Passenger door won't open from the outside?

[Zeb]

As above,

Getting very annoyed with the door not opening from the outside. I have slammed the door hard loads of times but did not work.

Any suggestions?


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[Crasher]

Lock unit failure, a very common problem on the 3C Passat, we do a lot of them.

[martin1810]

Quite often the cable has come off. Do a search on here, there is a fix that costs next to nothing. Just a few minutes with a drill and cable tie.

[andrewturner]

My passenger door wouldn't open from the outside and there was little/no resistance when pulling on the door handle.

Prompted by this thread, I did a bit of googl'ing which led me to opening the window so I could work the indoor and outdoor handles at the same time. After a few minutes of opening/closing and pulling handles I heard a clunk and the outside handle now works, brilliant!

[Zeb]

Thanks guys for the quick response. Crasher, that has made me panic. I will search the thread Martin1810, and Andrew I will have another go tomorrow.


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[andrewturner]

Zeb, I just wanted to add that I was about to give up when I got that 'clunk' and it started working (very satisfying when it happened! :D). I didn't spend very long working the handles together and opening/shutting the door, perhaps 2-3mins. The reason I was about to give up was because I didn't think that anything I was doing was making any difference and I couldn't think of anything 'extra' to do - it seemed futile I guess! Stick at it!

[Zeb]

I will give it a go, and hopefully the door will come back to it's senses.
Once I open the door from the inside, it goes back to normal.
When I lock/unlock the second time, the door opens from the outside??? Very confusing.


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[Crasher]

that has made me panic

Why? It is no big deal, it is not as if you oil pump drive has failed is it!

[paul1964]

we have had the same thing for 10 years or so its when someone tries opening the door when it locked the central locking gets all confused, I tend to leave the car unlocked its a lot easier. With time the lock mech gets all worn. Some people have a bad habit of trying the door once they have locked the car. it all gets a bit fatal
.

[Zeb]

Why? It is no big deal, it is not as if you oil pump drive has failed is it!

Well, the fact it's going to cost alot if I can't get it fixed by myself.


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[Crasher]

A new door lock is £94.91 inc. VAT and takes about two hours to fit. In the list of things that can go wrong with a 3C Passat, that one is minor.

[monzo24]

Crasher, regarding the list of things that goes on the 3c, is the EPB reliable on these cars since the fixes on the 06 models, is it worth me owning a epb release tool, purely as insurance? and when I need to replace the pads

[Crasher]

No it is not reliable, the calipers and the button often fail.

[hijamie]

Same problem myself on 06 passat with both front doors. Have remove locks and greased them to no avail. It happens when someone tries to open the door which is still locked, it then seems to stick. So you have to climb in the back door and open from inside. The cure i use is to tap the screws on the door edge which hold the lock in place with a small hammer. This releases whatever is sticking and it works fine until someone pulls the handle of the locked door again. To much plastic in the lock

[Crasher]

You may as well rub chocolate on them as grease them, new door lock units are required...

[gazza007]

My Outside Passenger door handle stopped working Friday, my youngest tends to yank it before I unlock it. Anyway it may have not been the cause of the problem.
After reading the various threads, I tried all the tricks to no avail!!! Anyway had a play again yesterday and gave it a really good slam, hey presto fixed. Just want to thank the contributors of this forum who have been very useful on many occasions. Shame I can't reset the airbag light with a slam!!!

[potshot]

My Outside Passenger door handle stopped working Friday, my youngest tends to yank it before I unlock it. Anyway it may have not been the cause of the problem.
After reading the various threads, I tried all the tricks to no avail!!! Anyway had a play again yesterday and gave it a really good slam, hey presto fixed. Just want to thank the contributors of this forum who have been very useful on many occasions. Shame I can't reset the airbag light with a slam!!!

For now.......

[gazza007]

Lets be positive now

[potshot]

:biglaugh::biglaugh::biglaugh::booty::booty::booty ::booty:

[Crasher]

Lets be positive now

Nah, sod that. I always look on the bad side, that way any **** that comes your way is expected but life can be full of pleasant surprises, well in theory anyway because life is genially ****!

[Leon David]

Exercising the handles or slamming the door never worked for me. Read on here recently to tap the screws in the door jam holding the lock unit in place with a small hammer. Low and behold the drivers door would not open on Sat morning after a chilly night. Tried the small hammer on the lock screws and it worked first time. Yippee. Last winter I suffered with it for 3 months until the outside temps increased. Good Luck !

[RichardSEL]

It's the cable or the top cable tag that gets snagged up
Got a diagram here but it's only a .CLP or in Word 2000 .doc format so can't attach to this post. PM me with your e-mail addy and will send

<later> Someone else with this prob at: UKpassats.co.uk &bull; View topic - Geting in!!! (http://www.ukpassats.co.uk/phpbb/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=55068&p=432557#p432557)
That forum allows .doc so have uploaded diagram there

[steveo701]

Lock unit failure, a very common problem on the 3C Passat, we do a lot of them.

do u get many audi A4s with this problem ? mine is stuck and locked and cant get it open

[Crasher]

No, I hardly ever seen an A4 with door lock issues, no matter which version. The Passat uses a different design.

[caver99]

To start off HI all,
I am new on this forum and for my first read success.


Thnaks to all on this as i have an 06 B6 which has just started with the passenger door not opening from the outside, tried the handles without success so was going to try the tap the bolts but, i just wound down the window and gave the door a good slam and hey presto the handle is working once more which make the wife happy so my like is better.

THANKS FOR THE INFO.

[hijamie]

To start off HI all,
I am new on this forum and for my first read success.


