HOW TO ADJUST DOOR SO IT WILL CLOSE - 1997 Lincoln Town Car

Your description indicates the door hinges require adjustment. Usually the striker would be removed and the door hinges adjusted for easy closing and equal gaps. It is likely in your efforts to make the door flush with the front wing, mudguard or fender, the hinges are too far in. Most likely your replacement door is not identical to the original - not unusual for various reasons... Once the door hinges have been adjusted to provide a satisfactory position and closing the striker would be refitted and adjusted so it goes into the catch or latch dead centre - neither lifts nor pulls down the door as it closes. That is where the door needs to be and if it stands proud a little it is just bad luck - often the front fender can be repositioned and then the bonnet or hood readjusted. A competent panel beater would be able to tweak things for you to make them acceptable. It might have been better to fit a new latch to the original door.

The latch striker may be adjusted just a bit too tight. What is happening is that when you attempt to close the door, the air pressure inside the vehicle resists the door closing. That is why opening a window solves the problem. There is no back pressure to fight the door closing. If the latch is adjusted properly, then you just need to put more oomph into closing the door.

adjust the latch so that the door closes better. You may have to use a lever and brute force to bend the latch and panel back into position if the adjustment is not possible.

not real clear on what you mean.
if your door is not closing try lifting up on it as you try. also lift the door handle and see if the latch mechanism is open.

if you mean that the doors are closed but the light won't go out then you need to replace the door jamb light switch, open each door one at a time and push the little button in the door jamb if the light goes out then you may just need to adjust the switch, close each door before checking the next, if you need to adjust it then here is a generic picture of an adjustable switch


if the light doesn't go out then you may need a new switch.

one of the door ajar switches are not adjusted properly and the door is not contacting the swtch enough to open it completely. close all doors and have someone watch the light and go around to each door and just start bumping the door and see which switch it is. replace or adjust the switch to better contact the door when it is closed

If it is closing inproperly, open door. Lift up on bottom of door near latch. If there is movement the hinge pins need to be replaced. If there is no up & down movement adjust stiker bar on pillar that door closes onto, either up, down or in or out, depending on how it closes.

The usual cause of a hanging door is a worn door hinge or two. You might be able to loosen and lift the two hinges, at the front of the door, a bit.That might allow the door to close better but the best solution is to replace the worn hinges.

Hi!!
The doors Hinges or Striker need to be adjusted to make up for the weatherstrip thickness. To do this, loosen the hinge-to-door bolts for lateral adjustment only. Loosen the hinge-to-body bolts for both lateral and vertical adjustment.
FRONT DOORS
REAR DOORS

BEFORE YOU START:

• Determine which hinge bolts are to be loosened and back them out just enough to allow movement.
• To move the door safely, use a padded pry bar. When the door is in the proper position, tighten the bolts to 19-25 ft. lbs. (26-35 Nm) and check the door operation. There should be no binding or interference when the door is closed and opened.
• Door closing adjustment can also be affected by the position of the lock striker plate. Loosen the striker plate bolts and move the striker plate just enough to permit proper closing and locking of the door.

TO ADJUST ON A: F-150, F-250, Expedition and Navigator
HORIZONTAL AND VERTICAL ADJUSTMENT

• Loosen the front door hinge to front door bolts.
• Adjust the front door alignment.
• Tighten the front door hinge to front door bolts to 19-25 ft. lbs. (26-35 Nm).

FRONT DOOR FORE AND AFT ADJUSTMENT Check the rear door hinge adjustment before adjusting the front door hinge.

• Remove the front fender.
• Loosen the front door hinge to body bolts.
• Adjust the front door alignment to specification.
• Tighten the front door hinge to body bolts.
• Install the front fender.

1999-00 F-Super Duty Models
DOOR ADJUSTMENT The following procedure is for performing fore, aft, up, down and tilt adjustments.

• Remove the door striker.
• Loosen the bolts only enough to allow for slight door movement.
• Carefully close and adjust the door until flush with the adjacent body panels.
• Carefully open the door and tighten the bolts.
• Re-install and adjust the door striker.
• Check the door for proper operation and alignment.

STRIKER ADJUSTMENT Mark the position of the striker before loosening.

• Loosen the striker retaining bolts.
• Adjust the door striker and tighten the striker retaining bolts.

Good Luck!! A HELPFUL - 4 THUMBS - rating for this solution would be greatly appreciated. Thank you for using FixYa.

One of the doors is probably not shutting tight enough. When the light is on and all doors are closed, have someone walk around the car and push in on each door. When the light goes out, that is the door that needs adjusting. Adjust the lock so that the door closes tighter. Let me know if you have questions.

Here's the solution: You might want to park it under a tree and tie a rope to the door to pull it up when loosened.
ADJUSTMENT Fig. 1: Door hinge adjustment
Fig. 2: Rear door hinge adjustment, F-350 Crew Cab
NOTE: Loosen the hinge-to-door bolts for lateral adjustment only. Loosen the hinge-to-body bolts for both lateral and vertical adjustment.

1. Determine which hinge bolts are to be loosened and back them out just enough to allow movement.
2. To move the door safely, use a padded prybar. When the door is in the proper position, tighten the bolts to 19–25 ft. lbs. (25.5–34.5 Nm) and check the door operation. There should be no binding or interference when the door is closed and opened.
3. Door closing adjustment can also be affected by the position of the lock striker plate. Loosen the striker plate bolts and move the striker plate just enough to permit proper closing and locking of the door.