The old and quick fix (and only one shy of drilling out rivets or replacing
unit) is to unscrew knob and slip short bit of rubber tubing over bolt stud.
When screw back in it provides enough friction to keep the knob in its
place.

Alistair

on 25/8/03 5:30 pm, mark drillock wrote:

> Sorry, it is broken. The little black knob is supposed to stay up by
> itself. The 80-84 models are prone to this failure. A tiny spring breaks
> and then the little black knob won't stay up and the door locks itself
> every time you close it. The whole latch assembly is riveted together so
> I don't know how to fix it. I buy working ones at the junkyard and
> replace them. The later models don't seem to fail this way but they
> won't fit the early door.
>
> Mark
>
> Jessup Coffin wrote:
>> ...
>> Now though, I'm curious, is there anyway to make it possible to open the
>> sliding door without fiddling with the black knob every time? guessing that
>> it's some kind of child proofing lock, but it's also mostly me proof. grin.
>> 82 vanagon.
>>