Interior door handle feels "notchy" mk5 ibiza

[loonymoon]

The last couple of days the drivers interior door handle on my ibiza feels like it's going to break, it feels like it hits a notch before it actuates the door mechanism, it's quite stiff. It's like something is out of place. I can't see anything that looks different about it. The handle on the outside works fine.

What could be wrong and is it an easy fix?

 

[dm222]

Mine also broke last year... they are really bad... it was around 100€ at the dealer to fix it...

 

[loonymoon]

Hmm not good!
Just spent £600 on a new timing chain!

 

[dm222]

Hmm not good!
Just spent £600 on a new timing chain!

SEAT isn't anyomore what it used to be...

I have a 1994 Mk2 in the family with 22 years and it runs a lot better than mine with 7 years.

.

 

[flipdee]

The last couple of days the drivers interior door handle on my ibiza feels like it's going to break, it feels like it hits a notch before it actuates the door mechanism, it's quite stiff. It's like something is out of place. I can't see anything that looks different about it. The handle on the outside works fine.

What could be wrong and is it an easy fix?

The bottom plastic triangular shaped pivot point which is molded out of the same piece of plastic as the rest of the door handle "cup" has broken off (you can see it moving away from the rest of the unit when pulling the handle fully open).
A helpful tip until fixed is, when pulling the door handle open put your thumb on the flat piece of the handle itself beyond the pivot point, this will make opening the door super easy rather than having to push past the notch.
I removed the door card, removed the whole handle assembly, popped out the plastic pivot piece, superglued the broken bit back on and reassembled, infact I glued a super thin additional piece of plastic to reinforce the weak point but you have to be careful of clearances.
The door card and window regulator relationship is an ABSOLUTE NIGHTMARE!
I have to admit, I have had all 4 door cards off this car and holy hell VW (SEAT) REALLY REALLY know how to make it very very hard to work at these things.
However in this case I was very happy being able to save myself a complete fortune fixing the fault with the door myself, and potentially making it even stronger in the process!
Now trying to fix the front passenger window regulator which wont move the window up or down anything further than an inch at a time will be the next challenge, I suspect it's the regulator motor/electronics itself, as the mechanical side of it appears to be fault free, no sticking or stiffness or anything.
The two rear passenger door lock assemblies which now lock and unlock from central locking extremely intermittently (99/100 do not work) look to be a even bigger nightmare to get out and replace and require a multispline tool to do so!
I have driven SEATs for quite some time but all of these faults on our ibiza (amongst a catalogue of others) on my alhambra really don't give me much confidence in the brand anymore.

 

[dm222]

The bottom plastic triangular shaped pivot point which is molded out of the same piece of plastic as the rest of the door handle "cup" has broken off (you can see it moving away from the rest of the unit when pulling the handle fully open).
A helpful tip until fixed is, when pulling the door handle open put your thumb on the flat piece of the handle itself beyond the pivot point, this will make opening the door super easy rather than having to push past the notch.
I removed the door card, removed the whole handle assembly, popped out the plastic pivot piece, superglued the broken bit back on and reassembled, infact I glued a super thin additional piece of plastic to reinforce the weak point but you have to be careful of clearances.
The door card and window regulator relationship is an ABSOLUTE NIGHTMARE!
I have to admit, I have had all 4 door cards off this car and holy hell VW (SEAT) REALLY REALLY know how to make it very very hard to work at these things.
However in this case I was very happy being able to save myself a complete fortune fixing the fault with the door myself, and potentially making it even stronger in the process!
Now trying to fix the front passenger window regulator which wont move the window up or down anything further than an inch at a time will be the next challenge, I suspect it's the regulator motor/electronics itself, as the mechanical side of it appears to be fault free, no sticking or stiffness or anything.
The two rear passenger door lock assemblies which now lock and unlock from central locking extremely intermittently (99/100 do not work) look to be a even bigger nightmare to get out and replace and require a multispline tool to do so!
I have driven SEATs for quite some time but all of these faults on our ibiza (amongst a catalogue of others) on my alhambra really don't give me much confidence in the brand anymore.

