Armrest latch broken. Part number?

[Fortuna Wolf]

Title says it all. I was fixing the A/C and tidying up my dual column pod when I open up the arm rest to get something and the latch breaks. The part on the top that opens it has broken. Need a part number?

 

[ele28]

button armrest (upper part) 3b0 868 445 (a94 satin black, 7de flannel grey, r48 light beige)

 

[wny_pat]

Is the latch broke or did you just lose the spring?

 

[RichDiesel]

Title says it all. I was fixing the A/C and tidying up my dual column pod when I open up the arm rest to get something and the latch breaks. The part on the top that opens it has broken. Need a part number?

LMFAO!! Are you kidding me? Mine just broke, and this is exctly why I am here today.

Its not the spring but one of the "clips" that allows it to pivot that has broken.

Thanks AGAIN TDiClub!!!

 

[Fortuna Wolf]

Its the pedal that lets the armrest open. It has two "hooked clips" that it pivots on. One of these just broke. The springs are still there.

Rich, that's funny, and really weird.

 

[tfink]

Fortuna Wolf and others,

I had the same problem with my '02, I fabricated a replacement tab and glued it on. It worked just as did before and I never had another problem. Cost $0.00.

 

[Fortuna Wolf]

Want to give us an idea how to make a replacement tab?

 

[RichDiesel]

Yeah, help us out! $0.00 is right in my price range! lol

 

[nick02]

Hello, Don't laugh, but when mine broke a few years back, I used a piece of coat hanger. Took about 20 minutes to fix. Carefully remove cover from lid. Look at the latch and visualize a center line between the 2 tabs. Drill a hole just big enough for a coat hanger about .25" in from each tab through the latch and the lid. Bend the coat hanger into a U shape push through latch and lid. Get the latch as tight as you want it and bend the ends of the hanger inside the lid. Open and close it and adjust as necessary. When happy, re-install cover. Nick

 

[tfink]

I used a scrap please of plastic, some glue, bench grinder and little bit of patience. I just ground down the plastic using the grinder to about the same specs as the unbroken one and glued it in place. You do need to create a tab, or some way to interlock the new piece into the latch (this simply gives the glue a little something more to bite onto.

I didn't remove the entire lid just the latch. I used super glue; but only becuase I didn't have any epoxy or gorilla glue on hand.

Good luck!

 

[TDI'watcher]

My whole armrest is borked:
Lid latch broke on one pin.
Spring clasp gone.
Whole assembly tower loose and slips to downwartd position if driver and passenger lean on it.

Might just get a new one at dealership eventually and bite the bullet. Or scope some junkyards.

 

[tfink]

TDI'watcher wrote:

"Whole assembly tower loose and slips to downwartd position if driver and passenger lean on it."

VW has a service bulletin on the arm rest that slips down when you lean on it. I had mine fixed, it cost me about $75 in parts and labor. After spending that kind of money it didn't hold for very long. With all that you mentioned you may want to replace the whole unit, as you suggest.

 

[wny_pat]

My whole armrest is borked:
Lid latch broke on one pin.
Spring clasp gone.
Whole assembly tower loose and slips to downwartd position if driver and passenger lean on it.

Might just get a new one at dealership eventually and bite the bullet. Or scope some junkyards.

Do a search, there are instructions here to fix it for next to nothing.

 

[wanders]

TDI club rocks! Mine broke over the weekend. Now lo and behold, part # and everything!

 

[wanders]

Latch was $15.00 at the dealer here. Impex has them for $13 and change, but by the time you pay to have it shipped...

Sounds pricey, but I was looking for the metal bracket that makes up the innards of a cupholder on my wife's van. $130.00 at the Mercury dealer. FOund at junkyard fortunately. Still, we think VW part prices are high. Maybe it's not all that bad.

 

[RichDiesel]

TDI club rocks! Mine broke over the weekend. Now lo and behold, part # and everything!

I think when VW installed them, they set a "self distruct" time on them.

 

[pianodirt]

Tagging on this thread:

Did the 2000 Jetta TDI come stock with the armrest? I just bought the car and it is sans the arm rest. The little storage area in it seems useful.

 

[Fortuna Wolf]

sigh, the little tab that broke off is still in the arm rest cover, but I can't figure out how to get to it, other wise I'd try to epoxy it on. I can't quite figure out how to make a replacement for it.

 

[Drewser]

Anyone have the link for the how-to for fixing the armrest that falls down? I'm searching and can't find it. I looked at it about 3 years ago but I think it's buried too deep now. Would appreciate it if someone could post the link.

 

[tfink]

Here are a couple links:

http://forums.vwvortex.com/zerothread?id=2754430

http://forums.vwvortex.com/zerothread?id=942066

 

[Fortuna Wolf]

From VWVortex
3B0 868 445B41 - SATIN BLACK
3B0 868 445U71 - FLANNEL GREY
3B0 868 445Q70 - LIGHT BEIGE
The part numbers for the button itself. It should be cheap, like $3-9.
If I can't fish that bloody end out and epoxy it back together and its >$5 at the dealer I'll cave.

 

[Drewser]

Thanks! I actually eventually found a link to the VW service bullitin in PDF form and fixed it this weekend. Just used 1 screw on each side instead of 2, but it's working as good as new! Now I just wish I'd done this 2 years ago...

 

[TurboBenz]

From VWVortex
3B0 868 445B41 - SATIN BLACK
3B0 868 445U71 - FLANNEL GREY
3B0 868 445Q70 - LIGHT BEIGE
The part numbers for the button itself. It should be cheap, like $3-9.
If I can't fish that bloody end out and epoxy it back together and its >$5 at the dealer I'll cave.

I had the same thing and I epoxy'd it back together (broke within a few days).

The latch costs 9 CAD for the cheaper one (the guy at the dealer told me that there are 2 types of black ones, one is expensive but they both look the same).

 

[Toledo Mudhen]

I've got my lid and bin held together by velcro. If it's good enough for the astronauts, it's good enough for me.