Christopher,
The very last thing I said in my original post is: "This simple job
absolutely fixed my door, and there's no trouble 2 years later."
Thanks for reading to the end!
Sometimes it's OK to fix things instead of just throwing money away on
a replacement. Un-American, but true! :)

-Simon

On Aug 13, 2004, at 10:00 AM, Volks Cafe wrote:

> Simon,
>
> The sliding door is popping open because the rear latch is worn. This
> latch
> is found when looking at sliding door, left side about half way up
> door on
> the side. This part is available and fails on many vans due to age.
>
> Thanks Again,
>
> Christopher
>
> http://volkscafe.com  (Vanagon Online Parts Store)
>
> Phone: 831-426-1244
> Fax:     831-426-9316
>
>
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Simon Reinhardt" <simon@FARRSIDE.NET>
> To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
> Sent: Friday, August 13, 2004 8:24 AM
> Subject: Re: sliding door popping open
>
>
>> I had something similar happening when I first got my van. Sometimes
>> it
>> would be obvious that it had not latched properly at the rear- in
>> fact,
>> the door is a little dented right over the latch, so it obviously had
>> been a problem for some time. And it would pop open on the road, which
>> my rear seat passengers thought was a hoot!
>> If you look carefully at the moving parts on the rear latch, you'll
>> see
>> that there are two "ledges" on the large, rotating part that catch on
>> the smaller moving bit. Chances are, the second ledge is not engaging.
>> Try lubing the moving parts with something that will clean up a little
>> as well, like a spray lithium grease, or you could remove it from the
>> van and really clean it up & then use a lithium paste. This simple job
>> absolutely fixed my door, and there's no trouble 2 years later.
>>
>> -Simon
>