Drivers door inside latch.

[Peter Schulz]

Peter:

Could be a number of things....
The tiny retaining clip that Phil Rose recently described, the 
plastic part of the lever housing failing, or the cable from the 
lever to the lock breaking.

Before you remove the inner door panel do the following:
Pull the inner latch to the full open position and you will see a 
philips screw head inside the latch housing -
remove that screw...(BTW, might be a good time to either get a 
magnetic pick up tool or magnetize the philips screw driver head to 
save you some aggravation. then pull the housing forward and towards 
you to pull it out of the door panel,

If you are lucky, all that happened is that the clip dislodged itself 
and fell into the door.
To save alot of aggravation, you'll either get a replacement clip 
from audi or a you pull it yard, and save yourself the chore of 
removing the inner door panel.  Chances are though that even if this 
is the case, you won't see the latch cable ;-)

Reach inside the latch housing cutout in the door panel towards the 
rear and with either your fingers or a bent metal coat hanger....you 
need to fish around  towards the striker/door latch....pull the cable 
end out of the latch opening - if its intact, it should have a hook 
in the end that engages in the rear of the inner door latch.  Pull on 
the cable.  If the door unlatches, you just need to reassemble the 
latch housing and clip.

(Caveat is that the following instructions are for a non Bose 
equipped Avant, sedans may be slightly different)
If it doesn't open, then the issues are more serious and you will 
have to pull the inner door panel off.  You need to removed the inner 
door handle...which is held in place by three 5mm?? hex headed 
clamping screws...the screws are accessed from the bottom of the handle.
After removing the handle you will have label and pull the switches 
off the panel.
There are two philips screws - one in the front of the door, top 
inner panel by the door hinge, one towards the back, on the striker end.
Theres also a philips screw that attaches the panel to the door by 
the inner latch openening.  The next step is better done carefully - 
gently pry ( preferably with a plastic interrior pry bar or a stiff 
putty knife (around the left, right, and bottom of the panel to 
release clips that hold the panel to the door. After pulling the 
panel away from the door, fish the window switch harness through the 
opening in the panel, and pull the panel upward and over the door 
knob.  Carefully pull the plastic covered insulation up and away and 
the inner door workings will be exposed...

If you need to delve further, report back.

Also refer to Chris Miller's 200 website for some pictures: 
http://members.aol.com/c1j1miller/body.html#Door%20Lock%20Repair


HTH

-Peter



At 09:38 AM 1/24/2006, PeterBergin at aol.com wrote:
>Hi guys, my driver door interior latch failed last night (had to roll the
>window down to let my self out)  Locks work fine.  The lever just  pulled out
>mushy and stayed out.  I did look at the only pages in my  Bentley that don't
>greasy finger prints on them, and didn't see much, other than  how to get the
>handle off.
>
>Has any one had this failure and/or can offer some advice?
>
>Pete
>91 Avant
>_______________________________________________
>200q20v mailing list    http://www.audifans.com/mailman/listinfo/200q20v

-Peter Schulz
Chelmsford Ma, USA

1991 200 20v Q Avant Titan Grey
1991 200 20v Q Avant Indigo Mica
1991 90 20v Q Red
1990 CQ silver (awaiting S2 engine transplant)
1990 CQ red ( to part or not)