Driver and passenger doors will not open from the outside no matter how hard I pull?

Tiny
BYMA85
  • MEMBER
  • 1987 VOLKSWAGEN CABRIOLET
  • 86,000 MILES
Hi, both of my cabriolet's doors do not open from the outside. First, I started noticing that it got a little hard, so I just DW-40'd them and they worked fine for a while. Then the drivers side lock just popped off. The door cannot be locked anymore and then the handle would not budge.

then the passenger door, it was really hard to open but pulling on it, I mean tugging it with both hands really hard until the car was rocking side to side, the door would eventually open. The passenger door still locks and ulocks with the key, and both doors open from the inside just fine just not the outside. We end up having to leave the side windows unlocked.

Is this common for this year of cabrilolet? What can I do? Since the car is metal, it looks like it is impossible to take the doors apart.
Tuesday, August 13th, 2013 AT 12:12 PM

3 Replies

Tiny
EXOVCDS
  • MECHANIC
  • 1,883 POSTS
Most likely the door handle pivot on the handles is broken. Remove the door handles and inspect.

Remove two phillips screws to remove the door handles.

Thomas
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Tuesday, August 13th, 2013 AT 5:02 PM
Tiny
BYMA85
  • MEMBER
  • 16 POSTS
Can you guide me through taking the door handles apart? Do I need to take the door side panel of or can I just pull the handles off and how?
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Tuesday, August 13th, 2013 AT 5:12 PM
Tiny
EXOVCDS
  • MECHANIC
  • 1,883 POSTS
Open the door, remove the screw on the side of the door. Remove the trim on the handle and remove the small screw under it, then remove the handle.
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Tuesday, August 13th, 2013 AT 8:26 PM

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