Door lock not engaging properly

wag1 said:

When i close my defenders door it will, 9 times out of 10, only close onto the latch but not fully.

Sometimes it wont even close at all... takes alot of yanking and bashing to get it to finally slam shut. My mums landy also has the same problem.

I have the suspicion that the door may have dropped but with them both being newish, 02 and 05 reg, i cant see how this is the problem.

Wondering if this was actually a common fault and what you could suggets as a cure. Dont fancy forking out for a new door lock!

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cobnut said:

As I understand it, it is a common problem. The latch is very similar (may even be the same!) as the type fitted to MGBs and they were the same. The problem is that over time the bit that 'catches' the door on the B pillar moves. On the MG it was sometimes the door itself that moved as they were notorious for dropping but I don't know about the Defender (don't pick mine up until tomorrow).

It's usually pretty easy to fix: the catch will be mounted to the B pillar with bolts/screws and you simple loosen these very slightly so that the piece can move with effort then shut the door. This should move the catch into the right position (may take several attempts. The tricky bit is then opening the door without moving the catch - if you can do this you re-tighten and hopefully all is solved.

I should stress I'm basing this on what I saw when I test drove mine because we spoke about the passenger door not shutting and mentioned the similarity to MGs so take a good look at your setup and see if anyone else can advise before following my advice as this is not something I've actually done on a Landy - yet!

Jon

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