This is going to sound silly...

I had the same problem and was SURE that it must be something in the latch.
Upon the advice of Sorin of California Campers, I simply sprayed the
latch at the rear of the door with WD-40.
Like magic, the door no longer pooped open.

The interesting part was that there was no dirt or crud visible on the
latching mechanism.
Its always a good idea to try the easy solution first. Something that is
easy to forget when you have a Vanagon because you tend to conjure up
complicated and obscure ideas as to why something is not working.

Todd
'88 Westy

Tim Hurlbut wrote:

>Hi all,
>
>I have a 1990 and 1987 Vanagon.  Gee, I love these cars.  :-)
>
>The problem with my 90 is the sliding door pops open.
>I have tried to adjust the strike in and out with no
>luck.  Right now, I have the door adjusted so you barely
>have to slide it shut.  However, within 5 miles, the
>door will pop open.
>
>Do I need to replace the locking mechanism?  Or, just
>tweak and adjust.
>
>Also, I don't know if this is related, but the sliding
>door lock knob next to the handle on the inside of
>the door fell off.  Does anyone have an extra knob?
>Does VW carry this part?  It is threaded.  Is there
>a better replacement?
>
>Tim
>