door issues 83 300sd
 

On my 83 300sd I have to slam the doors to get them to latch, But it seems more like an alignment issue, not a seal issue. Where do I start on this?
Also the door handles on the outside are hard to pull. Do they need lubed? with what and how and where?

thanks
Doug

could be over the years of slaming doors the striker plates have moved
inward. loosen the 4 allen screws and slide the striker out some.

I use an acid brush and grease the latch in the door. works wonders.

when I first bought my 85 300D we had to slam the drivers door.
I had the door panel off to replace the window regulator. the door had
been slammed for so long that the metal was cracked between the
access holes. that might be what caused the regulator to break.

I also replaced the striker on the drivers door with one from P N P.
usually the rear doors don`t get the use of the front doors. the black
plastic piece the latch connects to breaks and gets chewed up over the
years.

I just noticed you have a SD, but the strikers are similar.

Charlie

blackestste,

Is the body rusted? Chances are if it is, the body is sagging causeing the doors to be misaligned. NO inexpensive fix for this.

That's what happened to my '79 300SD. I had to junk it because it was rusted beyond help.

P E H

I will look again, I did not see any rust. Just bought it for $800. It takes a lot to get the door handle to pull out, then you have to slam the door to get it to latch.
Hope it is not junk....

If no rust I will adjust the striker, and remove the door panel and look for cracks, Is there anything to grease in the outside handle to make it pull to open easier?

When you have yours apart, can you give me any advice on my problem. 79 SD. All doors latch and open easily from the inside. 3 doors are very difficult to unlatch from the outside. Handle moves easily but does not appear to disengage the latch. One door is virtually impossible to open from the outside.

Kerry,

U will have to go inside the doors and check the linkage from the outside handle to the locking mechanism. Possibly U can shorten the linkage to make it work. Maybe cut the linkage, take out 1/8 or so and braze it back together.

P E H

I was hoping the solution would be simpler. It's been a while since I've had a door lock mechanism apart and I can't remember exactly how it functions. Perhaps I can find a picture of it somewhere.

Kerry,

If the doors open OK from inside, its not the lock mechanism. Its the connection from outside handle to the lock mechanism.

P E H

Yes, it's that connection that I can't picture in my mind.

Kerry,

I can picture it either since I never had that problem. Nor can I remember it being posted in this forum either.

I think U will just have to take off the door panel and look for yourself.

After U get the top of the door panel loose, lift up, don't try to pry outward at the bottom or U will break the bottom clips.

P E H

I use a light oil, such as transmission fluid, when mine seems to take a little too much effort to close. The only thing I have ever lubed is the latch trip, visible in the door opening.

Here's a pdf of the W116 door handle. It looks like the outside door handle can be removed without taking off the door panel by accessing it thru the closing disc. Do people think the 'drive screw' is an adjustment for the external door handle?

http://handbook.w116.org/Chassis/72-240.pdf

Nope, its not. I just went through this on my 300SD. Had to pull pretty hard on the handle to open from the outside, but the inside latches were fine. I removed the outside handle per those instructions and lubed the latch mechanism. Worked like a charm. Getting the locking pin lined back up took a couple tries though ;)

Thanks. Which part did you lube? The external handle part or the internal latch part? Would it be possible to lube whichever part needs to be lubed without removing the external handle part using one of those little plastic nozzles?

Sorry to hijack the thread, but I figured the original poster's question had been answered, and it seemed like a good thread to discuss door latches.

... search for door latch ramp...
there is a stupid plastic ramp that wears out, once it is gone, the latch will not swing into the latched position... simple to change, IF the part was available anywhere... glad I got parts cars...