M4RK

My driver door had been getting harder to close all the way, I had to basically slam the door shut to get the door to close. so Im on vacation 3 hours away from home leaving a restaurant and my door flies open leaving the parking lot.

I pulled over to check it out and the internal door latch is hanging on by one torx head bolt...and I can pull the bolt straight out without loosening it. It looks as though theres 2 other bolt mounting holes under where the remaining bolt, but the bolts are missing. How hard is it to replace/fix the door latch? what do I have to do? Ill try to get pics asap, thanks in advance.

M4RK

M4RK

M4RK

wildbill1

I'd try putting the missing bolts back in. If they are stripped, you might have to tap the holes for a bigger bolt, use nuts if possible or maybe even replace the latch. I think you will have to pull the door panel and see what's going on.

M4RK

I had a problem with my lock cylinder on this side before, and ended up taking it to a shop because I couldnt figure out how to get to all the guts inside the door after I took the door panel off. So the bolts tighten right into the latch mechanism? I tried to hand tighten the one remaining bolt and it just kept spinning. The other two bolts are missing i.e. they were no longer in the door when I found the problem.

M4RK

Well luckily the holes weren't stripped out...I don't think anyways. I stuck a couple sheet metal screws in there and they seem to be holding. Now I gotta figure out how to get my door to lock again, I guess I bent the rod in there...fun.

M4RK

Im still trying to figure out why my drivers side door wont lock. I think its the rod that connects from the manual door lock to the latch, but Im not sure. I especially dont know what I can do to bend it back the right way. The electronic lock will engage, then the door will immediately unlock itself. Also, the manual lock wont flip completely to the lock position when this happens. I can use the key to lock the door but its very hard to do and even harder to unlock it......help?

wildbill1

Why don't you just go to a junkyard or find someone stripping a XJ and get a new latch, linkage rods, screws and everything you need? If you are having trouble fixing what you have, just replace it. It shouldn't be hard or expensive to find or replace.

Rudy

What he said... This is what you need, just remember to take the 3 torx screws that hold it on.

M4RK

Thanks guys, I was hoping I could save my money and fix what I have but I guess it would be cheap for the parts I need anyways. Ah hell, guess ill be checking out Craigslist...

wildbill1

Maybe you can fix what you already have, but only you know if that's possible. First you need to diagnose what the problem is exactly and then you need to determine if you have the means to repair it. I just suggested getting parts from a junker because it will probably be easier than repairing what you have.

M4RK

Well all the parts seem to be in order, I just think one of the rods has been bent beyond a point that I can return it to without looking at en exact copy as reference. Its almost as if the rod that attachs the manual door lock to the latch is either too long or too short now but I cant figure out which. Its causing resistance and in turn causing the electronic lock to disengage on the drivers door.

craig gardner

The reason mine won't shut is because of the the door-pin holes in the hinge where the door meets the body ,the hinges have circular holes and from years of use (and the weight of the darn thing) the holes actually become oval and the door will sag when opening,so when I try to close My door, the latch gets messed up and now I need to fix or weld My door cuz its ripped up ,I bought a whole new for at the junk yard cuz the same happened to My original and now I may be lookin at a third for Fml. Lol the only way to replace the hinge is to torch itoff and weld a new one on which is where I fall short lol I do tattoos but welding it sum diff stuff any ideas or feed back or a write up of anyone that has had the same problem hit me up please

tombrader

I just had this problem, too. I know this is an old post, but it was frustrating when it happened to me, and I have a solution. When I pulled the front door panel off, I believe I let it hang there a bit, instead of completely removing the part, and it bent the wire piece that pulls the latch on the actuator. It would lot lock properly when I snapped the door latches back together.

My fix was to take the panel completely off, and use a pliers to straighten and elongate each metal attachment 'wire?" so that it was as straight line radiating directly from the actuator. That seemed to get the lock to work again.
Careful when unsnapping those parts. I sadly ended up having to purchase an entire new door panel, being careless and breaking a small part on the back of the panel out of impatience and frustration.