On my '07 XK today, the glove box refused to latch closed. The latch mechanism could be rotated manually using a pen, but it wouldn't latch. So, I pulled the box out and thought I'd share my findings . . . yet another plastic tab broken and fouling the works. Please see the attached pics for the story. Hope this helps others.




This is a plan view of the glovebox out of the car. Along the top, the I-beam looking plastic is the connecting rod running from the latch mechanism on the left to the plunger/lock mechanism on the right.





Here's the right hand side of the connecting rod assembly where we are looking at the back of the plunger housing with the lock cylinder. The metal tab on the lock cylinder makes contact with the connecting rod and pivots it forward and back to latch, unlatch the glove box. If the metal tab is vertical -- lock with key rotated either fully clockwise or counterclockwise -- the glove box is locked 'cause the tab won't contact the connecting rod.





The little piece in the bottom of the picture is a plastic retaining tab for the lock cylinder that broke off. It was lodged in between the connecting rod support and the housing for the lock cylinder, keeping the connecting rod from being able to return flush with the metal tab on the lock cylinder.





You can see the gap between the connecting rod and the metal lock cylinder tab, which is caused by the broken tab. The tab is at the bottom of the rod's support arm, wedged between it and the edge of the housing. I pulled the tab out and voila, all works fine now. (In this case, the tab being broken did not change the functionality of either the plunger or the lock, itself. Got lucky this time!)

 

I just want to say thanks for a great post and really good photos.
Awhile back my son jammed his knees hard into the glovebox (not from a crash) and actually broke the lock mechanism. The new unit has been sitting on my todo bench for quite awhile.
Today I tackled it, with one major screw up, I pushed in the lock mechanism and it clicked nicely into place.... IN THE WRONG POSITION.
No reasonable way to pull it back out without probably breaking it again.
So I just left if alone, it will still open the box when depressed, so good enough for me.
The problem was I could not for the life of me figure out how to get that rod and spring mechanism back together, there is no obvious place for the spring.
Using your photos I got it all back together and it works great.
I am sure many people have used this thread for reference, but nobody has thanked you for the effort to post it.
So, here it is... THANK YOU!
It really helped and is greatly appreciated.