I have the same problem but only closing on the rear left door...
What about the rear door panel, are they easy to remove?

 

[flipdee]

I have the same problem but only closing on the rear left door...
What about the rear door panel, are they easy to remove?

Just winders on the two rear doors for me (Thank god) at the very least thats a few things less to go faulty!!!
But I would say the rear door card was probably a little bit easier to remove, however actually working in the door void looks a lot more difficult (mostly because it's a much smaller space).
I never thought I'd say this but I will definately not be buying a smaller car again, at least the alhambra is bigger and stuff like doors are a lot easier to work at yourself.

 

[flipdee]

Hmm not good!
Just spent £600 on a new timing chain!

A New Timing Chain? Jeeees, I dunno, aren't chains supposed to be the holy grail compared to belts? What was wrong with it?

 

[martin0642]

The bottom plastic triangular shaped pivot point which is molded out of the same piece of plastic as the rest of the door handle "cup" has broken off (you can see it moving away from the rest of the unit when pulling the handle fully open).
A helpful tip until fixed is, when pulling the door handle open put your thumb on the flat piece of the handle itself beyond the pivot point, this will make opening the door super easy rather than having to push past the notch.
I removed the door card, removed the whole handle assembly, popped out the plastic pivot piece, superglued the broken bit back on and reassembled, infact I glued a super thin additional piece of plastic to reinforce the weak point but you have to be careful of clearances.
The door card and window regulator relationship is an ABSOLUTE NIGHTMARE!
I have to admit, I have had all 4 door cards off this car and holy hell VW (SEAT) REALLY REALLY know how to make it very very hard to work at these things.
However in this case I was very happy being able to save myself a complete fortune fixing the fault with the door myself, and potentially making it even stronger in the process!
Now trying to fix the front passenger window regulator which wont move the window up or down anything further than an inch at a time will be the next challenge, I suspect it's the regulator motor/electronics itself, as the mechanical side of it appears to be fault free, no sticking or stiffness or anything.
The two rear passenger door lock assemblies which now lock and unlock from central locking extremely intermittently (99/100 do not work) look to be a even bigger nightmare to get out and replace and require a multispline tool to do so!
I have driven SEATs for quite some time but all of these faults on our ibiza (amongst a catalogue of others) on my alhambra really don't give me much confidence in the brand anymore.

Hi there - I tough I'd ask this here rather than start a whole new thread. I'm having the same issue but when I stripped the door down I couldn't see the broken bit you're talking about.

However...........I can't get the door handle cup out of the door card. I don't suppose you could give a bit more info could you? I can't see how to get the wing mirror control out and i'm worried about breaking something important! I've got a new handle assembly on it's way...just need to figure out how to actually get the old one out of the card!

 

[dm222]

Mine just broke again.
To get out you need to remove the whole door card.
It has screws in the back.

 

[martin0642]

Mine just broke again.
To get out you need to remove the whole door card.
It has screws in the back.

Jesus... Again?
I got the screws out, I'm just unsure how the wing mirror control knob comes out and don't want to force it.

 

[dm222]

Again! True story... It was this week....
Just put a knife with some tape in between and play a little to remove so you wont damage.
I found it easier to remove putting the knife in the bottom.
Dont force much to not to break the dents but there is no other way...
Maybe it would be easier to wait for the new part so you csn hsve an overview where the dents are.

 

[martin0642]

Again! True story... It was this week....
Just put a knife with some tape in between and play a little to remove so you wont damage.
I found it easier to remove putting the knife in the bottom.
Dont force much to not to break the dents but there is no other way...
Maybe it would be easier to wait for the new part so you csn hsve an overview where the dents are.

Ouch... Well hopefully mine will survive. Tbh I just wanted to make sure it'll get past the mot. It opens as it is... With the trick mentioned above. Probably not best for mot though.

OK cool, cheers for that. I was on the right track but worth checking.