Re: More on Interior Door Latch

["Fred Munro" <munrof@isys.ca>]

Steve;

    I had similar symptoms on my '91 200q. I could open the door with the
interior latch, but it would not return and the door would not latch shut.
There was moisture in the cable which froze when the weather got cold and
the cable seized , preventing it from working. It would also pop the cable
sheath out of the retainer, and then the door could not be opened or closed.
I removed the cable ( at -30, at tad nippy on the fingers), took it into the
warm basement to thaw it out, and ran WD40 through it to displace the
moisture. It has worked fine ever since.
    There is a foam plug which fits into the inner latch mechanism to seal
it. This had fallen out on my car, letting warm moist air from the interior
flow out around the cable end. I suspect this was the source of the
moisture. I replaced the plug when I installed the cable. Lots of cold
winters since and no more problems.

HTH

Fred Munro
'91 200q  264k km
-----Original Message-----
From: spsherm@ibm.net <spsherm@ibm.net>
To: quattro <quattro@coimbra.ans.net>
Date: Saturday, December 19, 1998 10:34 AM
Subject: More on Interior Door Latch


>Thanks to all the responses on my previous post...
>
>I never did get to take the door panel off and check things out, because
>the interior latch started working on its own again...  I put a little
>WD40 on the latch mechanism and all was fine...
>
>Then as it started to get cold again, I began to notice that when the
>car is cold (< 20F) the latch would not work from the inside.  Warmer
>than that everything is fine...
>
>What I have been able to tell is that when cold, the interior latch is
>moving something, but it seems without enough travel.  The pawl that
>catches the "catch" is moving with the handle, just not quite enough to
>release the catch in cold weather...
>
>My question to folks here (before I pull the door panel in -4F temps) is
>any BTDT before for these symptoms?  Is there a travel/slack adjustment
>inside the door to "take up some more slack" on the cable?  Or is this a
>sign of a severly stretched cable that is about to go and should be
>replaced?
>
>Other suggestions?
>
>TIA
>
>Steve