Thnaks to all on this as i have an 06 B6 which has just started with the passenger door not opening from the outside, tried the handles without success so was going to try the tap the bolts but, i just wound down the window and gave the door a good slam and hey presto the handle is working once more which make the wife happy so my like is better.

THANKS FOR THE INFO.

glad to here you got it working. On my passat it seems to occur when you try and open the door when it is lock, the lock seems to stick and will not open from the outside. The solution is to tap the actual lock with a small mallet and a punch on the lock. Got used to it now so try to avoid it happening. cheers

[Hutch1807]

Hey, I had the same problem with the airbag light.. Did you move the seats about?? Well I cured it, I bought a hand held code reader from eBay (around £25) called a U281 CAN/VWAUDI its Orange. its got like a scart connector which plugs in underneath the steering column. But first there is a connector underneath the drivers seat which I disconnected and cleaned then connected back together, connected the code reader, it took a couple of attempts but it cleared the code from the computer. It hasnt come on since!!!

[Hutch1807]

Hi, 2 hard door slams worked for me with the drivers door, however the rear door is jammed and the child lock is on so cant open it from the inside either! any ideas pls?

[Hutch1807]

It worked for me keep trying slam it really hard !!

[Dr. Ferdinand]

The old interior/exterior/slam door trick worked for a while for me, but now I have a rear door that won't open at all!

Any ideas? It doesn't look like I can remove the door panel!

I also contacted VW UK on this - they are unaware of a widespread design defect and have never posted a recall notice! The advice I was given was to approach my local VAG main dealer and rely on goodwill or pay the hourly rate!

If only everything in life was as..

[Crasher]

There is no recall or TPI over this, only an issue with coding that can make the rear doors not unlock and the possibility of the Bowden cable sticking which can cause a problem, this is under Technical Product Information Transaction No:-2017519/8, Body/equipment:-“doors cannot be opened from outside”, Release date:-10-Feb-2011.

[Dr. Ferdinand]

There is no recall or TPI over this, only an issue with coding that can make the rear doors not unlock and the possibility of the Bowden cable sticking which can cause a problem, this is under Technical Product Information Transaction No:-2017519/8, Body/equipment:-“doors cannot be opened from outside”, Release date:-10-Feb-2011.


Thanks for this. The root cause definitely feels mechanical, i.e related to the bowden cable.

Just not sure where to go from here as child-locks are on and I can't open the door!

:confused:

[Crasher]

Ask VW UK customer services about TPI 2017519/8. Getting the door card and window carrier panel off with the door shut is an awful job.

[RichardSEL]

Post deleted

[Leon David]

Not been able to open the drivers door on my B6 saloon since the cold snap began just before xmas. The amber light in the locking switch on the door glows when I click the remote to open. Glorious weather yesterday and + 8 degrees C resulted in the door unlocking OK. Another cold snap due and I know what the outcome will be. Roll on Spring. Anybody any ideas why my drivers door locking problem is temperture related. I have removed the trim panel and the steel plate etc to check the door lock workings and lubricate where necessary to no avail. Out of all the techniques mentioned on here to fix the problem the only on which worked was tapping the lock mounting bolts in the door jam but that didn't last long and has not been successful since. Thanks in anticipation.

[steveo701]

Uncouple the wiring loom from the body of the car to the door and check the pins in the conector

[copythissystem]

Hi... I have a passat only bought it on monday (at time of writing) and today same thing happened me. All door unlocked but drivers door would not open. So i pressed down and held the unlock tab on remote and all windows opened. So i opened the door from the inside.

All the other doors are fine and in full working order. Except drivers door. Opens from the inside just not from outside. I will try again in the morning...

I have a 57 reg passat TDI 170 auto.

[RichardSEL]

With these temperatures it's usually the Bowden cable that's at fault -- doesn't allow retraction along its length and so the ball at the end of it comes out of, or partially away from, it's claw clasp.
Some say operating both the inner and outer handles at the same time causes the ball to drop back into place. Or firmly tapping the lock mechanism with the cover removed.

I've put together the best bits of info on this as a .doc with pix, in case it ever happened to me. PM me an email address for return attach

[hijamie]

Hi... I have a passat only bought it on monday (at time of writing) and today same thing happened me. All door unlocked but drivers door would not open. So i pressed down and held the unlock tab on remote and all windows opened. So i opened the door from the inside.

All the other doors are fine and in full working order. Except drivers door. Opens from the inside just not from outside. I will try again in the morning...

I have a 57 reg passat TDI 170 auto.

Hi, my 06 3b6 passat did the same and in reading and asking to no avail I dismantled the drivers door. I had been told by VW that I required a new lock (£100+). At the start banging the door closed or tapping the lock with a mallet worked for a short time. On removing the lock I discovered firstly that it was a sealed plastic rubbish lock but on studying the moving parts I found a lever which did not return to it's position without help so I attached a small pull spring to it and assembled it all back together again and hey presto it has worked ever since. Although the lock is hard to see in its place it is possible with mirrors to see the lever which sticks and attach a soft pull spring. If the spring is to hard the door will be stiff to open. Hope this is of help to someone

[Crasher]

Something you could only get away with DIY for time cost over new parts reasons and also if a garage did that and the door failed to open at a critical point, the mechanic and garage would be in dire trouble.

[hijamie]

fair point thanks

[Crasher]

On an ostensibly DIY forum like this, I like to give a trade perspective to as much as I can so it helps people understand why professional car repairs cost so much these days. A DIY fix can make the repair we have to do look like a rip off so I think it helps show why, hope you don't mind.