Passenger Door Latch Malfunctioning

I have a 2002 Tacoma Dbl cab 4x4 and yesterday the left side passenger door latch would not close. I sprayed it with brake cleaner and penetrating oil but it sill gets stuck and I have to lift the latch up with my finger to close the door.

Anyone have a fix?

 

Wait, so it wont close but you have to manually open it with your fingers? Are you using door latch and door handle interchangeably?

both the latch mechanism (in the door, hits the striker pate), and the handles like silicone or white lithium grease. Not penetrating oil. Penetrating oil will move around and retain dirt causing issues. It also gums up. causing more issues.

For the door handles, you can spray the piss out of them with a degreaser, and then lube with silicone. The latch mechanism, I sprayed with a can of brake cleaner from every nook and cranny as its riveted shut and got out quite a bit of gunk. Gotta be careful as depending on the brake clean, it will eat the plastic. Afterwards I used a syringe and shoved grease into every cavity/opening I could find without going to aggressive.

 

It's the latch mechanism that get drops in the close position after you open the door and when you try to close the door it will not close because the latch is in the close position so I have to move it back up in the open position so I can close the door. The door handle is working fine its just the latch mechanism. I will grease the latch today and thank you for your help.

 

Ahhh, gotcha, thanks for the clarification. My piss poor reading skills

I SHOULD not do that, but with dirt anything is possible. I do suspect something has broken internally. As they are riveted shut, and not serviceable I hope the best for you. Fairly easy to remove as well, 3 screws, the door panel, and two lock rods.