reason unknown.  She keeps going click click and nothing happens.  Open it manually, I suggest.  She tries, fails, starts hyperventilating.  No she says, I can't open it manually, there's this complex sequence I never use -- twice to the left and then thrice to the right or maybe vice versa, or right first then left, and the alarm might start screaming if I keep tampering with the lock.  I tell her, put down the key, stand in the Opening Pose of Laojia Yilu, drop your shoulders, suspend the top of your head from a string from heaven, breathe evenly, root deeply, now as your arms go up get the key, click again.  She did.  The door opened.  Oh, and change the key battery I told her as she was leaving.   

[Nungali]

Car yoga : 

 

Cruise control out . mechanic says that can be a nightmare  .  So I go online and type in the model and problem ; probably the switch connected to the brake pedal  "  get down there and put your hand in and push it over to the left , you have to kneel on the ground, get your head down on the drivers floor mat so you have the full length of your arm available  , snake your arm up inside the dashboard   and feel around until you can feel a shaft with a concertina rubber boot , follow that down until you feel  the switch and push its holding cradle over to the left . 

 

My God what a contortion , the arm and body angle don't match naturally , the head is at a weird angle  I am starting to get a cramp but then ...... click !   Fixed !    

 

1000km later ... out  again , on the highway .... loosing power !????     Ohh , cruise control has dropped out  -   ho hum !  Pull over  and do it again .     Drivers going past  ; " Why is that guy doing warm ups on the side of the highway ?  "  

[old3bob]

4 hours ago, Taomeow said:

Just yesterday a taiji student of mine, after the lesson, said her good-byes and then discovered she can't unlock her car.  Reason unknown.  She keeps going click click and nothing happens.  Open it manually, I suggest.  She tries, fails, starts hyperventilating.  No she says, I can't open it manually, there's this complex sequence I never use -- twice to the left and then thrice to the right or maybe vice versa, or right first then left, and the alarm might start screaming if I keep tampering with the lock.  I tell her, put down the key, stand in the Opening Pose of Laojia Yilu, drop your shoulders, suspend the top of your head from a string from heaven, breathe evenly, root deeply, now as your arms go up get the key, click again.  She did.  The door opened.  Oh, and change the key battery I told her as she was leaving.   

 

yea, gotta watch out on some old vehicles, for instance if you're  in a rush and  close the door with the keys in the ignition and the engine is running the door then automatically locks....then its locksmith time or maybe ask a helpful car thief if you see one milling around to open it for you!  (no clickers back then)  Btw, TV or movies are so fake when they show some rookie hot wire a car in seconds and make a get away!  (although I'm not qualified in doing that ;-)

[old3bob]

On 7/23/2025 at 5:25 PM, Nungali said:

Car yoga : 

 

Cruise control out . mechanic says that can be a nightmare  .  So I go online and type in the model and problem ; probably the switch connected to the brake pedal  "  get down there and put your hand in and push it over to the left , you have to kneel on the ground, get your head down on the drivers floor mat so you have the full length of your arm available  , snake your arm up inside the dashboard   and feel around until you can feel a shaft with a concertina rubber boot , follow that down until you feel  the switch and push its holding cradle over to the left . 

 

My God what a contortion , the arm and body angle don't match naturally , the head is at a weird angle  I am starting to get a cramp but then ...... click !   Fixed !    

 

1000km later ... out  again , on the highway .... loosing power !????     Ohh , cruise control has dropped out  -   ho hum !  Pull over  and do it again .     Drivers going past  ; " Why is that guy doing warm ups on the side of the highway ?  "  

 

I sure can relate to events like those Nungali !  Once after I adj. an auto transmission linkage it unexpectedly slipped into drive  with the engine running thus picking up speed, which happened after I stepped out of the car for a moment!  Fortunately I was nimble enough to get back in the car and put on its brakes before a disaster!  This older guy probably couldn't repeat a quick leap to brake if same ever happened again...

 

 

Edited yesterday at 11:31 AM by old3bob