Slider door rear latch/catch no worky...

[Flecker]

So I'm getting ready in the coming months to rip apart this little van I got and have recently noticed that the back latch isn't cathing and locking in place. This lets the door ajar light stay lit forever and drain the battery down.

Is there a fix for this? The latch seems to have some spring tension, but it won't "lock" in place...

Halp.


Edit: I did search, the only slider fix I see is for the rollers when they wear...

[Burntboot]

First order of business is to soak the living daylights out of it with a quality penetrant (while articulating the latch -open/shut, repeat till good)
oil and grease attract dirt, over time its gets gummy and sticky.
More often than not, freeing everything up is sufficient to restore proper function.

[Flecker]

First order of business is to soak the living daylights out of it with a quality penetrant (while articulating the latch -open/shut, repeat till good)
oil and grease attract dirt, over time its gets gummy and sticky.
More often than not, freeing everything up is sufficient to restore proper function.


Yah thats the thing, its reletively clean looking... granted I haven't taken it apart and played with it yet to see if it's actually broken or just misaligned or something. It seems like this really isn't a part that dies or goes bad based on searching? Just the battery draining issue is getting me, plus the rattle it makes while driving it.

I just hoped someone else had dealt with the issue and maybe knew of the common issue/ fix for it. :wnk:

[Burntboot]

That was the 3rd issue I dealt with on Red, within the first week of ownership.

They are always clean on the outside.
Its inside the latch housing where you can't see that the problem occurs.
30 years of dust and dirt, a little oil and grease and presto, the 2nd lock doesn't engage.

I used a phillips screwdriver to snap it shut and pull it open when the handle was released.
It did finally start latching at full closed after several days of working it, hasn't been an issue since.
I used most of a can of penetrant and just kept flushing it.
It is rather satisfying when the chunky bits start finally coming out.

[Flecker]

HA... okay, I'll give that a try first and see what happens.

So you are saying that "Red" had the same issue with the latch not wanting to snap closed??? Same exact thing on "Whitey".

Gonna pb blaster the bejeezus out of it and hopefully it will start functioning again!

Thanks man!