Thank you for the comments. To be clear, I'm not talking about the lock cylinder, lock mechanism, or latch mechanism. Just the sloped area of plastic latch where it slides on the striker plate. I definitely will clean the now-sticky old grease off and maybe try a 'dry' lube such as graphite or a dry chain lube.
FYI the Dupont formulation has changed and is now wet:
PLEASE NOTE THAT AS OF OCTOBER 2011, THE DUPONT™ TEFLON® MULTI-USE DRY, WAX FORMULA WAS MODIFIED. Many of our loyal customers have been purchasing DuPont™ Teflon® Multi-Use for nearly a decade. We recently upgraded the formula to be a semi-dry lubricant no longer featuring the “dirt-resistant, dry-wax” feature. You will notice the most recent cans that appear on shelf do not contain the dry-wax claim on the label. Many users have reached out wondering where their dry-wax formulation went.
If you want to obtain that same dry-wax formulation, you should switch to DuPont™ Teflon® Chain-Saver. This product contains the same Teflon® fluoropolymer, molybdenum and wax mixture that users have come to appreciate for its wear protection, water repellency and dirt resistance.
