Air noise at driver door seal....any cure?

[MojaveJoe]

Since my truck was new there has been air noise (like plastic rattling in the wind) at the top front of the driver door seal when driving into a headwind at 70mph. I realize this might be nit picking, but it sure would be nice not to have to listen to it whenever I drive into the wind, which is quite often.



Wondering if anyone else has this problem and/or if there is a fix for it?



Thanks,

Joe

 

[DaveHess]

I have the same problem with my 2003. I had a 1995 Ram that also had the same problem. On both of these vehicles it was usually a cross wind from the passenger side of the vehicle. As if the wind would catcjh the top of the door frame and pull it away from the ever so slightly. A friend of mine had his door "tightened" up by the dealer and seemed to help the problem. He now has to "firmly" close his door. I like the soft touch so I have not done anything with mine since it only happens with a crosswind from thwe passenger side. Incidently, I live in ND where it is pretty much windy constantly so I may be just used to it by now. Maybe a slight door adjustment is in order.

 

[Newt]

I've found the dealers response to air noise is tighten up the doors. Sometimes they overdo it a little

 

[yycguy]

anyone know what's involved in adjusting the doors ourselves?

 

[BHolm]

I had the same thing on my '03 QC. The dealer adjusted the door and the noise was gone forever. I will second the "over did it" part though. Ever since the door has not lined up perfectly with the upper edge of the fender. The mismatch is subtle, the noise was irritating, take your pick.



I suspect you can just loosen the door mounting bolts at the hinges and make the adjustment yourself. Two or three tries would probably get rid of the noise and end up with better panel alignment. I know they only took one shot at the dealer and overcompensated.

 

[FlyBoy007]

Try this, when it happens next time give the window a VERY quick tap down, just move it a few mills. I found that when the windows are in the full up pos. they push against the seals and can cause an air leak.



give it a try





To tighten up the door loosen the latch pin and adjust it in closer to the cab, this takes a few reys to get it right, you dont adjust the hinges.

 

[RKerner]

Try this, when it happens next time give the window a VERY quick tap down, just move it a few mills. I found that when the windows are in the full up pos. they push against the seals and can cause an air leak.



give it a try





To tighten up the door loosen the latch pin and adjust it in closer to the cab, this takes a few reys to get it right, you dont adjust the hinges.

I'm going to try that. Also, if you put your hand on the upper part of the window and doorframe, you can feel a significant amount of movement. If you push outwards, the noise goes away. Or maybe it's just my cellphone antenna wire rattling and getting my attention.

 

[BHolm]

Try this, when it happens next time give the window a VERY quick tap down, just move it a few mills. I found that when the windows are in the full up pos. they push against the seals and can cause an air leak.



give it a try





To tighten up the door loosen the latch pin and adjust it in closer to the cab, this takes a few reys to get it right, you dont adjust the hinges.

I KNOW they adjusted the hinges. There is no way moving the latch pin at the rear of the door would have produced the result I see on my truck. In fact I suspect that adjusting the pin would make the problem worse because the leak occurs along the a-pillar. Pulling the rear of the door in would likely increase the gap in the front.

 

[JMcDowell]

Hinge Adjust

I would love to see someone adjust a hinge in and out to tighten

the door to the seal :-laf Adjust the door lock striker or get a new seal.

The mercedes suv (ML) had the same issue and we used to take

washer hose and run them through the hollow part of the seals to make

for a tighter fit.

 

[CArnold]

I have adjusted the front door hinge slightly on mine,worked great with very little adjustment.

 

[DPearson]

I took my '04 in because of the air noise at the front of the drivers door. They said it was wind noise from the mirrors. I told them it was wind noise through the seal. They adjusted the latch of the door, no change. I told them to adjust the hinges so the door set slightly tighter against the seal. They said the hinges were not adjustable. I told them to make sure that statement was on the work order. I also told them that if I found out the hinges were adjustable, that I would be back with a bill for my time and their ignorance.

Well, guess what? The hinges are adjustable. I borrowed a copy of the service manual on CD, and took me all of five minutes to find the proceedure, and fifteen minutes to to make the adjustment. Now, after about 15,000 miles since I adjusted it, the wind noise has not come back, there is less rubbing on the seal when opening and closing the door, and I got a $200 credit at the parts department.

Now for the trick of adjusting the hinge(s), per the service manual. Each hinge has washers epoxyed to the slots for ease of assembly at the factory. They do use a GOOD adhesive. Need to take a chisel, loosen one bolt of the hinge, and give the washer a good rap on its edge. It took about 3 raps for the adhesive to break loose. Thighten and repeat the proceedure for the other hinge bolt. I only needed to adjust the top hinge to fix my problem, and only the door side half of the hinge. (I believe the door half adjust for seal thightness, the body side half for raising and lowering the door). Before you loosen up a hinge completely, the door needs to be supported, and the current hinge placement marked with a marker or tape. A very slight adjustment is all that is needed. Worked for me, hope it works for you.

 

[ECappleman]

DPearson,

wish you had taken pics. :-laf

 

[joe308]

Maybe it's a coincidence, but I only started to notice the noise in my 03 QC after I had the rubber seal replaced where the drivers window meets the top of the door (it was torn from the dealer when the truck was new). My noise seems to be coming from the top of the glass. Don't know if they losened the glass to replace the strip, but I was thinking the glass needs to be adjusted to go a bit higher. Any thoughts on this helping or do you folks think I just need to adjust the door?

 

[Tomeygun]

BIG THANKS to this thread...



The wind caught my door and swung it open to hard it bend the hinges ever so slightly... The next day to work - a constant wind noise.



I just used the above info to move the door closer to the body again and sure hope it fixes it.



thanks for the info!!! TDR to the rescue once again

 

[joe308]

My dealer eventually agreed to replace the long weather strip that goes around the top between the door and body. This quieted it down some. Not sure if they considered adjusting the hinges or just took the easy way out.

 

[Wayne M.]

Try this, when it happens next time give the window a VERY quick tap down, just move it a few mills. I found that when the windows are in the full up pos. they push against the seals and can cause an air leak.



give it a try





To tighten up the door loosen the latch pin and adjust it in closer to the cab, this takes a few reys to get it right, you dont adjust the hinges.

TOTTALLY AGREE!! I read this here a while back, and it worked. I have also experienced heavy cross wind that actually pulls/pushes the door and makes a different larger noise and it made me sinch down the seat belt!

 

[Tony D]

Adjustments to the doors are to compensate for the compression of the door seals (in most cases) which is normal. What I use to rid myself of the problem... hands down: Honda Shin-Etsu Grease. The best stuff on the market with no adjustments to the doors. I also have a 2005 Honda Odyssey with a big air noise problem. Per Honda I conditioned the seals and the air leaks were gone figured I'd try it on my 06 Mega and it worked too. Don't forget the moon roof! It's the shiz-nitz!

DISCLAIMER: my statement assumes no problems with door alignment, hinges, abuse due to PO'd driver!

Tony

 

[Tony D]

BTW... . in case you're interested:

Genuine Honda shin-etsu grease. Used for lubricating rubber door seals.

 

[GSchneuer]

Air noise at the Drivers door:

I had the same problem on my 03 and the dealer couldn't fix it by adjusting the door hinges. What I did was install MY 05 and on up door seals between the front and rear doors, that cut the wind noise down by about 99%. If I remember right, I paid about $35. 00 for the set of seals from the dealer, it sure is quiet in my cab now.



Gary

 

[MSicotte]

Do you have the part numbers and/or pics to show where these seals go?