Door Latch Adjustment
 

Hi everyone,

I am a long time user and have found most of my answers by researching the forum but could not find much on this subject. My door will not close without slamming the door. My striker is new, I used graphite spray on the latch but it made no improvements. I fear that I need to adjust the position of the striker. Anyone have any tips/trick for adjusting the door latch?

In the pics I put tape over the striker hole and a little Molly grease on the latch pin to see where they met. As far as I can tell it looks pretty much dead center. I marked the position of the latch before removing and got it as close as I could. The latch looks like it is about as far outboard as it can go so it should hit the latch mechanism, no problem. Any help on this is greatly appreciated!!!

Have you recently changed your weatherseals?

Thank for the reply Mxfrank!

I did! I had that same thought too but after about 5 months of use the seal should be broken in by now..? I double checked that the seal was seated properly, as far as I can tell it is. I used a Mahle seal.

I'm still waiting for the trunk seal to flatten on my 190d. It's been four years.

Four years, yowza!!

I would think with the frequency of opening and closing the driver door it would take much less time. Has anyone else had it take longer than a few months to break in a new door seal? Any other suggestions for proper latch alignment?

POB, genuine MB weather seals should provide a better fit and eliminate your problem. It's likely they will be much more expensive than the Mahle weather seals, but worth the extra cost.

Thanks everyone for your help! I just wanted to update for others with a similar issue.

Even though I sprayed copious amounts of graphite in the latch and added a decent amount of Molly, it didn't help much. In my last ditch effort I added just a few drops of ATF to the latch's hinge and voila it closed like a charm! I wouldn't say that it perfect but about 90% of the way there. I realize this is just a temporary fix but now I know the latch should be pulled apart and lubricated or replaced.