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Sliding door hard to open

25K views 11 replies 9 participants last post by  khnitz 
#1 ·
The left power sliding door on my 2007 T&C is much harder to open than the the right when you open and close it manually. I had this problem on my 2003 before I traded it in and I was hoping this issue was addressed and fixed by Chrysler by now. The good thing is my 2007 is under warranty. Does anybody know if it is still the motor clutch causing this problem in the 2007s? What are the dealers doing to fix this problem when Chrysler is paying for it?
 
#2 ·
Best way to find out is to get it fixed. Your service invoice will list what they did.
 
#3 ·
I did take my T&C into the dealership yesterday for this problem. They replaced the sliding door motor and that took care of the problem. I guess I'm just disappointed that this seems to be a recurring problem since we had the same issue on our 2003 T&C but traded it in without having it fixed. I have 11,000 miles on my 2007 T&C right now. I will be paying very close attention to the operation of the sliding doors before my warranty ends.
 
#4 ·
Good to know. Our 2001 GCV still has the stiff left door. I would have to replace it myself as stealership rates might be a little expensive. The labour rate at our dealer now exceeds $100.00 per hr. Feel a little pricey, you bet.

KC.
 
#5 ·
(I don't have a fourth gen, so forgive the question)

Are the power slider motors supposed to disengage when the sliding doors are opened manually? Or are they simply supposed to "free wheel" in a neutral state unless power is required?
 
#6 ·
I never knew how easy the doors were supposed to open manually.
I opened the doors on my brothers '01 with manual doors and almost ripped them off. Both my doors are stiff, so I don't know how they are supposed to be?
 
#8 ·
The manual doors are definetly free'r float'in than the electric sliders. The passenger side on ours is easier to move then the drivers side, but the drivers side has always been an issue on ours. For manual operation, I believe the clutch on the motor disengages the motor and lets you freewheel it. This clutch is the one that seizes, info from previous threads, and you are dragging along the motor and possibly little gearbox and drive cable when opening manually that all contribute to the very stiff feeling. My wife can barely open the drivers side manually. Now our passenger button for the drivers side is starting to operate intermitt. The overhead console one works fine.

KC.
 
#9 ·
Having had a 2003 with manual sliders and a 2007 with power sliders, I can also compare directly.

Both sides of our 2007 operate with about the same resistance when closed manually. They have probably 50% more resistance than the manual sliders do. Even though the motor is disengaged, the drive system (gear constantly in mesh with the toothed rack) is always "engaged", so there's some added resistance there. I don't consider it to be too much more (when operating correctly). There's still enough "free wheel" for the door to try to slide closed on its own when parked down a hill (after it's disengaged from the "lock").

The power liftgate closes manually with exactly the same resistance compared with our 2003's manual 'gate. The drive mechanism must be a little bit different.

While this system does have its faults, I appreciate that Chrysler engineered-in a clutch system like they did. On other vans with power doors (such as the Honda), you CANNOT close it manually. You MUST let the motor close the door. When you try to pull it closed, it resists you and closes on its own (slow pace). This can be a detriment when there's driving rain and you just want that door closed NOW.

Incidentally, although our van has power doors and 'gate, I never use them. My wife does all the time, and appreciates them.
 
#10 ·
Ok this is important as I know an easy fix for the door (well maybe not that easy, but it's free)


First take the top (above glass) panel of the door off, then the biggest one ( dont bother with the one that has the handle). Ok now take the black mat off the door(it doesn't have to be completly off). Take out the retainer clip that attached the shaft to the motor. Pry of the 4 white clips (don't worry they are durable). Take out the motor and unscrew the star shaped screws ( you need the star screwdriver to take them off). Disconnect the black wire on the side of the motor btw. Once you unscrew the screws take off ONLY the part where black wire is coming from, don't take the whole thing off as it will be kind of hard to aling the gears back up. Clean the elecromagnetic clutch (the disc with 4 slots, the thing it binds to and the solenoid). Make sure they are very clean (I cleaned it with alcohol). Put it back and if you accidentally took of the gear box ,dont worry it will take sometime to put it back but no damage will occur. The putting back part is the reverse of the disassembly.

Any questions or clarifications, just post bakc here.

Ps the reason why they replace the motor is that they essentially replace the clutch and that solves the problem.
 
#11 ·
I'm dredging this thread back up, as it was the best guidance to help me fix the same issue on our 2005 Town & County's power sliding doors. The only thing I wanted to add was some pictures of the motor/clutch and what you're cleaning.

Motor:


Clutch:


Clutch Debris:


The debris is small particles of dust/dirt/sand. The coil with the 2-pin plug is the electromagnet used to slide the shaft that engages the drive cable to the sprocket at the door frame. When the clutch is not engaged, gravity is supposed to drop the shaft down and disengage the motor from the drive cable. When the motor is activated, the electromagnet pulls the shaft upwards and engages the gear to the sliding door motor. The debris prevents the shaft from returning (via gravity) to the disengaged state, and that is why the door is hard to open/close. You're fighting against the drive motor when you operate the door manually and the clutch components are dirty and not disengaging.
 
#12 ·
I'm dredging this thread back up, as it was the best guidance to help me fix the same issue on our 2005 Town & County's power sliding doors. The only thing I wanted to add was some pictures of the motor/clutch and what you're cleaning.

Motor:


Clutch:


Clutch Debris:


The red arrows highlight the debris that needs to be cleaned out: small particles of dust/dirt/sand. I used compressed air to get the worst of it out, then sprayed in some thin-film lube. A q-tip also helped to get the nooks and crannies clean.

The coil with the 2-pin plug is the electromagnet used to slide the shaft (green arrow) that engages the drive cable to the sprocket at the door frame. When the clutch is not engaged, gravity is supposed to drop the shaft down and disengage the motor from the drive cable. When the motor is activated, the electromagnet pulls the shaft upwards and engages the gear to the sliding door motor. The amount of movement between these two states is roughly shown in yellow.

The debris prevents the shaft from returning (via gravity) to the disengaged state, and that is why the door is hard to open/close. You're fighting against the drive motor when you operate the door manually and the clutch components are dirty and not disengaging.
 
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