Defender door locks

[BogMonster]

All four of the side doors in Mrs BM's 110 bounce when you try and close them from inside. You can slam the **** out of them and they will either bounce back open or onto the safety latch. Sometimes they will shut first go, sometimes you will slam them 20 times before they will catch. Sometimes they pop open overnight. Usually if you shut them from the outside just with a push, they shut and click on to the latch easily and when they are working they are fine - it is not a door adjustment issue.

I've read various posts on here about sticky grease and discounted the WD40 option as I know from experience and several cans worth that it only lasts for a fairly short time before the problem starts to reoccur. I wouldn't say the strikers or the latches were excessively worn (the vehicle is a 2005 model but has had very little use for the last 5 years) and the fact that all the doors do it points to a common failing.

Is there an underlying cause such as weak springing etc that anybody has ever come across? I don't believe it is just down to lubrication because these have had enough WD40 through them to shift anything, and I've had and used much older vehicles over the years with no problems, in fact I have never had this problem on any other Defender I have owned or used, and between about half a dozen personally and dozens at my old job, that's quite a lot of vehicles.

We're thinking about selling the vehicle (because we have four vehicles and don't use three of them most of the time), but need to sort this first and I am not inclined to replace £300 worth of door locks and strikers if it can be fixed for 20p.

[Happyoldgit]

Have the door seals hardened over time?

[bluehaze]

What condition are the catcher plates in?

[BogMonster]

Door seals are ok. One catcher plate on drivers door is slightly damaged but the others are Ok and all do it. I've washed them out with switch cleaner and lubricated with wd40 again and at the moment they are fine so will see if it lasts ... I suspect not.

[smallfry]

I have adjusted the hinges on mine so that the latch end of the door has been lifted slightly. Locks work a treat now.

Maybe its just a little wear in the hinges ?

[Eightpot]

I find the doors normally do that when the striker posts are a little too far inwards - the door bounces back off the seal before the latch has time to close. That's why they will close with a firm push and it's worse the harder you slam the door.

try adjusting them fractionally outwards and you might find they improve.

[BogMonster]

Already got wind noise on one door at speed so if anything it needs to be a bit tighter. Or the knee in the middle of the door adjustment

The adjustment seems fine, on the basis that if you lubricate them they work for a little one and all shut very well. Many people subscribe to the theory that all Defender doors need slamming, personally I yell at people that slam mine, and on my own vehicle they all work very well, door adjustment is something I'm particular about. One thing that does work well, if the vehicle is kept in a garage, is to pop all the doors open onto the first latch position when it's not being used for a while, this lets the door seals expand to their 'natural' shape and it means they don't get squished.

My feeling is that there probably is an underlying problem such as weak springs inside the mechanism (the Discovery suffers from this I think, though I've never had to deal with it) and it is just made worse by a stickiness or lack of lubrication. Not to worry - it will do for the moment, replacing all the door locks is too time consuming at the moment anyway, so I will go and buy some more WD40

[DaveSIIA]

Above the "C" jawed plate that engages with the striker, there is a small, spring loaded latch. All four lost effectiveness on my 110 and the door wouldn't catch properly. Simple fix is to spray liberally with a cycle chain oil while operating the latch with a narrow (< 3mm) flat bladed screw driver. It has been a long term problem on mine and they have to be re-oiled every two years or so. Better than replacing the locks though.

[BogMonster]

Ah - now we're getting somewhere. Thanks