T5.2 Sliding Door - Outer Handle not working

[The_Hawk]

So the outside handle on the passenger side sliding door (ie the one the kids have yanked at for 6.5 Years) has given up the ghost. The inside handle works fine so I'm guessing that there is a cable/rod connecting the handle to the mechanism.

Does anyone know anything about how to fix this (or even how to remove the sliding door trim)?

Edit: This seems to show how to get the door out competely (which I'm assuming is necessary to get the trim off and into the inside of the door ). It also looks like a two man job.

From there I can see the parts that are likely to be busted... although it could be just loose... or something broken... will have to see which is a pain with the door off and not really near anything with spares...

I'm off for the next couple of weeks I'll have a look see, but maybe this will end up being a Volkswerke fix while it's in for it's next service (which is due now).

Reference:
blown up diagram of t5 sliding door mechanism needed - VW T4 Forum - VW T5 Forum

[Kiels3927]

Kids & dogs - with them around, you can avoid all blame.

[The_Hawk]

absolutely... totally the kids...

[The_Hawk]

So the door handle gave up the ghost at Gundagai on our way to Sydney to spend a week visiting the family... and while sanity said I should leave it until I got back home to my tools and workspace, curiosity got the best of me and I got the brother in law to give me a hand to see what we could see.

So it's possible to remove the inner door trim with the door in place, which was a bonus. It's also worth noting there are three pieces. The upper bit around the top of the windows frame and the bit on the inside door handle do not need to be removed, it's possible to remove only the lower piece which is held in place by a range of clips. Around the outside edge are larger plastic ones, there are three smaller little ones in the centre and some steel ones across the top. I managed to get them out and back in and only cracked two (although they still seem functional)... so WIN!





I was able to pull the panel off using nothing but my hands *relatively* easily. You need to be careful near the door handle for the locking rod for the door lock button as it does foul if you haven't removed the whole handle trim piece.

So... the problem. I found this little sucker inside the door panel... and I'm glad I saw it before I tried pulling more things out too because if I missed it this would have gotten a WHOLE lot more complicated!



Inside the door, there is the mechanism that does all the things. The counterweight (??) you can see here is attached to the outer door handle with that pin I found earlier, you can clearly see it missing.



Here with the pin back in place, you can see it clipped back into its plastic retaining clip. I'm not sure how exactly it managed to come out of that then manage to work its way loose, but 6.5 years and 150,000km of pulling and rattling got there eventually it seems.



So it's all back together and working. The outer handle is still a little sloppy but I couldn't see any obvious way to tighten it up so put it all back together for my trip back to Melbourne on Saturday.

[Sunny43.5]

Good find as I would imagine without finding the pin you would have been faced with a ridiculous price for a whole spare part assembly .

[chimo0703]

The_Hawk - thanks mate for this post. The exact same thing happened to me today (camping at the Grampians). I Didn’t manage to get the panel off, so couldn’t really see anything but thanks to your pictures I managed to get the metal piece back in place and everything is working again.