rear door latches not latching?

[SlapMonkey]

Hey guys and gals-

I just recently bought a 2002 4-door Ranger (4x4 Edge) and am slowly learning about it and coming up with questions.

This seems like a dumb question to me, but I have to ask--the upper part of the rear doors should not be able to be pulled away from the body when the door is shut, correct? The bottom latches engage, but the top does not, on either side. I see the latches, they function like latches, but they don't latch. Am I missing something here, or do I need to re-adjust the latch so that it engages on both sides?

The truck is in good shape, has an accident-free Carfax (which doesn't always mean something), all body lines line up and the hinges don't have excessive wear in them or anything.

So, is something out of adjustment here? Seems odd that both sides would be, so we'll see what you say. Thanks for any guidance.

Brian

 

[Sasquatch_Ryda]

See it quite often, it is usually the lower latches that go.

You can try soaking them down in some wd40 and see if they free up, if not it is time to replace both upper latches.

 

[SlapMonkey]

Thanks, Squatch. I'll infer from your post that both the bottom and top should be latching, but that you think they are frozen up and need either greased/oiled or replaced. They seemed to be working freely when I pushed in the latching mechanism, so I'll just take a closer look at it when it's not snowing and in the teens.

 

[DRanger024]

Whatever you do, DO NOT repeatedly slam the back doors! The bottom latches WILL break! I learned that the hard way when my dome light quit shutting off.