Door closing/look maintenace

[nwxh]

Two issues, presumably with the weather not helping:
1. Front doors not closing properly (on two occasions the door flew open when I haven't noticed). Today I put grease on the striker plates, and the doors seemed to close with little effort and stay shut, but this might just be because it's not as cold as in the evenings.Also, the screws are rusty and it looks like they're protruding more than they should.
2. Door locks stiff. I used a 6B pencil to write on the keys, but the lock still isn't brilliant and I don't want to lose the key in the lock. What's the best next step?

Many thanks!

[panky]

There could be water in the locks that's freezing when it gets cold, give them a squirt with WD40 when it warms up during the day.

[bmcecosse]

Spray grease won't run out down the paintwork - but a wee squirt of WD40 may be needed first. You need to make sure the door clicks shut in two stages - first on the safety catch and then again on the inner secure latch. Other possibility of course with 'flying open' door is that the body shell is flexing.........

[kennatt]

if you look closly at the tip of the catch on the door it may have become rounded and not holding properly. Can be remade with a file or replace.

[nwxh]

Cheers for the tips. Sorry forgot to post back after I tried the previous and the problem appeared to go for a while, but came back.

I have a feeling it was indeed temperature related (only occurs on colder days), but due to the lock housing being slightly out of line, so that the bolt catches on the outside of the hole (on colder days the spring cannot over power this).

I've been using a screwdriver to pull the bolt out when it happens, after which the door will stay shut if shut without using the handle.

[bmcecosse]

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