what's going on guys biker dave here working on the 2004 pontiac matrix clone also known as a
vibe now this is the same basic car as a toyota matrix and this particular generation is from
03 to 08 and uh the issue is it's a common issue on many cars actually and i've never
looked into it but we're gonna improve how the door opens because this car has over 200 000 miles
so imagine how many times the doors have been open and closed especially on the driver's side
and i had no idea that you could even replace this part that i'm about to show you and you can
buy it brand new pretty much all over the place so let's take a closer look i'll show you what i mean
okay the issue is if you know when you um you know when you open your door
it usually goes in two stages you know it like opens a little bit stops and then if you push
it more it'll open the rest of the way you know this will prevent you from accidentally
hitting a car next to you with your door and all that but this older one doesn't have that
little notch in it anymore like you know you should open it to about there and it should stop
but see it doesn't because it's worn out so you know if you're you know in a parking lot
and you go to open the door and there's a car right next to you if you're not careful this
thing would swing all the way open and just bump into that car so look at this
this part falls under many different names and you see where it's located the door jamb
strap stopper it falls under many names if you're searching for it i'll put a link where you can
find it for this particular car but that's what you have to search for door jamb strap stopper
very very odd you know what it's called i don't even know what it was called either
but that's what i found anyway we're going to replace this piece and you notice it's very
simple how it goes you'll just need for this car you'll just need a 10 millimeter socket
maybe one with a long extension because it'll be easier to remove this nut or this little
bolt and then you can shorten the extension and remove these two on the sides right here
and we'll show you real quick it's very simple all right with your with your tin here
loosen this bad boy
then you come over to the sides there's two over here
all right
now we're going to have to pull the door panel back a little bit because you have to feed it
to feed that part inside the door and then you can pull it out from right under here basically
so you don't have to take the panel off all the way but you do have to kind of pull it back some
so you got a phillips head screw
right here and then with a little flat head you'll pry off this little cap right here
right there and then there's another phillips right behind there remove those screws then
you'll be able to just pull the door panel back some and then we'll move on from there
okay now these are just secured you know once you remove the screws here the door is just
secure with little push rivets basically so you just sort of firmly pull back on it like this
then you can just lift it up over the edge of the window area
lift it up over this edge right here and it'll pop right off and this will also
give you a chance to check any screws nuts and bolts up inside here you know you got
a couple of bolts here that hold the handle in place you may want to check those
with your with your 10 while you're in here you could also get a look at your speaker
notice you got your speaker down there if you can see this
if your speaker is in ratty condition it's a good time to replace it but we're not gonna do that
now and this blue plastic is just kind of stuck on with some adhesive like tar adhesive so just pull
it back a little bit and then you'll see that hole that gets exposed and we're going to pull
the strap which i guess that's what it used to be called in the old days
just pull the strap right through
okay and notice how it's oriented when you put the other one on
the good thing about these is they work on either the left hand
door or the right hand door the same part is for both you just flip it over
depending on which door you're working with it'll even tell you if you're working
on the right side there's a little r if you're working on the left side you just flip it over
and there'll be an l so yeah it's very very easy to do and you can see how it's oriented
like so then we'll just feed it through and re-fasten it the way we just took the others off
all right now that we've got it fed back through right there you just you know screw them in by
hand for the moment and then the one with the blue loctite is the one that fastens to the body
that guy right there then to put the door panel on you literally just hang it
you know hang it over this little sill right here
alrighty
reversing what we did to remove the stuff very simple
tighten them down firmly then tighten the two on the side nice and firm
then to put the door panel back on you know make sure that this top strip
up here is in place it's got a few little metal clips that hold it on the very top of it there
make sure that it's in place then you just sort of drape it over this little window sill here
you know just drape it on and then pull it this way then you'll see where it lines up
on the edge of the door down here you know it's no big deal and then the little plastic
push pins you just sort of bump them in place all the way around and then put your little hand cup
back in place screw it down put your other screw right back in there
make sure it's good and firm then put your little
cap back in place make sure everything is working okay
and then we test it out remember it would just swing open too easily
now it opens and kind of stops right there then you can open it the rest of the way so
that was the main issue is that middle point right there was just worn out the original piece
right there was just totally worn out you know 200 000 miles anyway that's all there is to it
i'll put a link down below where you can get this but um yeah door strap hinge link you know
it has all kinds of different names but i'll put what what it was called for this particular car
so awesome very happy with that
and that's all there is to it it's the same procedure for the other side but it's usually
the driver's side door that gets used the most so your passenger side door may not even need it
anyway that's it this once again this is a 2004 pontiac vibe also known as a toyota matrix because
it's actually made by toyota a good little car we got other videos of little fixes and improvements
and things we've done to this car and tons of other cars as well trucks motorcycles classic
cars mustangs ford taurus x you know all kinds of stuff on a channel so have a look through it
and uh make sure you google horsepower house we have an ebay store amazon store two youtube
channels facebook page all kinds of cool stuff so just have a look for us and um we hope that you'll
come back and see us soon biker dave signing off from marietta georgia we'll see y'all later