How To Repair A Clunking, Grinding, Broken Door Hinge

[matt b]

I posted on here not long ago about how to fix a clunking hinge. Since most of the repairs seem to focus on tightening the nuts and a repair for the A-pillar welds, I was SOL. It's not very common for the welds in the A-pillar to break, but welding them back is a major hassle. Here is a write up on how to fix those, should they break on your car. A-Pillar Hinge repair

Here's a quick write up on how to replace a hinge:

Total time required: 1 hour, working slowly.

Tools needed: flat head screw driver, torx bits, socket wrench set, all purpose grease, red loctite, needle nose pliers.

Part Number: 9187591 $37 from FCP Groton, $62 from the dealer.... Same part.

The hinge itself is more prone to failure. Here is what I went from:

The first step is removing the door panel.

The Haynes manual explains it well, it's fairly simple and only requires 2 different torx bits. Watch the speakers, a screw driver will pop off the covers.

There are screws along the bottom of the panel, the door handle cover on the inside will need to be pulled off, etc... The only snag I ran into was the plastic screw towards the inside of the door panel, the one that rests against the A-pillar when the door is closed. I ended up pulling mine off gently with some needle nose pliers.

Moving to the exposed section of the hinge, you'll need to pull the rubber boot off. My hinge was covered in all purpose grease, you don't need to have that much. What I had probably did more harm than good by trapping dirt.

Once you've moved the boot to the side, you'll see that the hinge is held on to the A-pillar by a large torx screw. It should take some effort to remove it. An extension is needed to clear the door as well.

The hinge is held onto the door by two 10 mm nuts on the studs of the hinge. The studs go through the door, only the nuts are exposed. You'll have to remove those completely.

The panel on the door pops off, just push up on it. You won't set off any airbags, you won't break anything by pushing it off the door if all screws have been removed. You should then see this:

That's the front section of your door, with the hinge cover and the wiring harness clipped onto it. Pop the white cover off and move the harness to the side.

To pull the hinge out, you'll have to rotate it 90 degrees, the end section that bolts onto the A-pillar does not clear the hole in its normal position.

Below are the two hinges, top one being the $35 replacement from FCP Groton. It's an OEM part, in a Volvo bag, I couldn't justify paying $20 to get the same part from the dealer!

The bottom part is my broken hinge. It's hard to see on the previous pics, but the studs kept the hinge against the door and forced the two broken parts to grind and clunk. I was lucky, there is no damage to the inside of my door, the paint was still intact.

Next, you'll have to fit the hinge back in the door. Again, maneuver it into the hole at a 90 degree angle. Don't have a n00b moment like me and remember to put the rubber boot back on first, or you'll be looking at this:

Once you're done, you should have this result, a nice improvement. By tightening everything down, I actually did away with a rattle in that door. I used all purpose grease as well for the new hinge, you only need to lube the parts that roll on the spring. It'll be obvious when you look at the new hinge.

End result:

[raymondjiii]

I just posted last week the same thing (without the nice pictures.)

Isn't that door check a real "quality" piece?

(I don't think that you needed to take the speaker grill off - I didn't anyway.)

Did you forget to put the rubber boot back on?

[matt b]

I just posted last week the same thing (without the nice pictures.)

Isn't that door check a real "quality" piece?

(I don't think that you needed to take the speaker grill off - I didn't anyway.)

Did you forget to put the rubber boot back on?

No, I remembered to put the rubber boot back on, after lining up the torx bolt (but not tightening it down).

The hinge is an OEM part, so it's identical to the part that broke inside my door. I guess if it lasted 11 years/90K miles, you can make the call as to how good the quality was.

The speaker grill had to come off since the 4 screws around the speakers go through the panel and into the door itself. The speaker also had two wires running to it that needed to be unplugged. If you didn't, you may have a different set up (aftermarket speakers, etc...)

The door feels fine now and opens and closes better than any of the other 3 doors. I may order another hinge and do the driver as PM to avoid the hassle of the clunking noise.

[erikv11]

QUOTE(matt b @ Jul 6 2007, 10:16 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

... I may order another hinge and do the driver as PM to avoid the hassle of the clunking noise.

yeah, I was surprised to see it broken on your car's passenger side. I thought it was almost always the driver's from all the usage.

[matt b]

yeah, I was surprised to see it broken on your car's passenger side. I thought it was almost always the driver's from all the usage.

The car was a one user car for the first 8 years of its life. I wouldn't be surprised if the grease dried from lack of use and that the lack of use contributed to the hinge's failure.

[raymondjiii]

11 years / 90k miles is not quality in my opinion. That was the first door-check that I've ever had to replace and I've had cars much longer than 11 years and in my case it was only 9 years.

[Noahkk19]

Good write up, I have the same problem right now on my passenger side door, will find time to do this later on in the week...

It's a shame mine is the result of friends abusing that door ;)

[matt b]

11 years / 90k miles is not quality in my opinion. That was the first door-check that I've ever had to replace and I've had cars much longer than 11 years and in my case it was only 9 years.

Then I guess you should source an after market one or custom fab a bracket. I didn't feel like messing with all that and didn't want to throw in an untested part when OEM would probably last 15 years with adequate maintenance.

Good write up, I have the same problem right now on my passenger side door, will find time to do this later on in the week...

It's a shame mine is the result of friends abusing that door

Thanks, there are some good ones in the pinned maintenance topics but none were directly for this issue.

As for your friend: louisville slugger, what ? :)

[Noahkk19]

QUOTE(matt b @ Jul 9 2007, 11:02 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Then I guess you should source an after market one or custom fab a bracket. I didn't feel like messing with all that and didn't want to throw in an untested part when OEM would probably last 15 years with adequate maintenance.

Thanks, there are some good ones in the pinned maintenance topics but none were directly for this issue.

As for your friend: louisville slugger, what ?

A pressurized mechanical arm for the sole purpose of slamming my door <_<

[raymondjiii]

QUOTE(matt b @ Jul 9 2007, 03:02 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Then I guess you should source an after market one or custom fab a bracket. I didn't feel like messing with all that and didn't want to throw in an untested part when OEM would probably last 15 years with adequate maintenance.

YEAH that's it! I'll spend weeks if not months on fabricating a bracket because so many of Volvo's parts are crap! Adequate maintenance?!?! I've NEVER "maintained" a door check in my life and I've NEVER had one break.

It's amazing the excuses that some people will make for Volvo's defects.

[Oreo931]

Awesome write up matt!

[matt b]

YEAH that's it! I'll spend weeks if not months on fabricating a bracket because so many of Volvo's parts are crap! Adequate maintenance?!?! I've NEVER "maintained" a door check in my life and I've NEVER had one break.

It's amazing the excuses that some people will make for Volvo's defects.

Chill pill my man: I saw the dried up grease on mine, my issue was lack of maintenance. And if you can't work metal, just buy OEM and move on.

Awesome write up matt!

Thanks Adam. I appreciate it.

[MrWinkey]

Nice write up ! Well done

Nice write up ! Well done

I will see about moving this to Bay 13

[matt b]

Nice write up ! Well done I will see about moving this to Bay 13

Cool, thanks! Travis' write up did not cover this, so I did my own.

[MrWinkey]

QUOTE(matt b @ Jul 10 2007, 08:32 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Cool, thanks! Travis' write up did not cover this, so I did my own.

Can't blame Travis...he has beer and sex on his mind most of the time...(that doesn't make him a bad person though...lol.)