Club 80-90 Forums

Hi people, I've recently bought a T25/T3 Autosleeper. Having a bit of trouble with the sliding door.

The sliding door locks and won't open (at all!) when stationary, but as soon as you drive off it slides open?

Anyone had this issue?

I was looking at the paper work i got with the van and the last garage that looked at it found the fault, but said they couldn't figure it out or fix it?

Cheers.

This is a common problem.

The latch at the back of the door consists of two pieces of metal which hook together when shut. As they wear they don't grip each other properly. The hooked ends can be reshaped with a file. Either that or the lock casing opens up slightly, and can be squeezed back carefully in a vice.

Have a look at this thread http://forum.club8090.co.uk/viewtopic.p ... n#p8071679" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

and this picture shows the parts of the latch involved

That's brilliant. Thank you for being so helpful mate.

This will be my project this weekend

It could be also that the spring inside isn't functioning correctly and completing the 2nd latching - or rusted/gunked up catch. Also if the tension on the unlatching rod/cable is slightly too much when closed it can prevent the full latch.

Didn't manage to remove the rear latch this weekend unfortunately. I did have chance to play around with it a bit though, I noticed that it locked securely, but the bottom hook had some play in it? Is this normal?

Cheers.

I also have this problem I think. Door only closes properly flush if you push the opposite side to the handle in the right way when closing. If you do manage to close it flush it will then pop to the not quite flush position after driving for a while.
We are going away for the weekend tomorrow, my question is do I need to get this sorted before we go (I am worried that I will take the latch off and maybe have trouble putting it back together and don't want to risk the door not being fixed/being worse for our trip. My main worry is whether there is a likely hood of the door falling off as we drive (I have heard horror stories!).
Your thoughts would be most appreciated. Am I safe to leave it until we get home to sort out do you think?

Having had my door fall off, luckily around a boatyard and not the road I would fix it sooner rather than later. That was a combination of the catch and the bearings all being shot. You can push the 2nd catch home with a screwdriver after closing under the protective shield.

Thanks for your reply Oldiebut goodie, I thought as much.
I had a go at filing down the top part of the catch (though it had to be in done where it was as I couldn't take it apart...couldn't shift the cross head bolts, combination of not having the right tools and not being strong enough to shift them) and it seems to be closing better now, flush as it should be.
Not taken her for a drive yet, so not sure if it has completely solved the problem.
Then I had a bit of a hissy fit with the van when putting the door card as there don't appear to be enough holes to screw the card down (which explains why the card lining was starting to catch when opening the door as it isn't screwed down enough).

Oldiebut goodie wrote:You can push the 2nd catch home with a screwdriver after closing under the protective shield.

I don't suppose you could take a photo of the protective shield/catch so I can use this trick until I can properly see to the door?

Thank you...you're a star!

Just had my second attempt at sorting this.
First time I couldn't get the cross head bolts for the latch undone, so I duly went and bought an impact driver in the hopes of shifting them.
Second time, just now, took door card etc off in readiness...only to realise that because of the angle of the bolts/screws/catch/door there isn't enough room to use the impact driver on them whilst the door is still attached. I am thinking it would be easier with the door off, but that is not something I am confident enough to do (especially not on my own) so I think I will be using your trick and keeping my fingers crossed and leaving this job for a professional to do when the van goes in for her MOT and service mid August.