Hi Pete...timely question!
Same issue
... I'm pretty sure it's a problem with the effective length of the inner cable...needs to be longer to allow the latch to catch properly...
First thing is that the hinge bolts at the bottomn of the glovebox are not much use for adjustment of the lock...
If you have the glovebox out of the vehicle, look along the top and there's a place for the latch mechanism on each end, depending on whether it's LH/RH drive...
The white section in the black plastic "square" shroud on the end of the cable hooks over a V section in the brass rod which runs the width of the glovebox ...you've no doubt seen that.
My advice is to firstly "zero" the long screws at the bottom of the glovebox hinge with an Allen key
Remove the burl trim strip from the dashboard . There are four long screw threads which need to be levered out. There are plastic "doovers" which will come out as well. These need to be removed from the threaded rod and put back first into the holes before the burl panel can be replaced.
Have a look at Rave, undo the 2 screws holding the lock/latch mechanism in place and pull it out the front of the panel. No need to take the barrel out of the lock. On the back of the lock is the mechanism for adjusting the length of the latch cable.
Now for the tricky part: If you can't get the latch to lock it may be that the white section which catches the V section in the latch rod has been put back in front of the V (towards the engine), so it's not catching it. Alternatively, the cable is not allowed sufficient slack to enable the catch to close over fully.
I extended the effective length of the inner cable by adjusting the screw mechanism at the rear of the lock. This allowed the white section to protrude further down its black plastic shroud... until I heard a solid click when I shut the box and was able to free the lid from the box when I depressed the button.
I adjusted the cable length in conjunction with the two deeply recessed (phillips head) adjustment screws in the front of the glove box which determine the gap between the burl panel and the lid so that there's now a gap, the width of just a credit card (well, maybe two credit cards!) instead of the width of a finger!! Once I had it all working I just screwed the lock and glovebox assemblies respectively back into place and replaced the burl panel. Yolu may need to carefully manoevre the lock to centralise it when aligning the opening in the burl panel over it.
Hope this helps
MY99 RR P38 HSE 4.6 (Thor) gone (to Tasmania)
2020 Subaru Impreza S ('SWMBO's Express' )
2023 Ineos Grenadier Trialmaster (diesel)
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