Misaligned Door / poor seal to body
 

Earlier this summer I replaced the stereo in my 1988 4Runner. To do this I put the gear shift in neutral to have more room. When I finished I took my foot off the brake and forgot to put the vehicle back in park. Needless to say I was on a slight decline and the vehicle rolled back on me with the door open. The door caught on the side of my house. It didn't actually bend it back (as in opening too far), but caught at an angle that jammed the door forward and in (if that makes sense).

The door closes fine and the lines match up horizontally, its just that I notice that I don't get a good seal when going down the road and can hear quite a bit of air coming in (which is kind of annoying). Also when I took it through the car wash I get a bit of water coming in. The seal around the top of the door is not near as tight as the passenger side, I can feel much more of a gap there than on the passenger side.

Does anyone have any suggestions on how to attack something like this? Do I need to adjust the striker plate? or mess with the hinge bolts?


Thanks.

A couple things come to mind here. First, try to determine what's bent or moved. Could be the hinges or where the hinges bolt to the door or body.

Look at the door where the hinges attach and compare it with the other side. Does the door look pushed in or bent in where the hinges attach? If so, I'd try stacking some washers between the hinge and the door because you'll have a real hard time bending the door mounting points back out. Also, if you can successfully bend it back out it'll be weaker and likely to flex around. More expensive option is replacing the door, but I'd try some washers or otherwise shim the hinges first.

If the door looks OK perhaps the hinges are bent. Again, try and compare with the other side. If they are bent, I'd probably try to find a set at a junkyard.

Finally, there may be an adjustment where the hinges attach to the body. Perhaps the hinges were pushed forward and need to be slid back. If things are bent on the body side, again the shim strategy may work.

I don't think the striker plate is to blame here. The door has been shifted forward from the hit and it's bent or otherwise tweaked on the hinge side. So focus your effort there.

thanks for the suggestions, i'll give them a try