G500 DOORS PROBLEMS!
 

hi there, I'm having a little problem with the doors on my 2002 G500. So basically, the driver door shuts easily with barely any force. That is not the case with all the other doors, especially the passenger door, i gotta slam that sucker to actually close. its been a real problem driving guests in my car because i keep having to remind them that their door is open, very annoying. i opened the door panel several times, did some looking at the door seals, but everything seems fine. Maybe its the door lock striker hook? Does anyone have a clue what it is? please help, thanks!!

Seems strange that three doors are presenting problems. The truck is 14 years old so that a malfunctioning latch mechanism would not be unusual. Have you tried lubricating the latches? It could also be a matter of adjustment of each latch. If this doesn't work you may want to replace the latching mechanism on the passenger door. If that is successful move on to the other two. We all know that these doors are far from the soft close doors on some models. A little extra force is not unusual on the G. Good luck with your investigation.

Yes, i tried adding grease to the latches and strikers but it didnt help. Today i replaced the door latch on my drivers door just for an experiment to see if it will give me the 2014 touch, just made it a little more firmer, but didnt have anything to do with shutting the door and amount of force. The passenger door really pisses me off though, i gotta slam it unusually hard to close, not like other G's...

Perhaps put extra grease on the latch and then close it to see where it strikes the latch. Wherever the grease is rubbed off will be where the latch hits. Many vehicles have some adjustment for this, I never checked to see if wagens do.

Was it in an accident? Frame damage or a bent door could cause them not to work well.

car has no accident, and adding extra grease will not do much, i tried it.

The three non-driver's doors are harder to close on my 2003 G as well. G's doors do not have door stop "bumpers" to set the tension on the latch (and thus set the position of the door relative to the body), but rather they depend on the springiness of the rubber weather striping to set the latch tension. Because there are no bumpers, every time you close the door, the weather stripping is compressed slightly. Over time, for highly used doors like the driver's door, the weather stripping permanently compresses, thus reducing the latch tension and making the door easier to close. In effect, your driver's door has become easier to close that it was when it was new. Later model G's have a stainless steel plate and nylon slider that helps guide and hold the door in the correct position. I think this has allowed MB to make the weather stripping slightly softer which yields the wonderful S class like door closing.

I have found that treating the door weather stripping with something like Amorall makes it more pliable or at least slipperier which in turn makes the doors seem to close easier. The other thing you should check is that the surface of the door is flush with the body when the door is closed. I use a credit card across the gap to check this. If the door is too far "in", then the weather stripping will have to be compressed even more which will make the door even harder to close. I had to adjust one of my doors, although I admit I did it just to make sure the panel gaps were perfect rather than to get easier door closing.

Can you send some pictures? Im not really sure about the weather strips you are talking about. Thanks so much

Did you ever figure this out?

When i I bought the G (used), my doors were fine and made that “bank vault” sound but now I have to slam the ***** out of it to close. It no longer makes that vault sound. Rear doors are fine and close with a light push. The driver side door was the first to become hard to close and I noticed that the upper part of the door no longer seals like it used to. And now the passenger side needs hulk power to slam shut. Trucks never been in an accident. I’m pretty sure it’s a door adjustment issue. Anyone else have this issue or insight to a fix?