Re: 5KCS Door Latch (a free fix, so far)

["The PC Handyman" <pchandyman@intrex.net>]

COOL! Me First! Me First!

I just fixed this yesterday on mine. The problem, if yours broke like mine
did (which I bet it did), is that the spring that makes the latch work is
kept under tension with a little nylon tab that has broken off. You can
replace it, or fix it and relube your locks in the process. I put a small
screw in place of the nylon tab. Details are below...

    If you look at the lock/striker/whozewhatzit on the door you will see
how it has holes where it can be lubricated, and holes where it's nylon
innards hold onto it's metal case. If you look at the one that works, you
will see that it has one more of it's holes filled. That's your problem
area. I took off both sides, so I could understand what happened. Next spray
out the guts of it with some carb cleaner or whatever. The gook in there is
probably what killed it. Next fish out the spring that is floating around in
the case. Get out your smallest drill bit and drill a pilot hole through the
hole where the peg is supposed to be. Insert a small screw ( you will have
to put it through the loop in the spring as you insert it...) through the
hole, being careful not to strip it out. There you have it. You can figure
out all the details of this procedure when you see the working one. The
gratifying part comes when you spray the megalube of your choice (Lithium
grease for me) in there and into the door handle mechanisms from the inside
(did I mention you have to take off the door panels?) and notice the renewed
smoothness of the whole affair.

This might just come apart in a couple of weeks or months, but I don't think
so. Mine seemed like a good fix.

Rock on, my Audi Brother!

-Noah
-83 VW 16v Cabbie
-83 VW Turbo Rocco
-87 VW 8v GTI
-87 Audi 5kCSTQ (recently aquired, not featured on my site)
see my cars and read about my obsession...
http://www.members.tripod.com/pchandyman/


----- Original Message -----
From: Steve Sherman <Steve.Sherman@nsc.com>
To: <quattro@audifans.com>
Sent: Wednesday, October 27, 1999 6:22 PM
Subject: 5KCS Door Latch


> I just got a report from my wife that one of the rear doors on her 5KCS
> will not latch closed.  Opened just fine (as usual for this car).  But
> would not latch closed again...even iwth repeated tries.
>
> While I won't get home to look at this until late tonite, I thought I
> would ask on the list to see if there are any typical but non-obvious
> causes to this (other than the usual linkage/latch sticking) before I
> get into it.
>
> TIA
>