is there a part missing on my passenger door of my 97 sport? door wont stay open, did the pin just snap and part of the door check slide back in?

 

It looks like what you described happened. Once you have a new pin it should come back out of the door and stay connected.

 

cool thanks, i thought this might have been what happened but i didn’t wanna pull it out and wind up breaking something else haha

 

Just fixed one on mine. You'll have to pull HARD on that linkage to get it to stay out for ease of getting a pin in.

 

Longnose locking pliers are your friend in this job

 

I bet when you refit that pin, your door will make a god-awful cracking noise every time you open or shut it...hence its absence

I have this issue on my '96 (and have had on other vehicles)

No amount of fiddling or swapping another part have worked, as the wear seems to be internal to the structure, not the arm

Not ideal, I just be gentle with the door

I might look inside the area with my newish borescope to see exactly what causes the noise (its the point it moves into the "held open" position)

 

Same noise here. I assumed it was the pin cause it seems pop (jump) when the noise happens. Borescope it!

 

I've got the creaking/popping noise, I thought that was a standard issue? lol
It's on the back burner because doesn't seem easy to replace.

 

to attain the "held open" position, the arm must move across a reinforced cutout within the door itself.

Its my belief this internal section of metal becomes worn, stretched or in some way deformed

I investigated this problem in great detail on one of my vintage Jags, it had exactly the same issue...the arm was not damaged, did not respond to swapping, or shimming

 

I'll post a photo sometime if I can remember. If you add a bolt washer that keeps the latch from moving up and down the noise pretty much goes away. It is because the damn thing moves around so much.

 

Once you get the pin back in there is a trick that can help with the popping and stiffness of the arm.

Best way is to go from the inside of the door and retrieve the mechanism once you remove the nuts on the outside. But this can be done without removing it.

Basically you need to get alot of thick grease inside the mechanism. Spraying it with a little WD40 wont do much. If you remove it simple slobber the entire thing with grease and work the action over and over while applying more grease. If you are doing this without removing it then simple plaster the arm with grease and open/shut the door many times. Repeat the process several times.

That got alot more long winded than I planned lol