I think my driver's side ( North America ) door latch needs to be replaced. The door does not always latch properly and has come open a couple of times on right hand turns. The locking function is erratic and the window does not drop properly when you open the door.

I have a few questions:
When trying to look up a replacement part I often get asked "deadlocking or not" . I have no idea what this means ! So I can't really look up the part number.

Jagbits, SNG Barret etc don't seem to have any latches so I may be forced to go to E-Bay and knowing the part number would be very useful. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

Before any of that, check the battery. Also, reset the windows and see if things are better.

Window reset: Press and hold the window Down button until the window hits the bottom, AND a faint click is heard a second or so after that. Repeat with the windows Up button (fain click again). Do this again with the passenger side.

These problems are a strong indication the battery is no longer strong enough to maintain sufficient voltage under load, e.g. starting the engine. This leaves the electronics confused and likely to not operate correctly. Check the battery date. If not AGM, do a maintenance (top-off the cells with distilled water) to get a fraction of a Volt extra.

Best of luck, keep us posted.

 

Jagbits has door latches for every car in stock, fill out this parts request form:
Jagbits Parts Request Form

 

fmertz : I don't thinks its the battery because the drivers side works just fine. The striker plate seems a bit worn / chewed up as well

Gary: thanks very much....form sent

 

Gary,

68 minutes to reply - what took you so long.

Graham

 

It's been a very very busy year!!!!

 

I would spray the latch with WD40 first and work the door open and closed a few times and see if that works.

Gus
www.jagrepair.com

 

did that already. On close inspection the door has dropped about 15mm or so and I believe that , over time "banging" the door closed has damaged the latch. Not sure why the door is dropped yet. Its a heavy door so maybe the pin is worn. I plan to align the door properly first , then try to reset/adjust the window, and replace the latch.

 

Never looked at the door hinge and do not know if an adjustment is available. It would be worth looking at.

Gus
www.jagrepair.com

 

well...it appears to be bolted on ( as opposed to welded ) and the hinge pin has a hesx top...so that implies to me that I can make adjustments. I should be able to move the hinge on either the door or body by loosening the bolts and should also be able to put shims behind the hinge on either the door or body.

 

Barry, please keep us posted with your findings and progress. I've been meaning to address a similar drivers door say for a while now.

A cursory glance at those nuts and bolts you mentioned left me wondering how one could possibly get a wrench on them.

I look forward to your progress mate.

John

 

I am lucky because my son in law is an expert mechanic and has access to a hoist. I will certainly let you all know how it goes

 

If you check the older posts it seems the door drops due to metal fatigue of the door frame where the hinge is bolted to the door. My '99 has the same problem and I have checked and rechecked the bolts with no luck. A temporary solution is to life the door while open which seems to work for awhile. My lock shows signs of serious chewing from the striker on the door pillar. I would like to have it fixed but looks like a daunting task to properly remove door and weld in a reinforcement for the hinge.

 

My son in law adjusted the drivers door so that it now closes perfectly. I'll get details on how he did it and post them here. From reading assorted posts it seems that my door latch is indeed faulty. With fully charged battery, opening the drivers door does NOT operate the interior lights ( passenger door does ). Also when you pull the door handle the window drops slightly , as it should, but when you release the handle the window goes back up even if the door is open. I understand that this may be related to a failed micro switch somewhere in the latch. Still trying to locate a used latch somewhere

 

If you can't source a Door Latch, the microswitch is P/N C2N 1908.

Graham

 

OK...chatted to son in law. Keep in mind that he is a VERY experienced mechanic who has access to a lift. He says that he removed the inner fender and was able to access and adjust the door hinges from there. He indicated that it looked to him as if the ( very heavy ) door had just sagged over time. There was no problem with the hinge itself or the pin. The adjusted door close like new Now I need to fix/replace the micro switch for the interior lamps and automatic window up-down in the door latch......adjust the window height...and "another issue solved"

 

Barry, what does inner fender mean? It's probably something obvious but I don't want to assume. Could he be referring to the wheel liner?

Thanks, john

 

The plastic material that covers the inside of the fender/wheel arch. It's what you see when you look inside the wheel arch / fender

 

Ok that's doable, thanks Barry!

John

 

For anyone else interested, see Redline's post "Before I button this up" above. Photo and video of area under liner and how to remove.

John