0die
Veteran Member
After years of dicking with my el cheapo ebay door handles....I think I've figured out the problem...
I'm pretty sure VW no longer makes B4 door handles and all that is available are the cheap CRAP brand (Chinese replacement auto parts)...
I replaced my pax handle years ago only to find they work like crap since the arm that pushes down on the door release is poorly aligned and just misses the release tab...I tried solving the problem by slipping a piece of fuel hose over the plastic pad to make it big enough to strike the opening mechanism....well it works ok for a while but tends to fall of or note quite reach after a while...frustrated yanking eventually breaks the door handle...
Put another cheap door handle...same problem...the arm that pushes door the release tab is always mis-aligned when compared to OEM VW...they apparently are all like that...
anyway I suddenly noticed that the metal is fairly soft on the Chinese handles...I decided to clamp the base of the arm in my bench vice and tried to re-bend the striking end to match the OEM handles...some trial an error and it suddenly works just like it should...
time will tell if the metal doesn't break from my re-alignment but for now it appears you can "tweak" the CRAP ebay handles to work correctly...
I'm pretty sure VW no longer makes B4 door handles and all that is available are the cheap CRAP brand (Chinese replacement auto parts)...
I replaced my pax handle years ago only to find they work like crap since the arm that pushes down on the door release is poorly aligned and just misses the release tab...I tried solving the problem by slipping a piece of fuel hose over the plastic pad to make it big enough to strike the opening mechanism....well it works ok for a while but tends to fall of or note quite reach after a while...frustrated yanking eventually breaks the door handle...
Put another cheap door handle...same problem...the arm that pushes door the release tab is always mis-aligned when compared to OEM VW...they apparently are all like that...
anyway I suddenly noticed that the metal is fairly soft on the Chinese handles...I decided to clamp the base of the arm in my bench vice and tried to re-bend the striking end to match the OEM handles...some trial an error and it suddenly works just like it should...
time will tell if the metal doesn't break from my re-alignment but for now it appears you can "tweak" the CRAP ebay handles to work correctly...