[s-cars] Winter door latch woes...

[Tom Green]

The visual of your difficulties I have formed in my mind is humorous,  
Steve.
Only holding the door closed while driving would be better.   The  
transmission
fluid is ATF.  You want a solvent to dissolve the hardened white  
grease in the
latch.  You might be successful spraying a solvent past the catch  
into the latch
interior rather than disassembling everything.  The old grease is  
contaminated
enough it probably held enough moisture to freeze, but this problem  
occurs in
every season, so treat them all, including the trunk lock. ( Don't  
want to be seen
driving around with the trunk lid tied down.)  :-)

Luckily, you have the warm barn to work in, but that may keep you from
knowing if a quick fix will work.  Then, if the cable is still  
disconnected, you will
be seen entering the car from one of the other doors and climbing  
over seats.
I hope you don't have many passengers if it happens.  :-)

Tom    Am I making too much light of your difficulties?  Take solace  
in knowing
              that many others have suffered similar indignities,  
usually after you
              just bragged on the car or received some compliment.

-----Original Message-----
> Date: Fri, 18 Jan 2008 07:38:45 -0800 (PST)
> From: chris chambers <fastscirocco_2000 at yahoo.com>
> Subject: Re: [s-cars] Winter door latch woes...
> To: "Young, Steve" <sryoung at trane.com>, Scar <s-car-list at audifans.com>
> Message-ID: <30717.47172.qm at web60516.mail.yahoo.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1
>
> Steve,
>
> if it's the same latch as a UrS4, then read on:
>
> The latch has a spring that "gunks" up.
>
> Our black 93 had this problem, pulled the latch out of the door
> twice to clean and lube it, each time it reoccured ~ 6 months later.
> Finally listened to another lister (can't recall the name) and soaked
> the latch assembly in transmission fluid for 24+ hours.
> Latch then operated smoothly, and has for the last 2 years.
>
> To remove the latch you have to remove the door panel and window
> assembly. It isn't a fun job, especially in the cold.
>
> HTH
> Chris
>
> --- "Young, Steve" <sryoung at trane.com> wrote:
>
>>
>> Lister help needed...
>>
>> Driver's door latch froze up on the A6 the other day so that the
>> outer door handle wouldn't open the door.  Got the door open using
>> the inner latch, but then the door wouldn't shut and just bounced off
>> the jam.  Frozen/cruddy latch that needs lubrication, I know.  Pulled
>> into the barn, and removed the inner door panel to see if I could see
>> anything wrong.  Well as you know, access to the latch mechanism is
>> terrible.  The latch thawed, and started working on it's own, but the
>> cable for the inner door handle must have come off because now the
>> inner handle won't operate the latch.  Any BTDT's on how to access
>> the latch for cable re-attachment and lubrication?  This may sound
>> stupid, but where do I lubricate the latch?  Already STFA'd here and
>> the A6 forums, and S-cars, with no real help.  Rolling down the
>> window and reaching out to get the door open is embarrassing.....TIA
>>
>> Regards,
>>
>> Steven Young
>> Local Operations Manager - Albany
>> ____________________________________TRANE
>> 301 Old Niskayuna Rd., Latham, NY  12110
>> Tel: 518.724.1453
>> Fax: 518.785.4359
>>
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