Door lock failure: '90 200 TQW

["Forhan, Thomas" <Thomas.Forhan@mail.house.gov>]

Hi folks,

This morning as I turned the key clockwise in the driver's side to lock
it, the mechanism when went 
loose. Did not lock, but still armed the alarm. The power lock works
fine from inside the car, and all doors lock properly from the passenger
door.

I called my local Audi dealer, and the service rep knew immediately what
I was talking about. He said the cure was a "door lock upgrade" in which
they replace an offending part with a stronger version. The estimate is
$250-$300. Ouch!

I could not find anything relevant in the archives :-(, even though the
Audi service rep said is was a pretty common problem.

Has anybody tried to fix this one themselves? I look forward to any
advice.

Please copy tf@pipeline.com as I won't see e-mail here until Monday.

Thanks

Tom F.