broken driver door lock

[chaffingbuttocks 0]

hi guys,

my driver door doesn't lock or unlock with the key. there's nothing wrong with the key, or the central locking, as it works fine from front passenger. i removed the trim and had a look, and i can see that inside the bit that rotates when i turn my key is not connected to the plastic bit with the spring (i.e. it turns, but it isn't connected to anything).

what do you think would be the best approach to fix this? is it easy enough to get the whole lock replaced? or can i just glue it back together? if it's going to cost a lot of money (and i assume it is) should i just get an alarm installed with remote access? (since no one uses the key to open doors when they have a remote).

cheers.

[Chrisdut 0]

it needs a lock and mechanism rebuild, very common on mk3's so much so our parts department have on old container with all parts juat thrown in, any good vw specalist should be able to do it if your not confident to do it yourself

as for the alarm. its a good idea to have one but you still need to access the car with a key if the car battery fails

[Russ_vr6 12]

yup agreed ^^^^^^^

prob is the accentric breaks,so vw has made the barrell hook thicker on the end,meaning you gotta replace the barrell too,if my memory serves me correctly:

eccentric 1H0 837 223A

BARRELL 1H0 837 061G

am i right fellow parts guys?

u will need a few other bits for it like the lock carrier but i cant remember that number off top of my head grrrr lol

[chaffingbuttocks 0]

thanks guys,

i've contacted the vw spares place here and they sell replacement door handles quite cheap (equivalent of around 20 british pounds), which include all the bits and bobs that i need. apparently i can get a repair kit too but it's not that much cheaper so i might as well just get the whole handle. shouldn't be too much effort to replace it i hope.. sounds quite easy to do. unscrew and remove the handle, switch the lock barrel, put it back in.. voile! (i hope)

cheers.

[chaffingbuttocks 0]

easy peasy. unscrewed the door handle from the side of the door. handle just pops out, then get some small fingers in there to pull the "spade" piece and the spring out. replace with new metal spade bit and spring, stick back in and screw. took all of 2 minutes to do really. apparently they changed the piece to a thicker one for 1 year or something, so the kit that they had wasn't compatible.