Over the last week, my passenger door has been experiencing some of the gremlins that are indicative of problems with the microswitch in the door latch. I was seeing "Passenger Door Open" when in fact it wasn't & of course this would prevent me from locking the door. Sometimes it would lock OK but would cycle from lock to unlock 4 times before locking. Also, the doors were not locking automatically when I would put the car in gear.

I decided today to take the latch out & take a look. I have had the door panels off before but I must stop & thank Sam for his invaluable video showing how to remove the latch. And also, thanks to those who have previously posted numerous threads covering this issue from which I have learned a great deal.

What I found surprised me. The latch mechanism was all gummed up (almost like a hardened varnish) & was hard to move even manually. The microswitch that senses the door position was also a mess. I cleaned it all up using what I had on hand (CRC Throttle Body Cleaner) & then sprayed with White Lithium Grease. After testing it all out still out of the car, I mounted the latch & tested it again before putting the whole door back together.

I guess I was one of the lucky ones that found that simply cleaning & lubing it all fixed it. It is back together now & working perfectly. Will have to do the drivers side soon before it starts acting up. Here are a few photos showing the pieces after they had been cleaned.

Gotta love those "free fixes"!

 

Congrats on the DIY free fix. Thank you for posting.

 

Kudos to you! The door latches have been overlooked and lack the proper lubrication for many years.