Cleaning door latch, has anyone done it?

dorvin · Post by **dorvin** » 03 Dec 2015, 08:21

Hi All,

I'm looking to potentially take apart the latch on my driver side door to improve it's latching ability. Over the past few months, my driver side door has been getting harder and harder to close tightly on the first try, it's becoming fairly common to have it only partially latch, requiring me to open and close the door again once I'm in the car. I assume it's dirt and grime that has built up in the latch, likely do to the amount of gravel I travel on a regular basis. Please see the following picture for a visual.

Has anyone tried to clean this area of the door with any success? I'm wondering how far I would have to full apart the door in order to effectively clean and grease it. Any advice is greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

EDIT: Oh shoot, I just realized I posted this in the V70 forum, it was meant to be submitted to the 850 forum. Could someone please correct that?

Post by **oragex** » 03 Dec 2015, 14:12

Can't answer, but try marking where the two torx bolts go before removing, sometimes they have some side play for adjustment.

dorvin · Post by **dorvin** » 04 Dec 2015, 06:24

Thank you for the response. I'd like to try to be able to completely clear out the dirt before lubricating with silicone lubricant, if it doesn't involve taking the entire door apart just to get at the moving parts.

Post by **mayorpeoria** » 15 Dec 2015, 20:40

Well, yours does look dirty, maybe just a can of aerosol brake cleaner to use on the parts you can see? My drivers door took more effort this summer and I could tell by the way the door closed at the very end, it was a sagging door. With your hand holding the outside door handle in the open position, slowly push the door until the door seal fits tight, my door moved slightly up, so I used a 2X4 10in. long placing it on the bottom of the door and a floor jack to raise the latch end of the door (several slight movements upward) until it all lined up. Over the years, the weight of the door will make it sag, lube the hinges and latch with something slightly viscous, even motor oil in a drip can like they used to do when oil changes were called oil services.