Rear door won't close! Any ideas (its embarrasing)

[Vue&SL1]

Today, out of the blue, the wife opens the rear passenger door, grabs what she wanted, and tried to shut the door. Now, all it will do is bounce back to you and will not latch.

Being a savvy SaturnFans forum member, I quickly did a search on here to find out a quick fix. I grabbed the can of WD-40 and went to work on it. I sprayed the heck out of it and still the same thing. I looked at the other side as a good example, and it looks no different than the bad side. It is not frozen as its inside the garage with a halogen heat lamp on it.

This totally sucks as the wife is seriously got pissed when I had her go to the back seat to hold the door closed while we went somewhere. Needless to say, she didn't have a good time on left hand turns. LOL.

I am going to put a bungie cord on it, but that sucks because my 3 year old nephew will have to ride in the SL because the bungie will be in the way.!

Any help guys would be great! ;)

[texan]

Did the latch mechanism engage with the door open? On older cars, at least, it was possible to toggle the latch over while the door was open. The solution was pull on the handle and flip the latch open with your fingers.

[Vue&SL1]

Did the latch mechanism engage with the door open? On older cars, at least, it was possible to toggle the latch over while the door was open. The solution was pull on the handle and flip the latch open with your fingers.

An update to the problem here. I tried what you suggested as well to no avail. I finally got the door to shut and latch, with an extreme amount of slamming. 300 feet from the house, the back door swung wide open, so at this point I don't trust it.

I am so glad that this didn't happen with my nephew in the back a few days ago while traveling 65 miles per hour in the freeway. I am kind of pissed that a two year old vehicle has a door that won't close, and then comes open when it seems to be latched. I aint puttin' nobody in the back seat till this is fixed.

[redkees@msn.com]

I had this same thing happen to my 98 SL2. I had to replace the latch mechicanism and with that car had to go to a junkyard to get one.
A visit to the dealer might be required. If you're still under warranty that might help, if not then hopefully somebody here might post some helpful hints.

I'm sorry I haven't learned enough about the doors of the Vue model to offer the right assistance as I just got our family one and the learning curve has begun.

[CrewCab]

Try removing the weatherstrip that is around the door. Then see if the door will shut. I have seen a few 06's that had problems shutting the right rear door. The interior door panel was rubbing on the weatherstrip causing interference. Look at the wheel well hump area of the weatherstrip and see if it looks like something was rubbing on it. Then, look at the same location of the interior door panel and see if there is black scrapes from the weatherstrip contacting the panel. If so that is your problem.

[Vue&SL1]

thanks for the ideas guys. I ended up taking it to the dealer under warranty and they said it was a broken mechanism on the inside of the door. they are taking it for three days waiting for parts to come in. Now I am the proud user of a 1998 Dodge Caravan minivan that they lent me. Can't wait to get the VUE back! ;)

[Vue&SL1]

Got the VUE back and am happy now. All is well. Kind of glad to return that old Caravan with the 3.3. Not a bad van at all, but I am surprised the gas mileage was not that great compared to the VUE that has a bigger engine. I only got about 21.5 combined city and highway driving.

[TheSlayer]

I am glad you got your problem fixed. You have got to talk to the salespeople a little more when you are in there. When I had my wifes 02 in there for service I became the proud owner of an 07 Ion Redline which was very fun!! There are usually salespeople that don't mind getting the new vehicle out there to be seen. I said to him, "Theres already 37 miles on it...and he said "Yea she needs more." lol Good luck with the Vue!

[Vue&SL1]

I am glad you got your problem fixed. You have got to talk to the salespeople a little more when you are in there. When I had my wifes 02 in there for service I became the proud owner of an 07 Ion Redline which was very fun!! There are usually salespeople that don't mind getting the new vehicle out there to be seen. I said to him, "Theres already 37 miles on it...and he said "Yea she needs more." lol Good luck with the Vue!

I will do that next time. This was a Dodge dealer in this case, so it would have been fun to take out the Charger R/T they had about five of sitting on the lot. Speaking of Dodge, if they keep that lifetime warranty, I may be checking them out next time. Then again, Saturn has the 100K mile warranty now that is pretty good.

That will be awhile as I am cheap bugger. This VUE will be in our family until 175-200 thousand miles, which is the point at which I start looking at something to replace it.

Take care,

jon:)

[TheSlayer]

Thats cool...hey skip the R/T and go straight for the SRT8! Thats what my wife wants...lol riiight! Too expensive for me. She would be happy with a base package Charger. But she likes her Redline too. lol