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Door part siezing up

bradleyheathhays

NAXJA Forum User
Location
Lexington, KY
96 XJ here and my front doors have been tough to lock for a while now. It began about 10 years ago when something in the locking action became stiff and it took 2 pushes on the electric lock switch to get it locked or unlocked. It got worse over the years where it eventually took up to 5-6 pushes at which point I just started locking the doors by pushing the big rocker switch.


Thinking the lock actuators were failing I changed those out last year and learned a lesson. Problem still there.


So at this point I"m guessing it's the latches. I ruled them out before because I've sprayed tons of lube up into them and it didn't seem to help at all. Locking them using the rocker switch now takes a fairly good push with a stiff thumb. Locking and unlocking with a key is hard as well. If not the latch what else could it be?
 
The problem is the latches. Between the lube put in there at the factory and everything sprayed in over the years, the dust builds up and turns into tar, gumming everything up. You need to remove the latches, spray them down good with cleaner and them lube them with a dry lubricant. I haven't gotten around to doing this to all of mine and it's night and day difference. If it's stiff at the rocker, it has to be the latch.
 
IIRC, the latch parts are rivited together, so you it would be a pita to try and disassemble them. It may be worthwhile if one is particularly troublesome, but mine freed up pretty well just spraying them down good with cleaner. I personally prefer graphite over silicone, but there's a good chance something better has come along. For example, CRC has a Molybdenum spray and WD-40 has a spray with Teflon in it, but I've never tried either. I would stick with graphite or Moly.
 
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