What often happens on the older door latch mechanism is the tiny spring inside that holds the button either up or down breaks. Then gravity makes the button drop down, into the locked position. But you can still open the door using the key to hold the button up while you pull down on the handle. The spring is inside of a sealed assembly and not trivial to access. There is a simple workaround it this turns out to be your problem. Just get a piece of hose or tubing that snugly fits over the button shaft. Push it against the door. That friction will hold the button up instead of the dead spring. Mark
David Moyal wrote: > Advice needed on 2 fronts: (1) sliding door on my '83 vanagon broke > yesterday - unlocked it, pulled handle down to open, something went "snap" > and handle wouldn't pull down. So - door is " > locked" closed. I pulled the panel today, and plan to attack the latch > mechanism tomorrow. (2) I once again tried searching the (?) "spare" list > archives for info & get as far as (in this case) item 58, doors & body. No > response to search terms...what am I doing wrong? Where should I be looking > for searchable archives? Thanks much, volks. David > '83 diesel Westy (AAZ convert) > '61 BMW R69S > and too much other old junk to mention.... > |
Please note - During the past 17 years of operation, several gigabytes of
Vanagon mail messages have been archived. Searching the entire collection
will take up to five minutes to complete. Please be patient!
Return to the archives @ gerry.vanagon.com
The vanagon mailing list archives are copyright (c) 1994-2011, and may not be reproduced without the express written permission of the list administrators. Posting messages to this mailing list grants a license to the mailing list administrators to reproduce the message in a compilation, either printed or electronic. All compilations will be not-for-profit, with any excess proceeds going to the Vanagon mailing list.
Any profits from list compilations go exclusively towards the management and operation of the Vanagon mailing list and vanagon mailing list web site.