door latch 911 help!!

[chaingun427]

HALP! Washed my truck today and went to open the back door on the driver side, upon closing it it will not stay latched even manually working the latch won't get it to close. I've removed it and it's all rusted to hell and back but now it will latch. are there any known methods to recondition these latches or parts for them? i can't find them anywhere and i don't want to get a junkyard part for something that holds my door shut. I'll post a pic of it in a moment. I really need some help with this Asap as i don't live in the best neighborhood and I really need it to close and lock

 

[SunlitComet]

remove it, maybe some dremel wire brushing a tad bit, actuate the hell out of it, blow out debris, wd40, actuate the hell out of it again, blow out again and get some proper grease on it. actuate it again to work in the lube.

 

[chaingun427]

i've got it out and i'm hitting it with the liquid wrench now, that door has never locked either manually or with the actuator, i think i can get it to lock finally lol

what would you recommend for grease? i've got some red bearing grease laying around

 

[SunlitComet]

white lithium grease should do you fine for the metal parts.

 

[chaingun427]

so i had to cut the bolt out that holds the manual lock rod arm (hope that's descriptive enough lol, but it's all lubed up and seems to be working properly now, i think it got wet in the wash and froze up one of the springs, hopefully some good grease will prevent that in the future.

 

[SunlitComet]

just lack of maintenance actually should check at least once a year. but in colder climate I would do every 3 months.