Door handle won't open door

Aquaticmind

Veteran Member
Joined
Apr 17, 2009
Location
Wheeling, WV via Athens Georgia via, Bainbridge Is
TDI
2003 Jetta Wagon
Hi folks,
So I've been getting a situation where my doors all unlock (buttons go up and light goes off) but by driver side front door handle will not open the door.



I pull the handle and nothing happens. Sometime if I use the key, after a few times it will open the door.



Any ideas?


Cheers
 

csstevej

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Aug 12, 2004
Location
north nj
TDI
2001 golf tdi 4 door auto now a manual, mine, 2000 golf 2 door M/T son's,daughters 98 NB non-TDI 2.0, 2003 TDI NB for next daughter, head repaired and on road,gluten for punishment got another tdi 2001NB,another yellow tdi NB
Will it open from the inside?
 

jetmech54

Veteran Member
Joined
Sep 11, 2009
Location
Hamilton
TDI
Mk4, 1.9L, BEW, 393000 Km
I have had a similar problem, the outside door handle would open the door but the inside handle would not, I found the problem to be the cable inside the door panel that attaches to the inside door handle had popped out of it holder and clip. I think its the same for the outside door handle. it is a reasonable easy fix. for the inside you would need to remove the door panel and see if the cable is being held in its holder place.
 

csstevej

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Aug 12, 2004
Location
north nj
TDI
2001 golf tdi 4 door auto now a manual, mine, 2000 golf 2 door M/T son's,daughters 98 NB non-TDI 2.0, 2003 TDI NB for next daughter, head repaired and on road,gluten for punishment got another tdi 2001NB,another yellow tdi NB
You are probably going to need to adjust the outside short cable from handle to lock mechanism.
It's not hard there are serrated to be able to adjust the handle.
From my experience it's too short, lengthen it by 2 serrations then check.
 

JB05

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Oct 20, 2005
Location
Il.USA
TDI
Golf,2005,anthracite blue
What was the solution? Mine is doing this also, but I think it is cold weather related. I did try to adjust the cable, but the outer handle does not open the door until things warm up. The lock module was changed by me last July with an OEM part.
 

jokila

Vendor
Joined
Dec 3, 2004
Location
Houston, Texas
TDI
2003 Jetta GLS, Manual
I replaced my door lock module and it started doing something like this. I ended up having to press the door inward until i hear a click. It opens fine after that until the door is locked again.

From the inside, the symptoms are two fold. One symptom is similar to the outside problem. Pulling in on the door takes care of that. The other symptom is less dramatic. The inside door handle acts like the rears normally do, you need two pulls on the inside handle to get out. It seems to be random which symptom i get, but in no way does it ever operate normally as previous.

I am sure it must be related to the way the lock mechanism is resetting itself in the travel of when it is pulled on. It sucks when I let the tire guys work on my car because I have to walk out and let the mechanic know the idiosyncrasy.
 
Last edited:

JB05

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Oct 20, 2005
Location
Il.USA
TDI
Golf,2005,anthracite blue
Thanks for the reply. I found out that the problem only seems to occur after unlocking the door with the fob.
 
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