1983 240D

The latch on the glove box door is not working properly. The latch is not returning to the appropriate position. I took a look at it and it was not real obvious how it is supposed to go back together. It does not look like there are any broken parts.

Is there something common that goes wrong with this mechanism?

Well, it's pretty old and probably gummed up. If nothing looks broken, try and flush it with some WD-40 or such and see if it begins to work properly again.

I had this happen a couple of times on my wife's 300D. The little metal piece that sticks out of the lock was in the wrong place. I think I loosened it up and slid it back in the opposite direction.

O.K.,that was pretty vauge, so I went outside and looked at it. The little metal catch thingie that sticks out should be centered. If no, take out the screws that hold the plastic cover (with the cup holders)on. I think I just pried it back into the centered position.

Hope that helps.

my glove box lock
 

When I bought my '85 300D the same thing was happening on my glove box also. If you open the door and look at the corners of it you will see 2 nuts. These nuts hold the whole door/cover assembly to the dash itself. Once you get the door off you will see the whole mechanism. The spring is probably out of position. It looks kinda U-shaped and is metal. This should be vertical and the latch should be between the arms. When you put it between them and then push the latch to one side, you will see how the spring forces the latch to return.

That is the best way I know to explain it. Hope it wasn't too confusing.

Good luck,

Same Problem, but fixed it
 

Greetings,

I had the same problem with my g-box and removed the screws for the cup holder and also removed the little circle clip that held this poor designed spring action into it's plastic place, and replaced it with a pull style cotter clip. It was the thickness of the slip clip that kept making it slip to one side or the other, and the cotter style clip is thicker and stopped that from happening. Pretty cheap design for a high dollar car if you ask me. Twenty cents and you can fix your problem. Remember to put the slide into the center position with each metal ear off to each edge before pushing on the new cotter clip.


Charles

My colleague had his fixed as what was suggested here. Didn't really work well for him. In the end, he had his changed to a new set, and has not complained since.

Costed him USD50, parts and labour.