Rear door won't open
Posted: Tue Mar 21, 2017 7:55 am
Hi everyone,
I've had my L400 since 2011 and it runs like a dream, but this winter the electric door locks have started to act a bit wonky. Side door works intermittently, which isn't a big deal as I just have to double check. But now the rear door is acting erratic. I searched on the forum but didn't find a thread dealing with this issue specifically.
A few weeks ago it ceased opening, either with the key or with the electric locks from the driver's door. But then last weekend it came back to life for a couple of days, but now isn't working any longer. During the brief window, I sprayed some WD-40 in and around the mechanism to see if that would loosen things up. (Note: I know that WD-40 is a degreaser and not a lubricant, but thought it might loosen things up.) I'm thinking that the hard winter was a factor and maybe there's some moisture in the rear door in and around the locks. I think the solution is to lubricate the moving parts in the mechanism, but I'm pretty clueless about this problem.
Possibly related, last fall I noticed that the rear door latch/mechanism wasn't engaging as positively when closing the door. It would close and lock, and I couldn't open it with my hands, but when driving it sounds clunky from time to time as if the latch isn't engaged as well as it should.
Any ideas? For some reason, popping off the panels on van doors is scary to me because I feel like if I don't do remove it properly I'll have a hard time getting it back on. I'm tempted to take it to a shop to have it done, but am not sure whether it would be a body shop.
Thanks in advance for any advice!
I've had my L400 since 2011 and it runs like a dream, but this winter the electric door locks have started to act a bit wonky. Side door works intermittently, which isn't a big deal as I just have to double check. But now the rear door is acting erratic. I searched on the forum but didn't find a thread dealing with this issue specifically.
A few weeks ago it ceased opening, either with the key or with the electric locks from the driver's door. But then last weekend it came back to life for a couple of days, but now isn't working any longer. During the brief window, I sprayed some WD-40 in and around the mechanism to see if that would loosen things up. (Note: I know that WD-40 is a degreaser and not a lubricant, but thought it might loosen things up.) I'm thinking that the hard winter was a factor and maybe there's some moisture in the rear door in and around the locks. I think the solution is to lubricate the moving parts in the mechanism, but I'm pretty clueless about this problem.
Possibly related, last fall I noticed that the rear door latch/mechanism wasn't engaging as positively when closing the door. It would close and lock, and I couldn't open it with my hands, but when driving it sounds clunky from time to time as if the latch isn't engaged as well as it should.
Any ideas? For some reason, popping off the panels on van doors is scary to me because I feel like if I don't do remove it properly I'll have a hard time getting it back on. I'm tempted to take it to a shop to have it done, but am not sure whether it would be a body shop.
Thanks in advance for any advice!