PREVENT Sticky 5K Door Handles

["Al Powell" <APOWELL@agcom.tamu.edu>]

> > I own a 1986 Quattro 4000 s, (four door model).  Recently, the 
>> back left 
> > door handle broke.  The trigger inside the handle broke.  I was wondering 
> > where I could get the part, how expensive, and it I can repair it myself. 

The Hon. Robert Phillips replied:
 
> Welcome to Audi-land.  It's a love-hate thing.

Agreed.

> The door handles *will* break.  Unfortunately it's a part of life.
> 
> 6.  Wait for it to break again, and repeat. 

Politely disagreed.  Read preventive maintenance procedure below.

And later, my long-lost cousin Glen Powell quoth:

> Subject:
> Re: My driver side door on my 5Ks is getting very hard to open.
>   Don't "pull" the door open with the little lever!
>   "Squeze" the lever and handle to release the latch
>   and then pull the *handle* to open the door. This
>   will greatly increase the life of these problem-prone
>   latch release mechanisms.

PM procedure follows: 

As I posted recently, it IS possible to prevent the door handles from 
breaking on the 5K series!  The cause is excessive 
friction/resistance to movement caused by gummed-up pivot points 
in the door's **lock** mechanism.  This mechanism must move every time 
the door handle is triggered.  When the resistance builds up, the 
door handle is not strong enough to overcome it - and it breaks.  But 
the problem is NOT the door handle, it's the lock linkage.

The fix is to remove the door panel and (if you wish) wipe the old 
goo off all the lock mechanism pivot points - THEN use a can of spray 
lithium grease to put new lube on EVERY pivot point.  You can spot the 
moving parts by moving the lock button up and down (may have to 
trigger the door latch with a  screwdriver to make the door think 
it's closed, first...)  I also spray some lube inside the door latch 
mechanism.

Honest, group, this makes a huge difference!  An Audi-wise type 
showed me this, and after doing it, I could open the door handles on 
my 5K with ONE fingertip!!  Before doing it, my kids couldn't even 
open the doors, it was so hard to move the lever which triggers the 
latch.  And after lubing the pivot points, I never broke another 
handle, either.

"Try it - you'll like it!"







********** A Washington State Cougar in Aggieland (aTm) **********

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