Well, my '97 coupe's door sagged when I bought it, but I was afraid to get into the repair. Didn't want to have to pull a door and do welding, nor did I want to have to pull the fender for adjustments. I thought I would try a different approach- adding shims to the lower door hinge at the door.

So first, I measured my door by putting a piece of masking tape across the door opening, with the door shut, and drew a straight line across the tape. I then slit the tape down the shut line so that the marked lines could still meet up when the door was closed.
I then removed the striker plate, after first marking it's position with masking tape. Then close the door and mark where the line on the door now aligns when the door is closed. Mine was 1/4" down. That's how much I will need to adjust up with the shims.

Now remove the door card ( other threads here tell how to do that), then remove the door speaker( 4 8mm bolts and the connector). You now have access to the three nuts on the bottom hinge (13mm). You can break these free, and then spin them loose, but not off the bolts. Now you need to gently lift the rear edge of the door. I used a floor jack with a piece of wood for protection, but a handy "mate" will work too. Just need to lift the latch end of the door maybe 1/2" or so max- just enough so that the door is pulled away from the bottom hinge enough so you can slip in a couple of shims. The shims go between the outside of the door and the hinge. You can slide the shims between the hinge and the door around each bolt. I used body shims readily available at the auto parts store. I tried a 1/8" shim, but it was too much ( moved 1/2" up at the rear of the door), so I tried 1/16" and it was perfect. So figure 1/16" of shims for every 1/4" of movement at the rear of the door. Tighten the three bolts, and then close the door to see how it matches with your original shut lines on the tape. Mine was now perfect.

My Driver's side striker was worn down due to the door being out of adjustment so long. There was a groove cut into the striker. Easy solution for me was to swap it with the passenger side. This put the worn part on the bottom on the passenger side, and the "good" part on top on the driver's side. I set the new striker per my original masking tape markings, and tightened. Then tried the door, and it was almost like a soft close door, it closed so easily!! Long term, I will pick up a replacement next time I'm at the pick and pull. Same striker's were used on XJ6 and XJ8, so a rear door striker on one of those should be hardly even used. T40 Tork bit required.

Re-install the door panel, and you're done. Took me less than 2 hours, and I was being very methodical. Also fixed a couple of the broken door fasteners while I had it off.

I think this solution is much better than the "lift the door with a jack" approach, although that does work. I just worried about tearing of the metal at some point. Who knows, the shim idea may hold up over time, or it may sag again. If nothing else, it's another approach.....

 

Great job describing the process... hopefully I never have to do it but I would definitely rather do this method than the floor jack method. Keep us posted on how it holds up over time.

 

Well done. Keep us posted....

 

Good description! I adjusted mine with a floor jack several months ago but it is starting to sag again. I will use the your method when I adjust it next time. Thank you!

 

Tried this method. It worked, but found a gotcha. When you loosen the bottom door hinge bolts, the door can move a little bit laterally (parallel to the ground). In my case the movement was about 1-2 millimeters. Because the door had the glass up when inserting the shims, the top of the door wanted to lean towards the middle of the car and caused the lateral alignment to shift, just a little. When everything was put back together the door sag was gone and the door closed wonderfully, but the window was closing slowly and the door top outside alignment with the body was 'in' a little, again 1-2 mm. This resulted in the window having too much friction which caused the window top position to reset to a lower position occasionally. I had to redo the whole operation to fix this alignment.

To prevent this put some tape at the line between the door hinge and the door frame to mark where the door hinge should be aligned laterally, and make sure you have the door aligned there when tightening bolts.

A last note is that having a handy "mate" lift the door while you put in the shims is more problematic than it sounds.

 

Great fix for a common problem, can't wait to implement! I wouldn't be able to afford to keep my Jaguars without the advice of this forum, you guys are great!

 

Hi where did you get the shims and what type are they? Thanks

 

I found them at my local auto parts store. Here is a link to them on the web. They are from a company called "Doorman" so maybe they are intended for this exact purpose.

 

I had the same problem when I got Lexie. I'm an old-skool bodyman so I put a 2"x2" block of wood in the bottom of the door jamb (below the hinges) & carefully pushed the door against it. Worked perfect the first time. However, shimming it is the right way for a more permanent repair.

 

Several years ago when I bought my XKR the driver's side door was sagging also. My fix was a bottle Jack and a block of oak at the back of the barely open door. Lifted the door about half an inch, pulled Jack away and closed the door. Such a surprise the door closed perfectly and now almost three years later still working perfectly. At the time thought it would need shims but no, it works fine.