Door won't open, '87 Scirocco

The passenger door on my '87 16V Scirocco won't open.

When my son got in the car, the door shut, sounded normal, and all that. Drove
home. He got out and tried to shut the door. It wouldn't close. It behaved
like they do when the latch flips over. I looked at it with a flashlight and
found that the latch wasn't flipped over, but there was a chunk of black
plastic jammed in the mechanism. It looked like it had broken off from behind
the actual latch. I pulled that out and tried the latch once by hand, to make
sure that it would latch, and would also release when I pulled the outside
trigger. It worked. I shut the door, and now it won't open. The lock button
moves up and down and makes the expected sounds. When it's down, the inside
pull lever and the outside trigger are disengaged, as usual. When it's up both
do something which sounds like the latch should be opening, but it doesn't
actually let go. The door doesn't open, and it feels like it's the latch
engaged on the door jam pin.

Short of cutting something open to get in there, any ideas on how to get it to
open so I can replace it?

- Bill

"LaM" > wrote in message
. ..
> I had a similar problem with my 95 Passat. I ended up cutting off the door
> handle. There is a latch inside that activates the latch which may release
> it. You'll have the chance to look at the mechanism and determine if you
> need just a new door handle (you've cut it off, so you'll need one anyway),
> or perhaps the entire latch. Be very careful not to cut anything else.

Well, as I said, bits fell out of the latch mechanism itself before I shut the
door. I'm pretty sure it's the latch. I've had a handle fail and know about
the internal lever the handle trips. I've been thinking about tryin what you
said anyway because (1) I've got another handle and (2) when I pull the handle
trigger or the inside release something is happening. If it's just that, with
the parts missing from the latch, the normal travel of the releases won't
trigger it, perhaps getting in there and pushing it manually will do it.

On the other hand, I looked at it with a really bright light over the weekend
and it appears that if I can get a flexable cutting cable, I can loop it behind
the latch pin and cut that and it'll just open. Need a new latch pin, of
course, and the latch is shot anyway so I'd need new ones of each, but I've got
those too.

- Bill

I had a similar problem with my 95 Passat. I ended up cutting off the door
handle. There is a latch inside that activates the latch which may release
it. You'll have the chance to look at the mechanism and determine if you
need just a new door handle (you've cut it off, so you'll need one anyway),
or perhaps the entire latch. Be very careful not to cut anything else.

"William J. Leary Jr." > wrote in message
. ..
> The passenger door on my '87 16V Scirocco won't open.
>
> When my son got in the car, the door shut, sounded normal, and all that.
Drove
> home. He got out and tried to shut the door. It wouldn't close. It
behaved
> like they do when the latch flips over. I looked at it with a flashlight
and
> found that the latch wasn't flipped over, but there was a chunk of black
> plastic jammed in the mechanism. It looked like it had broken off from
behind
> the actual latch. I pulled that out and tried the latch once by hand, to
make
> sure that it would latch, and would also release when I pulled the outside
> trigger. It worked. I shut the door, and now it won't open. The lock
button
> moves up and down and makes the expected sounds. When it's down, the
inside
> pull lever and the outside trigger are disengaged, as usual. When it's up
both
> do something which sounds like the latch should be opening, but it doesn't
> actually let go. The door doesn't open, and it feels like it's the latch
> engaged on the door jam pin.
>
> Short of cutting something open to get in there, any ideas on how to get
it to
> open so I can replace it?
>
> - Bill
>
>

You should be able to open the door from the inside by (carefully)
removing the door card.

It will be hard to get at from the inside (vs from the outside with a
handle removed) but you should be able to actuate the mechanism.

Once you get the door open you can remove the mech and handle a lot
easier than cutting things off.


TBerk

"TBerk" > wrote in message
oups.com...
>
> You should be able to open the door from the inside by (carefully)
> removing the door card.

I'll have to look at the other one (door or car, I've got three other
Scirocco's), but I was pretty sure that a couple of those screws are behind the
area now covered by the dashboard. Or did you mean something else by "door
card" than what I'm thinking of as the upholstered inside of the door?

> It will be hard to get at from the inside (vs from the outside with a
> handle removed) but you should be able to actuate the mechanism.

If I can get the panel off, I can reach it. I've done it with the panel off
and the door closed a few times while I was installing power windows in one of
the other ones. I'd disconnected the inside latch because I thought I had to
run something under it., but it turned out it didn't have to be disconnected to
do it.

> Once you get the door open you can remove the mech and handle a lot
> easier than cutting things off.

I hope so. I'll give that a better look before I start drilling or cutting.
Thanks.

- Bill