Behind the Side Door

Had the panel off the passenger side front door the other day, trying to figure out why it's so hard to open the door from inside. It appears that the inside handle mechanism is fine, and the nice linkage rod that goes aft to the latch is fine, and it does actuate the latch, but not sufficiently. It seems that the linkage rod would like to be shorter. I put a bit of a bend in it to shorted it a bit, and it does help -- you have to lean into the door while pulling pretty hard on the handle, but now it will pop open so I'm going in the right direction. But I need more. I can't see if there is any means to effectively shorten the rod or otherwise adjust the pesky thing so my kids can bail out quickly when I pull up in front of their school.

Reply to
Mike Rocket J. Squirrel Elliot
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Hiya Mike,

VW actually had a specialized tool just for the purpose of shortening that rod.

But to tell you the truth, I don't think that's your main problem. What you really need to do is to pull that rear latch down out of the door. You'll then to clean it thoroughly and lube it. Likely you'll need to replace a very small spring in the latch also. Once you do that you'll be amazed at the "door action". Just like new.

Mike

1970 Bus - The Ruptured Duck
Reply to
Bookwus1

Even though the outside handle works just peachy?

Reply to
Mike Rocket J. Squirrel Elliot

Hiya Mike,

Yep, even if the outside handle works just peachy.

You see, the latch "contact point" (I guess that's as good a term as any) for the inside handle and the outside handle are two different spots on the latch. The inside handle rod is connected to the top of the latch via a lever spring affair. That area will need cleaning. The outside handle trips a lever further down the latch (and it will likely need some cleaning also).

Look at it this way, the least you will get out of this little exercise is a thorough understanding of how this system operates and a clean mechanism to boot. After 30 odd years, that seems like a worthwhile goal in itself. Likely you will clear up any opening problems also.

Mike

1970 Bus - The Ruptured Duck
Reply to
Bookwus1

Huh -- the assembly sure seems clean. Thanks, I don't mind working on the thing and seeing how it operates. Now I can dig in with a clearer understanding of what has been commonly found to be the issue. I'll post anything interesting that anyone else looking into this problem might find useful.

Reply to
Mike Rocket J. Squirrel Elliot

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