Mercedes A140 (2002) - Issue with Door Not Closing/Door Handles

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Wed 4 Feb 2015 14:01
Mercedes A140 (2002) - Issue with Door Not Closing/Door Handles - deevdee

Hi there, my problem started with the handle on my passenger side not going back in by itself when it was pulled out to open the door. Eventually, the handle stayed out and the door wouldn't close at all (it just bounced, like there was nothing to catch the latch).

We were towed home and the garage took a look and found nothing, jiggled something and the door closed fine. The garage told me to come back when it happened again (bit difficult to drive with a door that won't close!)

After that I noticed that the other door handles are staying stuck out when you open the door. I'm obviously paranoid that the doors will refuse to close again and noone is allowed to use my passenger side!

I am reluctant to ask Mercedes to look at this until I have an idea what it could be. Any help would be very appreciated!

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Wed 4 Feb 2015 14:04
Mercedes A140 (2002) - Issue with Door Not Closing/Door Handles - elekie&a/c doctor

Are these the inside door handles or the outside ?

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Wed 4 Feb 2015 14:14
Mercedes A140 (2002) - Issue with Door Not Closing/Door Handles - deevdee

The handles on the outside of the door.

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Wed 4 Feb 2015 15:19
Mercedes A140 (2002) - Issue with Door Not Closing/Door Handles - daveyjp

I suspect the clasp which grabs the loop on the door frame isn't going back into place.

On a 13 year old car a liberal application of WD40 or 3 in 1 oil can free up all sorts of sticking mechanisms.

Buy a can with the thin straw nozzle and spray it liberally around the handle and lock mechanism on door edge and see how you get on.

Edited by daveyjp on 04/02/2015 at 15:19

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Wed 4 Feb 2015 15:47
Mercedes A140 (2002) - Issue with Door Not Closing/Door Handles - deevdee

The passenger door has been looked at by a garage and they couldn't find a fault and despite several applications on WD40 it is still threatening to not close again. It took several attempts the other day to keep the door closed properly. I was wondering whether there could be another cause or whether it would be worth getting some of the parts replaced?

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Wed 11 Feb 2015 17:27
Mercedes A140 (2002) - Issue with Door Not Closing/Door Handles - deevdee

An update on the door situation should anyone need it...

It took another 2 trips to the garage for them to find the fault. A chord that was attached the the inside handle had snapped which meant the door closure catch wasn't always snapping back into place - just staying in the open position.

Unfortunately the chord is part of the main locking mechanism and the whole thing had to be replaced.

The part was £120 and with labour and VAT, it came to just under £200 to fix.

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Wed 11 Feb 2015 18:32
Mercedes A140 (2002) - Issue with Door Not Closing/Door Handles - elekie&a/c doctor

Sorry ,I don't get it.In your original post you said all the doors were faulty and now you have only had one fixed?Confused?

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Thu 12 Feb 2015 12:05
Mercedes A140 (2002) - Issue with Door Not Closing/Door Handles - deevdee

The main issue was with my passenger door not closing every now and then.

My other door handles are sometimes sticky. I put this bit of info in incase it was relevent to someone reading this and realising these things were related.

I still don't know why my other door handles are sticky and I will be nervous that the cables are going to go on all of them. But for now, the passenger side is fixed.

Hopefully someone googling this will find this update useful as I couldn't get any help from anywhere and had 2 garages telling me the door was fine!

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