Rear exterior door handles

[shaunfriend]

Does anyone know how these come off?

In the ice this morning it seems that whatever mechanism is attached to the handle to open the door from the outside has become disconnected. The door still opens fine from the internal handle.

Anyone had to do this before?

 

[ktulumike]

are you sure it's not just frozen. Leave it in the sun til later and try it again

 

[shaunfriend]

are you sure it's not just frozen. Leave it in the sun til later and try it again

That would be great but wishful thinking I reckon... its flapping around like nothing is connected....

 

[chrisboyle999]

there is a guide somewhere in here, possibly in a speaker thread.

ill have a quick shuftie....

 

[Bedlam]

The handle is connected to the lock by a sleeved cable (a bit like a clutch cable), maybe moisture in that has frozen up, is it one or both rear doors?

Not trying to be clever but you did double click the key fob to fully unlock from the car exterior didn't you?

 

[darkhorse]

Sounds like the cable has slipped off the handle. Take a look at http://forums.vwvortex.com/zerothread?id=1015107 from instruction 17. I'd try removing the lock blanking piece first to see if the cable has actually come off. Unfortunately I think the rear handle/lock assemblies are slightly different to the front and I'm not sure how the blanking piece comes out without seeing one in the flesh.
If it is the cable that has detached, don't put tension in it when you refit it, otherwise you'll run into other opening problems.

 

[Jace]

I've changed my rear handles to Cupra gloss black ones & I can tell you, its a bugger of a job & I doubt very much the cable has slipped off.

I'm guessing its iced up, leave it in the sun & it should defrost.

 

[johnbev]

Warranty, much too much hassle to do yourself when its covered, that is unless its out off course But it is poss frozen as already mentioned...........

 

[shaunfriend]

Thanks for all your reply's

Will go and place the car in the sun in a moment and see what happens.

Don't fancy what looks like a massive job if it is broken though

Cheers

 

[Adam's Cupra]

Mine also done this when we had the last cold snap, it was because it was frozen and was fine after it defrosted!

Booked it in with seat then went to take it down and it was working lol

 

[darkhorse]

If the cable attached to the handle is tight, it doesn't let the external handle operate either. Try pushing the door closed first (even though its already closed) - what I'm trying to get at is when you unlock the doors, go to the problem door, turn round and bash it with your bum where the lock is!

Worked on my passat and the issue is due to the cable to the handle being slightly under tension

 

[Bedlam]

If the cable attached to the handle is tight, it doesn't let the external handle operate either. Try pushing the door closed first (even though its already closed) - what I'm trying to get at is when you unlock the doors, go to the problem door, turn round and bash it with your bum where the lock is!

Worked on my passat and the issue is due to the cable to the handle being slightly under tension

mmmm maybe the extreme cold has caused the cable to tighten by contraction and/or freeze up

 

[Cupranation]

I had the opposite problem earlier in the week on a really cold morning. Opened the rear door from the outside, it opened but then refused to latch shut. The exterior handle was all floppy and of course I couldnt drive anywhere becuase I couldn't keep the door shut!
Waited 20 mins with the heater on full blast kept fiddling with it and it pinged back and was fine. Came to the conclusion that it was due to frost. I now never attempt to open the rear doors when it is really cold until the car has warmed through.

 

[shaunfriend]

Thanks to everyone who replied... much to my disbelief it was actually the cold causing the problem. It certainly didn't feel like it was but it started working later on during the day.

Thinking back I suspect washing the car the previous day didn't help matters as its -3 out there again now and is working fine at the moment...

Cheers for all of your comments

 

[dazjb69]

I had the opposite problem earlier in the week on a really cold morning. Opened the rear door from the outside, it opened but then refused to latch shut. The exterior handle was all floppy and of course I couldnt drive anywhere becuase I couldn't keep the door shut!
Waited 20 mins with the heater on full blast kept fiddling with it and it pinged back and was fine. Came to the conclusion that it was due to frost. I now never attempt to open the rear doors when it is really cold until the car has warmed through.

I had this same problem too, I got the missus to press the door lock button while I leant on the door!! Opening the boot is a joke too the handle has been frozen solid the last few mornings.

 

[Harry_Crack]

Same thing with my rear door handle, frozen up so the door wouldn't shut after it was opened. Fortunately a bit of fiddling sorted it.

 

[scokem]

Glad I found this thread I had the exact same issue this morning before I left for work - ended up having to press the lock doors button then shutting the door to keep it shut, but then I couldn't open it from outside... Needed to get to work thought and didn't have time to mess around with it so I thought it was gonna be a call to the dealership at some point but I'll check it when I go back to it tonight and hopefully it'll be ok.