door stay repair
 

The stay that the check strap attaches to is prone to breaking on the 850.
This results in a loud double clunk each time you open the door. The spot welds weaken and break over time. I followed someone else's advice to repair mine. Basically, the door comes off and a bolt or bolts is inserted to effect a repair. It takes about an hour in total.

See picture.

You will require:
An 8e torx bit and driver (or a 10mm? socket, depending on model) to loosen the locking bolts on the hinges.
A torx bit (can't remember what size) to undo the check-strap from the stay. Also, a very small torx to undo the electrical connection.
One or two 6mm bolts with washers and nuts (M10).
Some loctite.
Drill and a 6mm bit.
A jack is useful to lift the door up off the hinge brackets.
An assistant (to help with putting door back on)

Open the window.
Undo the electrical connection (undo the tiny torx screw).
Then undo the check-strap to door stay torx bolt, and separate the two. Slacken off the bolts which lock the hinges (either 8e torx or 10mm? bolt)
Use a jack with padding to lift the door a little.
Once its started it should be easy enough to lift it off (with window open) Plan in advance where you will lay it - it is very heavy! (No wonder these cars are so strong, last so long and use a bit more fuel than most!)

Drill a 6mm hole(s) through the pillar and the stay's back-plate (close to where the spot weld(s) have failed.
Prise out the rubber bung which is next to the stay to access the threads of the inserted bolt.
It can be tricky to get the nut on the bolt, so wrap some sticky tape around your finger to prevent it falling down inside the pillar.
You will find that a 10mm spanner with a bend put in its end will allow you to grab the nut in order to do the bolt up tightly.
Don't forget to use a little Loctite.
Put everything back together.
You will find that an assistant will make the job of sliding the door back on its hinges a lot easier. (While you're at it put some grease on the exposed hinge pins)

Hope this is of help to someone. There is a better write-up with more pics somewhere else. Try Google.

Nice little write up.

Thanks for reminding me to do mine !!

matt.

Just done mine....had to wait for ages till it was warm enough to spend an hour outside...

All done...plus here's a link to another person that did it if you need more pics..

http://au.geocities.com/OZBRICK850/door-stay_fix.html

Door check strap repair
 

I have carried out this repair but did it slightly differently. I used two 10mm bolts about 2 inches long. After drilling the holes for them i pushed a drinking straw through and pulled it out of the hole that had the large grommet in . Then i put a washer on the bolt and taped it to the straw pulling the straw back through which left the bolt sticking out of the drilled hole. I then cut a flat edge on a large repair washer and put it over the bolt after removing the straw, holding on to the bolt so as not to drop it into the door pillar. The nut then goes on and can be tightend holding the end of the bolt with pliers. When sufficently tight there is enough room to cut the end off the bolt close to the nut using a junior hacksaw. Repeat process with second bolt. Replace door, open and close it and enjoy the quiet operation. Then have a beer or two because you will be quids in.

Just fixed my door check strap mounting on the A post with the bolting method. Drilled out the 2 spot welds with a 7mm drill and painted the raw metal edges. As the A post appears to be pretty thin sheet metal and the spot welds tear out from closing the door thus pushing the mounting bracket into the A post, it seemed sensible to effectively strengthen the external area around the check strap bracket mounting, so instead of the 2 repair washers mentioned above I made a 'load spreader' plate to spread the load over the area around and between both holes [should have taken a picture!]. Used 6mm x 20 bolts inserted from the outside, spring washer and nut fitted on each bolt by 'sticking' them to my finger with a dollop of grease. Nuts can be held by the finger while tightening onto the spring washers. Door now closes nice and silently!

Daft question time...

Mine has the dreaded clunk and is due up for the test next week., is this a failure item or can I leave it till after payday to attempt?

cheers
Alex

Not an MOT test item, you should be OK to leave it.

Cheers!

Thats one less thing to worry about then :thumbs_up:

I'm glad I found this post...

Spent £30 at my local garage for them to weld it back... broke again 4 days later. Sounds like this way is more successful.
Also glad about the MOT as thats due soon.

Just one thing, I'm asuming that this will also work on my car, see signiture

Yes mate it'll work for yours, I used it on my 99 S70 and its great. If I did it again though i'd probably get a mate to help me put the door back on, they're pretty heavy things.

Saved a load though, my dealer wanted £200 to do it!!