Trying to open the front door as normal - and that bad tactile feeling that something is breaking while pulling the front door lever from the inside. Finished off the day getting out of the van from the passenger side. Once home,
I removed the door panel per instructions from here: https://sprinter-source.com/forum/showthread.php?t=20345 - but remembering to lower the window this time.
This is what I found - the nylon clip holding the cable in place had broken:
As this part had been the subject of a rash of breakage reports around 2006, I dug into my bag of minor parts and found a spare 05133989AA (MB# A0007270346). Note that this nylon fitting is handed. The left door's is white. The right doors' is yellow:
05133516AA (MB# A0007270446)
While I did not explore the options for a jerry-rig fix as I had a part available, it does not seem feasible to create a zip-tie type of solution, as the range of movement on the lever is about 60-degrees. One possible option is a clip-nut attached to the cable's tongue.
Now the why - For a while the door had been a bit harder to open. I ignored it as it seemed minor. Before going back to work, I found that the latch was hitting the strike post too high. So I adjusted the strike post up about 1/16th, and it is opening much smoother now.
Time (including finding the spare part) 45 minutes
I removed the door panel per instructions from here: https://sprinter-source.com/forum/showthread.php?t=20345 - but remembering to lower the window this time.
This is what I found - the nylon clip holding the cable in place had broken:
As this part had been the subject of a rash of breakage reports around 2006, I dug into my bag of minor parts and found a spare 05133989AA (MB# A0007270346). Note that this nylon fitting is handed. The left door's is white. The right doors' is yellow:
05133516AA (MB# A0007270446)
While I did not explore the options for a jerry-rig fix as I had a part available, it does not seem feasible to create a zip-tie type of solution, as the range of movement on the lever is about 60-degrees. One possible option is a clip-nut attached to the cable's tongue.
Now the why - For a while the door had been a bit harder to open. I ignored it as it seemed minor. Before going back to work, I found that the latch was hitting the strike post too high. So I adjusted the strike post up about 1/16th, and it is opening much smoother now.
Time (including finding the spare part) 45 minutes
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