The drivers door will only partially latch, if you close it, then bump it hard with your read end it will fully close and latch. The latch on the door and the striker in the jamb do not appear to be adjustable, and the door doesn't seem to sag much like if the hinges were worn out.
Is this a relatively common thing on these? I couldnt seem to find anything while searching the forum here.

 

The striker is adjustable, there is a torx screw above and below. You would have to loosen both screws then you can adjust it accordingly, you are supposed to use a special tool to center it. If you have the time to play with it, you might be able to get it to work. If you don't know what you are doing then you might make it worse and the door won't close at all.

 

Ok, thanks. I'll look at that. I am a tech school grad (WyoTech) and wrenched on cars most of my life.... just not any German cars, I know they are a different breed though.

 

I have adjusted the striker several times, as well as the latch, with what little play there is. I cant get the door to latch fully without multiple door slams or shoving it from the outside.
It must be the latch is bad.
I have another latch, but after trying to mess with removing one from an slk in the junk yard, I dont know how to replace it, I had to bend metal structure of the door in the junk yard in order to remove it. Has anybody replaced a latch assembly on a XF? There must be a trick to it.

 

I can't say I've ever heard of this complaint. Is there ANY chance the car was in an accident and things are not aligned right in the first place?
Also, it can NEVER hurt to lube that mechanism.

 

It was in an accident but on the passenger side, square in the passenger door. The passenger door still closes just fine. The drivers door isn't sagging as if the hinge pins were worn either. It has been lubed liberally with pb blast ad well as wd-40. I've had a couple bouts where it would close and latch just fine, and I think it is fixed but, then after a drive or two, it goes back to taking several tries to get it fully latched.

 

Can’t help, butt have the same issue.

 

I have been going to Crossfire driving events and tech days since 2009 and I can't remember anyone mentioning this. I've had three Roadsters in that time, never had a problem like this.

 

mine is a coupe... im not sure if that makes a difference

 

After having intermittent problems with my drivers door latch it made the issue very obvious. Getting out of the car yesterday a plastic trim part fell to the pavement. It was the trim for the door side of the latch. There were no screws holding the latch to the door. After removing and identifying the screws from the other door and a quick trip to Ace hardware all is right when the world.

 

Mine was indeed a faulty latch. I replaced it with an SLK latch and it works perfect now. FYI the SLK latch is the same part, the only difference is the water deflector that is clipped on it is different, but that is easily swapped from the XF.

 

Thanks for the update and the info!

 

Its maddening trying to adjust door latch without the alignment tool, but can be done. On my coupe I eyeballed the adjustable striker for vertical alignment with the latch in the door, with door nearly closed. Loosening striker bolts enough for gentle hammer taps to move it, tweak it up-down, in-out til latch engages upon closing door. My door adjustmnebnt is close, requireing a moderately firm pressure of my hand as door comes closed. Otherwise, the door bounces when slammed shut, latch catching at door not fully cl;osed. Passenger side door does latch without the hand presssure.