91 passat - car door won't close in cold weather...
uh huh
winter time now. Man my car annoys me sometimes!
If the car has been cold for some time, the car door won't stay closed.
This is a real pain in the butt, as I drive a standard car, and it's quite
difficult to drive a vehicle while you are holding the door closed with one
hand, and switching gears with the other hand. What hand is steering?
The door behind the driver seems fine. (I didn't check the other ones...)
That is when I (with door open) swing the bolt grabbing mechanism down, it
clicks nicely into place. The drivers door does not do this however. There
is no click, and so the door does not stay closed. AFter some time, when
the latch mechanism warms up a bit, the door will remain closed. Depending
on the temperature outside, it can take from five minutes to over an hour.
Obviously I will have to repair it. My feeling is that there is some water
that has got into the mechanism and is freezing when it is very cold. Am I
on the right track? Has anyone else had this problem? Anyone know how to
fix it? I've thought about creating a little magnetic heating plate that I
can attach to the lock mechanism and cigarette lighter so that I can heat
the lock while I "scrape the windows" of the car. Any thoughts on that one?
Or would I be better off taking the damn thing apart and cleaning it? What
lubes should I use?(keeping in mind that temp can go down to -40C or -40F (I
think at -40 they are the same...)
Any help would be appreciated. I can be reached at
roddydouglas*at*rogers.com
ofcourse you know that the "*at*" is actually a "@". (done to foil
spammers)
Thanks!
Roddy Douglas
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"Beer... The cause and solution to all of lifes problems."
Homer J. Simpson
Randolph
outer door handle assemblies (2x Golf, 2x Passat, about your vintage).
The stationary, die cast part of the assembly deforms just a tad, and
the moving lever pops out of its supports. It then presses down on the
lock part as if you were trying to open the door. Perhaps this could be
your problem as well.
On the '87 GTi, you can take off the outer door handle assemblies
without removing the door panels etc. I do not remember how it is on
the 91 Passat. If you take it out and find that what I have described
above indeed is your problem, you have several options. On the GTi the
moving part pivoted on a rivet (the rivet was torn loose) that I
replaced with a screw and nut. This has now worked for 5 years and 40k
miles. On the Passat I simply put the die cast part in a vise and
pushed things back together. This has worked for a few months now, but
I don't think it is going to hold up very long.
You could also try giving the locking mechanism (in the door jamb) a
good WD-40 treatment on a warm day. WD-40 drives out moisture.
J Hodge
"uh huh" <uh...@whatever.com> wrote in message
news:F3BG9.202685$YSz1....@news01.bloor.is.net.cable.rogers.com...
> Alright. This problem is driving me nuts. I live in Ottawa Ontario. It's
> winter time now. Man my car annoys me sometimes!
>
> If the car has been cold for some time, the car door won't stay closed.
> This is a real pain in the butt, as I drive a standard car, and it's quite
> difficult to drive a vehicle while you are holding the door closed with one
> hand, and switching gears with the other hand. What hand is steering?
>
> The door behind the driver seems fine. (I didn't check the other ones...)
> That is when I (with door open) swing the bolt grabbing mechanism down, it
> clicks nicely into place. The drivers door does not do this however. There
> is no click, and so the door does not stay closed. AFter some time, when
> the latch mechanism warms up a bit, the door will remain closed. Depending
> on the temperature outside, it can take from five minutes to over an hour.
> Obviously I will have to repair it. My feeling is that there is some water
> that has got into the mechanism and is freezing when it is very cold. Am I
> on the right track? Has anyone else had this problem?
Oh yes. The original grease in the lock mechanism has dried out and become
sticky. The locking plate rotates on a pivot with a spring to return it. When you
open the door the spring helps the plate rotate to the open position. When you
close the door the spring is cocked and another spring pushes a lever down to
latch the plate in the closed position, holding the door shut. This lever is the one
your door handle operates and it is sticking in dried grease.
Rather than just squirt lubricant into the latch, I would remove the latch and
wash it out thoroughly with parts cleaning solvent or kerosene and a brush.
Then you can relubricate it with white lithium grease, the kind in a spray can
with a plastic tube to get in to small areas. Good luck.
T. Thorne
up, and I have to go somewhere. So I go to warm the car up and clean the
snow off and the stupid door is sticking! I knew I was going to have to
lubricate the locks at some time, but I was kind of putting it off. Oh well
:). Anyway, I didn't have any decent lubricants or any time, so I took some
synthetic 0w30 in a medical syringe, pulled the handle off of the door (it
attaches with one bolt - right next to the latch mechanism on the side of
the door) and squirted oil in the latch while manually moving it up + down
till it unstuck. Works for now. I know I'm going to have to do it right
(ie. take it all apart), but maybe I can put it off for a while..... :)
Ron Hoppe
I also have a 91 Passat same problem, however fortunately mine is an automatic.
I agree, the lock is frozen. This morning it is - 20 celcus ( about
0 F ) lock is probably stiff today.
Not a time to start playing with WD-40 which I agree will probably
lossen the mechanism ( if you kept the WD-40 indoors ) but it does not
stay and is therefore quite messy. I suspect that the return spring has
weakened over the course of 11 years and the friction as a result of the
cold is enough to prevent the mechanism from working properly.
The COLD WEATHER FIX:
I use a piece of Nylon rope and loop the rope between the lock button
on the drivers door to the rear door lock.
I then place a small 1 " by 2" by 4" piece of wood between the
door pilar and the rope to tension the rope enough to keep the door closed
and aviod the "door-open" beeping.
You may want to try this.
As to solutions, has anyone contacted VW to see if there is a
documented fix for this problem?
Ron Hoppe
Ottawa
91 Passat
87 Porsche 924S
70 Rover 3500S
VWdoc1
It has worked for others having similar problems here in the Chicago winters.
later,
dave
J_C_
I have a 92 and from a similar experience - on the latching mechanism (box
thingy on the end of the door) there is a nut that extends. Make sure that
is tight.
Ron Hoppe
washed it out and relubed it with a silicone based lubricant
hoping this would solve the problem. It didn't , next time
we had freezing rain and a cold snap after the lock refused to work.
This is why my cold weather fix I outlined in an earlier email is always ready.
It seems that once the car heats up, the lock defrosts and works.
claudin...@gmail.com
The same thing happened to me. I bought Mr wrench silcone spray and its been working. I just had an ice storm and my door closed with no problem. Got it from my local Advance Auto Part Store.