97 Door doesn't shut flush with car body

Recently I've noticed that my car door dosent sit flush when shut on my 97 Ford explorer. That is, the door, when shut, is a good 1/4 inch depressed from the rear door. The top and bottom lines up, and the sticker lines up and it latches, so it's not sagging. If you were to run your hand along the side of the car, you would feel a bump up from the drivers door panel to the rear door panel. Hopefully I've explained it well enough. How do I align the door? It's needs to be further out when it closes. Thanks, I await your replies

 

[ts9409]

Recently I've noticed that my car door dosent sit flush when shut on my 97 Ford explorer. That is, the door, when shut, is a good 1/4 inch depressed from the rear door. The top and bottom lines up, and the sticker lines up and it latches, so it's not sagging. If you were to run your hand along the side of the car, you would feel a bump up from the drivers door panel to the rear door panel. Hopefully I've explained it well enough. How do I align the door? It's needs to be further out when it closes. Thanks, I await your replies

Take the door striker off the post and see how the door sits, i know you said the door was not sagging but it sounds like it is. If it is sagging a bit the striker will kinda of correct the door when closed by pulling it to the right position kinda of. But taking the striker off the post will show you what is going on. Sounds to me like worn out pins in the door hinges unless you have body damage somewhere. There is a thread on door hinge pin replacement its on a first gen but the process is the same
http://www.explorerforum.com/forums...has-door-hinge-pin-replacement-w-pics.182050/
Hope this helps

 

[MONMIX]

First things first, like ts said it could be an issue with the hinges. Doors very rarely go out of alignment without reason, although it has happened.
I would suggest not removing the striker but opening the door and lifting up on the very end, there should be next to zero if not zero play. If there is jiggle or wiggle than your hinges have gone to the big hinge place in the sky.
Otherwise...
The latch is a dual clicker.
Open the door and take a punch or a phillips screwdriver and push it into the latch make sure it clicks once, then twice. If that is successful, then your latch assembly is okay.
Now close the door, make sure you open the latch first.
Close it gently. Pressing your hand on the door where the latch is, feel it click once, then twice. If it clicks twice and it still sticks out then move the striker IN towards the vehicle. If you can't get that second click or you have to push real hard then move the striker OUT from the vehicle.
Once you get it latching twice then you can fine tune the alignment.

 

[Explorer1916]

Sorry I as offline for a few days. Thanks so much for the replies, I'll look at it and let you know!