Hello all,
I have a '96 Bronco and ever since I bought it I've had this annoying little problem with the doors and just never really did much about it. The problem I have is that the doors dont really seal good around the top and b pillar side when you shut them. The driver side door is especially bad. I can actually see daylight thru the back top edge of the door. If that makes sense. When you look at the truck from the outside the doors look like they are flush with the body but from the inside they clearly are not sealed around the top and top back side (b pillar) of the door. Its almost like the doors dont tip in enough from the bottom of the glass up. I had an autobody shop take a look soon after I bought it and they pulled the driver side door in a little which helped a little but didnt solve the problem. On the driver side I can actually stick my hand between the door and the body (b pillar) of the truck with the door closed. I have an idea that might fix this problem but I need some advise. My idea is to find some extra thick door seals and install them. What would be great is if I could find some that were just extra thick around the top and on the b pillar side of the door. The doors on my truck are extremely easy to close so my thinking is that even if you had to shut the door a little harder to compress a thick door seal its not going to be a problem. Has anyone ever seen this problem before with Bronco's? If so what was the solution? Does anyone know if door seals like I described are even made and by who? Any information or advise that you could give would be very much appreciated. Im not a mechanic so this is really just a stab in the dark to solve a very annoying problem with an otherwise kick *** truck.

 

Sounds like the vehicle has been in a serious accident. I've got a 90 with 130K and I get zero wind noise or leakage from the doors, and no discernible gap. Your truck didn't come from the factory that way; something ain't right.

 

You may be better off buying some sticky back weatherstrip and adhering that to the body rather than trying new door weatherstip. Then when you close the door, the door weatherstrip will make contact with it and hopefully create a good seal. I'm with JB though, sounds like your Bronco may have been in an accident before.

 

Normally I would agree but I bought it from the local Ford dealer and it was a Ford Certified Pre-owned vehicle with about 38K miles on it. It hasnt been wrecked as far as I can tell. I checked carfax before I bought it and they had no record of it being in a wreck. I mis typed in my earlier post when I said that I could stick my hand between the door and the b pillar. I can wedge my fingers in there up to about the first joint but only at the top b pillar side of the door. The doors dont leak but there is definitely road/traffic/wind noise that you can hear coming thru the drivers door and there is a gap but only toward the top rear of the door at the b pillar. The drivers side door just doesnt compress the seal at the top b pillar side. The passenger door shuts tighter than the drivers side door and is probably fine because I cant get my fingers in it and there is no gap. The gap on the drivers side isnt huge but I can see light thru it and can get my fingers in there. Sorry for being repetative but I'm at work trying to post and I keep getting interrupted. Anyway, from what I can see if I could find a door seal that was about an inch or so thicker than stock then I could get a really good seal on the driver side door.

 

If the truck shows no sign of being in an accident, then you should be able to adjust the door. You should have a steel post in the middle of the door entry that the door latches on to. You should be able to lossen with a star type ratchet head and move it back so that it will draw your door in tighter. If this has already been done, then look at your hinges.

 

Yes, I have had this done. I watched as the bodyshop guy did this exact adjustment and it did help a little but I still have a gap up top. I dont know if this info will help or not but my doors are REALLY easy to close. All you have to do is flick your wrist and the door will shut as tight as it possibly can. People slam my doors all the time because they are so easy to shut. What should I look for on the hinges? Cracks in the welds or something like that?

 

If I bought the truck from a Ford dealer with 38K and they said that it was never in an accident, I would take it back and make them fix it. How long have you had the truck this way?

 

Im not sure about the hinges I would look just to see if they can be lossend and adjusted. Also look at the door where it latches to the post, see if this latch can be lossend and move back into the door. Because you door closes so easy, it sounds like these adjustments are off. Maybe you can still move the post back further than what the body shop man did. Also take a good look at your door latch. play with it, chech to make sure the latch is not wore out.

 

haha, Well, I bought the truck about six years and 70K miles ago so the dealer would probably tell me to go F#$% myself. The dealership paid to have it adjusted soon after I bought it and I was so in love with the truck that this problem just never really bothered or annoyed me until now. I also kind of took the bodyshop guy at his word when he told me everything looked Ok which in hind site may have been a mistake. This is the ONLY complaint that I have ever had about this truck. Poffutt, I will check out those areas and report what I find.

 

Oh. Yeah, I would imagine so. It doesn't make any sense then, if it was a low mileage vehicle with no accident history and has also been looked at and adjusted by a professional body man. Are you sure that it is a problem? Does it make annoying wind noise, or leak water? I still say that something ain't right - that's a given. But what? I couldn't tell you at this point. Maybe it has the wrong door seal for some inane reason?