sliding door not closing shut

[xAtlas]

A few weeks ago, wife was picking up our daughter and when she closed the sliding door, it wouldn't shut completely. I looked at it and I dont see any binding anywhere or anything preventing it from closing. When I look at the lock mechanism on the door itself, it doesn't appear pushed back or anything. When I close it in slow motion watching the locking mechanism and the pin it latches onto, it goes in smoothly but the door is acting like something is pushing it back, preventing that pin from going to the back of the lock.

Any ideas?

I haven't attempted to take the lock off yet - will do that saturday afterwork but was wondering if someone had any ideas or if they've experienced a similar thing and had a fix for it.

Thanks in advance.

[pre98zetec]

I'd take the lock off and replace it before the door shuts and won't open (this has happened on my moms, still trying to get the door open)

[xAtlas]

What causes this though?

[pre98zetec]

I honestly couldn't tell you, I haven't been able to figure it out. One guy I talked to said it has something to do with the rod that pops the lock drops all the way down so the latch doesnt work, dunno if it's correct but that's what he said.

[03cavPA]

Take a look at the front end of the middle track the door slides on. It's held to the body at the front end by one rivet, and it often breaks. When it breaks, there's nothing to hold the rear of the door tight to the body, and it won't latch properly.

Mine did that, and I just drilled a hole and used a small screw and nut to re-attach the track to the body. Works like new.

I know you may have taken it all apart by now and found the problem, but could you post back here and let us know if that's what it was? It seems to be pretty common.