Door latch won't close

your system wants to 'find home' position. Open all the troubled latches, make sure the pawl is in the "ready to accept" position. Close, and allow it to finish the job. You must let it go into the correct orientation. It is not that smart to know when someone is tryin to close when it's closin' already...leammee alone?...puh~

Thanks Bob for the quick response! Is the "pawl" the "c-shaped" clip in the door that closes around the post on the body of the car? If so, I'm sure that the "ready position" means having the open part of the "c" facing the post that it closes on. I don't recall it's natural position when the door is open but will check. If that piece is the prawl, I can move it freely with my finger. I checked the passenger door, and that clip moves just as easy. So, at least I don't think that piece is broken. When this whole thing happened, I was away from home. I made it home by just holding on to the door handle. If I didn't hold the door closed tight enough, the car acted like the door was open - by that, I mean that the window opens slightly and the bell starts ringing. When I pulled the door tighter, the bell stopped, and the window closed completely, as it would when you normally close the door. I was able to hold it this way for an extended period, but it still never latched. So, I'm wondering how long it should take for the door to know that it's in the right position to latch? I'd think that it would be less than, say, 30 seconds. Right?

Really this whole thing is way out of my league---just basics, the door or lid needs to deposit itstelf in a ready receptacle. That's the logic. really want to be a hero today, but am building my castles in the air~

return spring fell off inside at latch mechanism ,thin oil if not spring, gumby strap if must use car in emergency

Are we good now?

Thanks for the comments guys, I'll give it a look tomorrow, and report back. Cheers!

Did u solve your problem? Im having the same issue

The latching mechanism involves some electronics and had to be replaced. It was about a $700.00 part and had 8 or 9 connections to it. Inside door panel has to come off, window has to be removed, etc. Not something I was willing to tackle on my own so just sucked it up and wrote a big check.

What was the outcome of getting your door to latch?

I found a different solution to the originally stated problem. I have found that my W209 had a "gunked up" motor in the passenger door that is near the outside latch. Once I removed, cleaned and replaced this small motor, everything worked as before. There was nothing wrong with my door control module. Problem solved with only a couple of broken door panel clips.

Left passenger door will not shut at all. It flew open when driving today. Smh. Any advise on this?