05 Rear Doors wont latch shut

[notandre3000]

Hey guys...I have an 05 CTS & I'm having trouble with the rear doors not latching shut. For whatever reason, sometimes after opening a rear door in the morning, it will not latch shut when I try to close it. I try & try & try to close the door, but it will not latch. This has happened on both rear doors a few times in the last few weeks. This morning I had to tie the seat belt around the door handle to keep the door shut on my way to work! I'm not sure if it's the cold weather or if both latching mechanisms are going bad at the same time. I called the dealership & they said they have never heard of such a problem. Has anyone else experienced this issue?

Thanks in advance for any responses.

[Rich24]

I believe there was a tsb on this a long time ago. I think a little grease may have been the fix. The issue was related to cold and water I think. Good luck

[SvB4EvA]

Originally Posted by notandre3000

Hey guys...I have an 05 CTS & I'm having trouble with the rear doors not latching shut. For whatever reason, sometimes after opening a rear door in the morning, it will not latch shut when I try to close it. I try & try & try to close the door, but it will not latch. This has happened on both rear doors a few times in the last few weeks. This morning I had to tie the seat belt around the door handle to keep the door shut on my way to work! I'm not sure if it's the cold weather or if both latching mechanisms are going bad at the same time. I called the dealership & they said they have never heard of such a problem. Has anyone else experienced this issue?

Thanks in advance for any responses.

My old '87 Grand Prix had a big problem with door latches when it was really cold. It was really a pain in the ass... Ide be slamming the door and it would do nothing..... only thing that would make it better was waiting for it to warm up. I remember a few times driving to work holding the door closed and tying it with my seatbelt, lol.... How cold is it there?

This problem with my old car was only when it was wet/snowy and then dropped well below freezing.

[notandre3000]

Originally Posted by SvB4EvA

How cold is it there?

This problem with my old car was only when it was wet/snowy and then dropped well below freezing.

It's been in the 30's here in the Seattle area. I was assuming it was the cold because as the car's internal termperature warms due to the heater the doors start to latch again. I just wasn't sure.

[Sigma_1966]

Have same problems on my 07.

[SvB4EvA]

Originally Posted by notandre3000

It's been in the 30's here in the Seattle area. I was assuming it was the cold because as the car's internal termperature warms due to the heater the doors start to latch again. I just wasn't sure.

yea, same thing with my old GP... I never heard of this on a CTS tho...

[coolcat]

I am having the same problem with my 04. Three times this winter the temperature here in Ontario has dropped below minus 10 degrees C and the rear doors wouldn't latch. I don't think that it is a water freezing in the latch issue either, as there wasn't any rain or melting the day or night before. It has never happen to the front doors. I spoke to the dealer and was also told that they've never heard of it before. They did suggested spraying the latch with white lithium greese, and suggested not using product like WD40, silicon spray or Graphite spray. I tried the lithium spray, I will have to wait to see if it helps.

[notandre3000]

Thanks guys. I'll have to try the White Lithium Greese. Same exact issue here coolcat, it's only happened in cold weather & today there was no moisture at all on the car. Not even frost.

[coolcat]

OK dealers advise was wrong!!! White lithium greese did not help, might have made it worse. One rear door wouldn't latch again tonight. Does anyone have any ideas, there must be a fix.

[Chief_AT]

When I worked for a large computer company, we used synthetic oil on the mechanical devices, such as printers. The reasoning was that the synthetic had two advantages over petroleum products - they did not thicken with cold temperatures, and they did not form "gum" with age and exposure to dust. One of our clients had remote printers installed in unheated outbuildings, and use of standard oils would lock them up like steel when the nights got cold. Maybe spraying some sort of cleaning solution, to remove the present lubricants, allowing it to dry, and spraying in a light mist of synthetic oil? Like chicken soup for a broken leg - can't hurt.

[z06bigbird]

Simple solution: Move to San Antonio. Although we have been struggling with 35 degrees at night and 50 in the daytime for the past 2 weeks, most of the daytime temps have been around 70 since the summer.

Great tacos too.

[petronm2000]

Get a can of PB Buster and spray it on the latch in the closed position then free the latch with the door handle. Then move the latch a few times in and out of the open and closed position. Sometimes when its a real pain after that hold the door shut and lock the door. I had that problem a few times in parking lots but my heated garage helps alot.

[Spyke]

http://www.cadillacfaq.com/faq/index.html

theres a topic related to that enjoy!

[coolcat]

Originally Posted by Chief_AT

When I worked for a large computer company, we used synthetic oil on the mechanical devices, such as printers. The reasoning was that the synthetic had two advantages over petroleum products - they did not thicken with cold temperatures, and they did not form "gum" with age and exposure to dust. One of our clients had remote printers installed in unheated outbuildings, and use of standard oils would lock them up like steel when the nights got cold. Maybe spraying some sort of cleaning solution, to remove the present lubricants, allowing it to dry, and spraying in a light mist of synthetic oil? Like chicken soup for a broken leg - can't hurt.

It's worth a try. If it's a sensitivity to the lub thickening up in cold weather, then theoretically a synthetic lube wouldn't thicken in the cold and the problem is solved, and even if it's a frozen water thing, the sythetic lube will displace any moisture if there is any. Thx Chief_AT, great idea.