dodgy sliding door

[j_robi]

the sliding door has been a bit tempromental for the last few weeks
but yesterday it decided to really test me
in the middle of town a 11pm, and it refuses to close
although form a few weeks it has been a bit 'sticky', the door actually wouldnt slide, after a fair bit of patience it randomly decided to work again, and closed it went
so when i got home decided to ty opening it and closing it to have a look, but it slides open and closed absolutely fine now
any ideas?
are my sliders the problem? does it need some serious oil/grease?
appreciate any help
thankyou

[Cate]

Very often the runner under the step gets gunked up with grease, mud and stones causing the door to falter, give this a good clean out and grease, the runner at the top isnt so bad but can get dry, what can happen is the runner behind the flap behind the goor accumulates loads of muck and often rust, causing the door to jump or grind to a halt, take off the flap and give the groove a good clean out, regrease and see how it goes.

[banana]

In the gunk and grease can often be coin or stone that my kids have dropped and it then slips out of the van and onto the lower runner track. That would stop the door quick enough. Ive always found the door feels a bit rough after a clean as it takes a while to bed in again.

[j_robi]

thanks for the info
would that be the case if it is only dodgy now and again?
do i need to take the door off to have a look?
cheers

[Cate]

You won't need to take the door off to look at the runners I've talked about, just the runner cover behind the door, 2 screws hold it on, you'll see the muck easily then.

[banana]

if you imagine the grease presumably that you have got can act like glue and pick up a stone then lay it down then pick it up again. But maybe on yours the lower wheel that runs along the bottom guide is not rotating all the time.

It could be the bearing wheel if it is worn or there is not enough grease on the track to make it slip when it does seize.

I would do the following:

Remove all grease from lower runner and really get out all dirt right under the area nearest passenger door post.

Look for roughness on track and check its not corroding. ( ive cut my fingers on this before as there can be some sharp burrs around the track.)

Clean the lower wheel. I basically clean the runner wheel by poking in a small screw driver blade and moving the door so that grease starts to collect on the driver. There is alot of hair, straw, dust all sorts that starts to unwind off that wheel. Keep doing it until clear.

When really clean regrease everything and puts loads of grease on lower wheel.

while your at it

I posted about the sliding door unlock etc being a bit tricky and I took the sliding door panel off and put handfulls of grease into mechanium obscured by the door structure ( it a bit tricky but a very low risk job) that also helped it open again and now it unlocks on the key OK.