Glove Box Latch Repair

[granit_silber]

Hello All,

This may be a silly post to put up, but I'm doing it anyway. I figure someone's gonna snap their latch sooner or later.

Last week my wife opened the glove box and heard something snap. The lever you pull no longer had any resistance to it. First thought, we snapped the pull back spring.

Bought the parts today from a semi-local stealer and proceeded to repair.

Here's what you need:
Part No. 51 16 1 955 759
Part No. 51 16 1 946 513
Phillips Head Screwdriver
Your key

Remove the glove box (page 513-4 in Bentley)
remove two screws (interior of box)
Wha-laa the latch is out.

So that's the easy part. Now you have to remove the lock cylinder and put it into the new lower latch assembly.
To remove the cylinder first locate the two plastic clips on the back side of the assembly.
Snap those off and remove cylinder.

MUY IMPORTANTE!!!! LEAVE THE KEY IN THE CYLINDER WHEN REMOVING IT!

If you don't you will soon have 6 little metal wafers and six (if you can find them all) miniscule springs lying around your work area.

If you find yourself in that situation here's how you fix it....
The wafers are all numbered. Mine were numbered 1x and 2x.
All of the 2's go on one side and all of the 1's go on the other.
Next, second number indicates the deepness of the cut in the tumbler. (i.e. 4 is a deeper cut than 3)
Now comes the fun part!

In order for the cylinder to rotate, the outer profile must be smooth so it doesn't catch on the plastic vanes on the interior of the latch.
On the side of the cylinder are long thin slots and round holes.
Put a spring in the round hole and insert a wafer into the slot. Then stick your key in. If the bore is smooth go on the the next wafer.Repeat until all the wafers are in.
I finished one side before starting on the other.
REMEMBER TO KEEP THOSE WAFERS FROM FALLING OUT!

You should eventually finish the puzzle (took me 30 minutes) and have the cylinder ready for installation.
Before you get all installation happy be sure to check the cylinder with the old latch (remember those plastic spring clips?).

Insert cylinder into old latch, remove key.
Insert key. Does it enter smoothly? If so, you're looking good.
Does cylinder turn smoothly? If so, you're good to go! If not, try again!

So now the keys goes in smoothly and the cylinder turns, great you're almost done!
Insert cylinder into new latch (you'll hear a snap when the clips engage).
Make sure to lock and unlock the latch. Don't worry if the action's a little rough, it'll wear in.

There ya go. You're done.

BTW if you lose a spring, the lock will work fine with only five wafers and five springs. Lose two springs and you're either locating a spring source (Munich Motors in Liberty, NC) or you're buying a new cylinder from the dealer.

-ashley

[632 Regal]

hmmm I must have got lucky with mine, nothing fell apart.

[Incantation]

dude.. funny you should post this.. i was opening my glove box a few weeks ago and the latch just came right out.. do u have any pics of how it's supposed to look properly set up?

[632 Regal]

Better hurry before this gets archived!

dude.. funny you should post this.. i was opening my glove box a few weeks ago and the latch just came right out.. do u have any pics of how it's supposed to look properly set up?

[Lennyz525i]

Broke my latch ages ago, never got around fixing it. I'm gonna print this.

[granit_silber]

dude.. funny you should post this.. i was opening my glove box a few weeks ago and the latch just came right out.. do u have any pics of how it's supposed to look properly set up?

I didn't take any pics, but could without much inconvenience. I don't understand what you need though.
-ashley

[91calypso]

hmm....wish this woulda happened to me instead of my car getting broken into!!!! took it to the dealer, new door handle, lock etc., new glove compartment stuff...1100 bucks!!!