123 rear door catch problems....

[300SDog]

It's generally grabbing at loose position and needs to be repeatedly closed to close completely. Anybody done this repair themselves? Am wondering if its the receiving end or grabbing end of door catch mechanism that usually fails.

[BoostnBenz]

I don't understand what the problem is. It makes it to the first notch of closing but the second notch takes quite a bit more effort? Is it possible the receiving end has moved inward? Does the door line up properly when closed? I don't think either really fail they just need to be readjusted, but if I had to replace one I'd surely take the car side rather than the door's.

[300SDog]

Thats what its doing.... catching on first position - but grabbing on fully closed after repeated efforts. Nothing is visually bent or loose and when completely closed everything lines up. Drivers side rear door.... never been hit, slammed or abused.... Am thinking the door side catch is sticking...... but catch plate on fender well side could be worn without me knowing it. Have tried cleaning and oiling with no success.

[BoostnBenz]

My front passenger side door takes either a running start or if you hold it the whole way closed it closes just fine. I've yet to take the time to adjust it, but I got many of the other doors working better by lubing them up with some MB slide grease. Ok now since it is lined up completely closed, how does it line up before all the way closed? My front door seems to be sagging perhaps 1/8", I just need to readjust the hinges so it hits the right spot. This is what I attribute the closing problem, such as you have to. It would be much easier to readjust the striker on the vehicle, but that means it'd sag that 1/8" all of the time rather than be perfectly aligned like it is now.

[300SDog]

Thanks Jeff, what you said about holding the latch closed makes lotsa sense. The door swings fine.... the grabber just aint grabbin all the way closed. My next plan is to go behind the door panel and check for sticky door latch mechanism that might be sticking partway into release even from the inside release lever.

Adjusting the hinges is out of the question for me..... long time ago 3 of us swapped a junkyard door onto 220Sb - and it was a nightmare, takin all afternoon...... we finally settled for 'reasonable' allignment of the door - but it never closed like a Mercedes Benz again...... there's millions of directions the door hinges can be adjusted - it might kill you tryin to make adjustment for that 1/8".

[BoostnBenz]

I hope for your sake that is all it is as that shouldn't be very difficult. Are you positive it isn't sagging a little bit? With the one in question I took a screwdriver and latched the mechanism then unlatched it all with the door open. It works just fine so all I can figure is all that effort is going into picking it up to the proper height. Thankfully my drivers door closes like a perfect bank vault door.

I know the hinge adjustment is going to be a pain but I can't leave it like that, anytime I have someone going somewhere with me they have to close the door about half a dozen times. I wonder if I pull the wheel well if I could get to those bolts with the door closed, I doubt it but it sure would be nice. Actually since this is a rear door on your car it shouldn't be bad to adjust because of that. You can leave the door closed to reposition the hinges, that'd guarantee the other side is right.

[rmmagow]

FWIW one of my door catches had all the plastic sort of crumble out. The door had always been hard to close. I bought a new door catch and it is working on the first slam now. I wonder if one can get just the plastic inserts for this thing as it does seem to make a big difference in how easily the door closes.

[GottaDiesel]

rmm,

I was itching to reply to this post -- but you said EXACTLY what I was going to say. I had my two front doors had the plastic "bits" broken off, and the rears were in perfect shape, so I swapped them out, and now the doors close on the first shot too. I found the whole thing (with the metal) but I have yet to find just the plastic. I'm holding off on getthing them since I have bigger fish to fry.

Pete

Edit: This:

[BoostnBenz]

While I have my doubts this is going to do the trick for me, but for $23 I suppose I'll give it a whirl as well. Thanks.