Any tips on the infamous W123 glovebox door?
 

In particular the one on my 240 won't latch closed properly. Kinda makes it unusable if you have to fiddle with it every time you want to close it. At the junkyard the latch was apparently the first thing to be violently ripped out :eek: (that was a perfectly good dash :().

So any tips on what's wrong here? Is it a spring or something? How do you take it apart?

I had to rebuild/rig mine so it would work better.

When laying open there are some fasteners exposed that allow
the front to be seperated from the back.

You can analyze the latch and decide what is needed from there.

I know I was able to do this with some super glue and scrap plastic.

Was more than ten years ago so the details are foggy.

Yep, that latch either jumped its "seat", or the black plastic has worn, became brittle, and no longer holds the latch in place properly. Nothing that can't be fixed with good junkyard replacement parts.

I'm fairly certain there is a DIY article on how to troubleshoot the w123 glovebox. The door is not too difficult to remove, start by unscrewing the visible screws.

The tricky part is removing the metal brackets that hold the door at 90 degrees when open. To remove those you need to turn those flat head screws/tabs 1/4 or 1/2 turn, and pull out when the tab on the screw post aligns with the slot on the door.

Once you get that far you should be able to figure out what the problem is with the latch.

I've had my glovebox door apart more times than I care to remember. That said, I may even have some spare parts laying around.

I've not done the procedure, but I think what you want is well covered in:

http://www.peachparts.com/Wikka/W123GloveBoxLatch

I've heard that the small zip ties wrapped around the latch (with the two screws) will allow the glove box door to close up without misalignment (or with minimal misalignment). Haven't tried it yet though. The metal latch gets eroded over time and this allows for some gap between the glove box door and the dash.

Years ago I saw someone who shaped & formed a tiny amount of jbweld right behind the latch... painted it and his gb door stayed flush when shut.
I never tried it, but it seemed fine...

Patrick, are you talking about the latch piece ("catch"?) visable from inside the glovebox, on top? If so, I've tried adjusting that a few times by unscrewing and sliding for/aft, but still can't get it perfect. I think the old dash's might warp a little as well, making adjustments a little tricky if not impossible.

What about the lock in the latch. Is that a part I can get keyed to my VIN from the dealer?

This is all I can locate right now.