Door handles

[Kneale Brownson]

At 11:13 AM 01/01/2003 -0800, Tyson Varosyan wrote:
>Well, I knew it would happen... I heard it many times that the '80s Audi
>door handles had problems and finally my car with almost 200k on the clock
>started to do it. It is the classic symptom, the little level inside needs
>to be pushed all the way in and even then the door is hard to open. Now I am
>wondering if there is a fix for this and what it takes to make it so I don't
>have to struggle with the door handle to get into my car.
>
>Tyson '85 4ksq

I've found that if you routinely (every two-three months) lubricate the
handles themselves and the latches in the doorjamb that they operate, even
sloppy, poorly functioning Team Doorhandle handles from the '80's can be
kept in working order.  I use a spray lubricant that contains a little
teflon.  I spray (with the ubiquitous red straw) into the handle where the
actuator lever disappears, into the handle from the area available if you
pop out the oval rubber plug in the edge of the door at the handle level
and liberally into the latch mechanisms from every potential angle.  A
little operating then usually restores fading function.  A little spray in
the locks (doors and trunk lid) also keeps them operating despite the weather.

To keep reduce wear on doorhandle parts, if you press in on the door while
squeezing the trigger, it helps.