replacing door latch in '04 jetta

My drivers door wont open from the inside. All summer i have been opening window to let myself out. Now that it is winter here, the window occasionally freezes to the felt trim so i cant open it. Therefore I am trying to replace the cable for the door latch which I bought from dealership for about $25 (they wanted another $100 to replace it there).

Seems like this should be an easy thing to replace, But now I cant figure out how to get it done. I have the door panel off, but I still cant get inside the metal to where the cable is connected to the actual latch. Anyone know what I need to do?

You will need to basically take the whole door apart, and get the latch out, THEN you can take the cable off the latch assembly.

$100 was cheap. We charge 1.5hr for the latch, which would be about $150.

I took out all the bolts on the metal panel, but still cant get it to come off. Is there something more I am missing?

Remove the window from the regulator through the access plugs, then run the regulator down, and slide the glass up and out of the car (you will need to tilt it of course).

Punch out the black center assembly plastic rivets that hold the latch to the inner door (you won't need those). Then cut the rivets out.

Push the grommets for the lock knob and cable into the door.

Pull the grommet for the wiring harness connection to the latch out.

Remove the screws that hold the inner door assembly to the door, pull the bottom loose enough to reach up from underneath and disconnect the door harness from the latch (this can be tricky).

Remove all the harness connections and stays, then feed the harness off to the side.

Then lower, tilt, and lift the inner door assembly off, sliding it off both the cable and lock knob.

Then remove the little plug in the door jamb, to access the outer lock cylinder release fastener. Loosen that fastener (it is captive). Then slide the lock cylinder out from the outside, wiggling it past the outer door handle.

Once out, reach in with a hook and release the cable from the outer handle.

Remove the two bolts holding the latch assembly in place, then slide the latch assembly down and out of the door. Then you can swap the cable over.

more to it than i ever would have guessed. thanks for the info.

Replacing interior door cable.

Broke cable to interior door handle. Went to junk yard prepared to freeze and get frustrated. Come to find that the cable is attached to locking mechanism on the door and cannot be removed without removing the locking mechanism. needless to say I left it for another day as I had to go to Princess Auto and buy a 12 point torx set that included a M8 12 point socket. I looked for information on several sites including this one which has helped me in the past and continues to help but could not find instructions. Not in layman's terms anyway.

YouTube it, loads of vids. There's also a thread around here, stupid door lock fix or something. It explains all the procedures to get the lock out.

Yea, I used the u-tube videos as a guide. Some are good, and some not so good. I think the Bentley manual has you pull the window regulator and latch out as one whole assembly. This makes it easier to reach the harness for the lock module. That is why the plastic rivets stay in place, but I had trouble with that procedure.

kayak01 said:

I took out all the bolts on the metal panel, but still cant get it to come off. Is there something more I am missing?

Click to expand...

That metal panel has a sticky sealant all around the perimeter. Just firmly but carefully pry it off. If you try too hard at one location, you might bend the panel, then you'd have a very difficult time getting it back on without a sealing problem. Just be firm and careful and very very patient. Wear gloves to protect your fingers if you have suitable ones. And heat will help soften the sticky stuff, so if it is cold then a hot blow dryer will help.

Good luck,

PH

Maddawg said:

Broke cable to interior door handle. Went to junk yard prepared to freeze and get frustrated. Come to find that the cable is attached to locking mechanism on the door and cannot be removed without removing the locking mechanism. needless to say I left it for another day as I had to go to Princess Auto and buy a 12 point torx set that included a M8 12 point socket. I looked for information on several sites including this one which has helped me in the past and continues to help but could not find instructions. Not in layman's terms anyway.

Click to expand...

OP was 2011. Post #4 gives complete instruction for getting to broke cable. You'll find no better.