sliding door mechanisms

[doug58]

My 72 bus was pulled out of a shelter belt where it sat for years. I thought I would clean up the latching mechanisms. The front door and rear latch mechanisms were a piece of cake. The sliding door not so much.
All parts were working well but had lots of crud built up. I took all of the parts off, cleaned them up, reassembled things and now everything seems to be locked up.
Any ideas on what happened here and where to start correcting the problem.
I feel like I should never have touched any of this.
Thanks for any advice.

[jtauxe]

Awww, yes, you should have touched all of it, and you will be glad you did once you get the bug figured out. I have serviced lock mechanisms many times, and have always been happy I did.

So, you cleaned and lubricated? I don't know what you used, but my go-to materials for this are engine degreaser with popsicle sticks and toothpicks for cleaning, then drying, followed by spray-on teflon lubricant.

I assume you had the locks snapping and working like new while they were out and all cleaned up. Or, possibly, the lock mechanisms were broken. That happens too often.

If that is the case, then something must have gone wrong during reassembly. Are you sure that the door handle "arm" that interfaces with the lock mechanism is on in the right direction? (for example)

If you could explain in what way the locks are NOT working, perhaps that would give us a start.
_________________
John
"Travelling in a fried-out Kombi, on a hippie trail, head full of zombie..." - Colin Hay and Ron Strykert
http://vw.tauxe.net
1969 Transporter, 1971 Westfalia, 1976, 1977, 1976, 1977, 1971, 1973, 1977 Westfalias,
1979 Champagne Sunroof, 1974 Westfalia Automatic, 1979 Transporter, 1972 Sportsmobile, 1973 Transporter Wild Westerner, 1974 Westfalia parts bus, 1975 Mexican single cab *FOR SALE*, 1978 Irish 4-door double cab RHD

[SGKent]

yes - define "locked up"
_________________
“Most people don’t know what they’re doing, and a lot of them are really good at it.” - George Carlin

[Spike0180]

There are something like 8 adjustable points on the sliding door... just keep fiddling. There isn't a manual out there on how to do this because the problem could be a multitude of different things.
_________________
Brutis Patches Izabich: 1970 VW Transporter - 1776cc DP
Current State: Projects never truly end...
Location: Grosse Pointe, Michigan
Other cars: 2003 F150, 2003 Jetta GLI vr6-6sp

Sambastic: adj; the quality of being nit picky, elitist, expecting everyone to do things the way they believe is best with no regard to situation, "sambastic"

[SGKent]

[Spike0180]

lol it takes 6-7 pages. HAHA helpful.
_________________
Brutis Patches Izabich: 1970 VW Transporter - 1776cc DP
Current State: Projects never truly end...
Location: Grosse Pointe, Michigan
Other cars: 2003 F150, 2003 Jetta GLI vr6-6sp

Sambastic: adj; the quality of being nit picky, elitist, expecting everyone to do things the way they believe is best with no regard to situation, "sambastic"

[SGKent]

[airschooled]

[SGKent]