Warwick XL

Evening all;

Due to a health problem my wife as difficulty in sliding open the side door on our WXL. She can actually do it but only with a bit of a moan every time so my question is, has anyone got any ideas on how to make the opening a little bit easier? I've tried running a bit of oil in the track but I guess there's probably something else I could do!!

Thanks for any help and advice.

Even I struggle, it weighs a bloody ton!

Looked at a few electric open / close kits, couldn't find anything that would retro fit in to or around the furniture easily though.

Silicone spray on top middle and bottom track may help , other than that you will have to open and close the door, I have to do this as the wife has MS and there is no way she could manage it

bolero boy wrote:[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

I looked into these but the sink and cooker unit in the doorway are in the way for fitting

I don’t think there is much you can do to ease the opening of sliding door,other than lubrication, but I don’t think that will make a major difference to a heavy door. As already stated,electric door opener is not possible on your van due to lack of space to fit. The only thing I can think of to suggest is to consider if a step is an option to use rear door on the occasion you may not be available to open side door.

Thanks for all the suggestions, much appreciated, will try more lubrication first.

FreelanderUK wrote:

bolero boy wrote:[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

I looked into these but the sink and cooker unit in the doorway are in the way for fitting

perhaps not the specific model i linked, but many continental vans (Poessl/Globecar for example) have electric doors and they all have a kitchen unit that sticks out halfway across the door opening.
perhaps when we can get out, have a look at a dealer that sells Adria, Globecar etc and check out the installation, they are very common on Conti vans but ive never needed to check how they work.
good luck.

ps....this is what Peossl use...
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It’s not the kitchen sticking out across the doorway that is the issue. On the Warwick it’s that the units are close to outside wall and door apiture,which leaves no  space for screen cartridge.

Kdc wrote:It’s not the kitchen sticking out across the doorway that is the issue. On the Warwick it’s that the units are close to outside wall and door apiture,which leaves no  space for screen cartridge.

sorry, what i meant was both designs are similar, in that they both have kitchen units that 'are close to the outside wall'...
obviously, the Poessl (and other brands) design has accommodated the extra fittings, which is why i suggest having a look at one to see 'how they do it'.
perhaps a section of the cabinet behind the sink has to be modified in some way to make room...its obviously done by other manufacturers with vans of varying layouts...the most common has the kitchen unit in the same place as the WXL...so were faced similar issues to which you mention.
the question is, how did they overcome it? what space is needed, can the same mod be done to the unit in the WXL?

To make mine easier i cut a length of plastic pipe knotched to fit and pushed over handle.  This gives that extra leverage without forcing anything

Chris....the way other makes fit screen is to design it in,AS have not/did not do this so there is not room to retro fit.I am sure some resourceful member on here would have done so if possible.

Youve mentioned 'scrren' twice, i rhought this was about fitting a sft close motor system...sounds like you are referring to a sliding fly screen?...or do you mean that if you fit a soft close motor the sliding screen wont work?

It seems I ran off side door onto screens.  



Getting the two mixed up,🤫.

ok, no prob....i was worried i was researching the softclose retrofit when i should have been looking at screens...
however, as weve touched on it, do you think having a sliding screen might affect any attempt to retro a softclose or similar...
i know that screens werent available on RHD models for quite a while after they were introduced on the Continent.
i also know (my SIL has an older PVC) that some doors are more difficult than others and if i was struggling with a door (or hated the noise!) id be looking hard at a softclose system. asfter all, we have electrical assistance on so many things today to make our lives easier, why wouldnt you?

As you asked.......I don’t know if a sliding screen affects retro fitting soft close as I have not looked at the mechanics involved with its operation.It probably has a chunk of moving parts and motor which has to be acommadated ,which in the case of a Warwick xl is likely to impinge into storage space under cooker or sink or both.If a van has screen cassette it may well be possible if space can be found for  the mechanics,any research needs to focus on space required and space available for such a retro fit.

What about this to help close the door, not looked to much at it 


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Edit , it seams to be that the locking catch moves to help pull the door in to the closed position

Seems a good design solution especially closing from inside is a pain, I wonder if they do english vans?

jennyandpeter wrote:Seems a good design solution especially closing from inside is a pain, I wonder if they do english vans?

I contacted  them and they will only fit this at their factory which is a shame as it looks a great solution to the limited space in the WXL,  Perhaps they good change there mind if contacted enough about this

Look on the bright side, on older Boxers the door had a habit of coming off it's runners and land on your head!  I presume they fixed this on newer models.