Door latch won't stay shut

[Jason]

The latch on my rear door is refusing to stay shut.

If I push the latch into the closed position with the door open you can hear it going through the stops on the mechanism (where it would normally not release from) However when you let the latch go it just goes back to the open position.

Before I strip the door out in the morning, anybody know if this is likely to just be the mechanism that has got sticky with the sudden cold weather, or it's worn and will need rebuilding/replacing?

Any tips?

Best
Jason

 

[Loxy]

Mine had the original grease in it that caused it to get very stiff when it got cold. Cleaned it up & regreased and it works a treat.

 

[Jason]

Thanks for that.

Does the mechanism come apart once removed from the door?

 

[Loxy]

On my 72 its a one piece unit inside the door, just need to unscrew it then its easy to clean up.

 

[Clarkson46]

It won't come to pieces, but as said above a good clean and re-grease will help enormously. If the grease is really rock hard then an overnight soak in diesel or paraffin will soften everything and a good scrub will clean it up. I have built up worn areas with a welder before now to recover a worn lock.

 

[Jason]

No mention of servicing locks in any manuals....

See what tomorrow brings. The real bugger is it can't be locked either.

 

[Jason]

Was quite simple in the end....

The 36 year old grease and ***** had gummed up the release spring, so as suggested a soak for an hour in gunk cleaned it up. A little white grease to keep it lubricated and the job's a good 'un.

One thing to watch for anyone else taking one off is you need to unscrew the arm from inside the latch before you can get the mechanism out of the door. Obvious which bit when you look at it.

Thanks for the replies. Another job done.

Now I just need to work out why my front beam has only four grease nipples!