Snapped Door Lock Plastic Bridge

[Alex Kowalski]

Hi all, thanks again to everyone for the transmission advice.  I'll know more this week about the fix, other than double-clutching/skipping 4th.

Anyway, had another fun thing happen:  the plastic piece that connects the two halves of the lock rod on the passenger's rear door decided to snap.  Of course, it is that ultra-hard, crappy plastic.  I pulled up on the lock knob inside the car and SNAP, now I've got a dangling lock knob rattling around inside the door.  
Luckily the power locks work so I could still get the door open without getting too creative.  Would it have been too much trouble for Audi to make this piece out of metal?  Or at least thicker plastic?  Or something?  Grrr.  

After removing the door panel, I took the two halves off and bonded them back together with some VERY FINE hobbyist wire and some 2-part fast-setting plastic superepoxy.  First I put just enough epoxy on the part to hold it together - I let that dry for about 45 minutes and wrapped the part lengthwise very carefully with a couple turns of wire (yes it can be done.)  Then I went back out and gingerly reconnected the rods to the plastic piece, and then *really* saftey-wired it together, and added a little more resin to bond the wire to the plastic.  Quite strong.  It will not be coming apart again any time soon.

While I was at it I figured it might be good time to do the same thing to the passenger side, plus lube all the linkages and inspect the insides of the doors, connectors, etc.  All else was shipshape.

Cheers,
Alex Kowalski
'87 5KCSTQ