How can I get this door open?

[drew at scirocco.cs.uoguelph.ca (Drew MacPherson)]

On rear doors that have the child safety latch engaged (ie. can't be 
opened from the inside) I break the door handle off the outside - it's 
pretty easy to do with the one screw removed - the door handle breaks 
easily and cleanly.

It's more likely that the latch mechanism is frozen (or broken) than the 
handle if you can't open the door from the inside.  It's possible that the 
unlocking lever and/or the interior door-pull lever have broken, in which 
case breaking the door handle off will should allow you to access the 
latch mechanism enough to engage the lock release/door release.

If there's a chance the mechanism is frozen, try a hair dryer/heated 
garage first.

If the latch mechanism is FUBAR, then you don't want to know what happens 
next.

Drew


On Sun, 11 Jan 2004, Daun Yeagley wrote:

> Ok, I've got a real problem here.
> 
> I went to have a look at a friend's GLI as his driver's
> door decided not to latch in the recent cold snap.  I got
> the mechanism apart and dumped out the small broken piece
> which appeared to be part of the locking mechanism, not the
> latch.  Re-installed, closed the door and...   it will not
> open, no resistance to the door handle.
> 
> My question is, how the hell do I get the door back open so
> the mechanism can be replaced?
> 
> =====
> Daun Yeagley - Wilmington Ohio
> '81 S, '85, '86 & '88 Sciroccos, '96 Passat GLX Wagon, '56 Cessna 172
> For Sale: '90 Passat Wagon, '82 Scirocco.
> "My rabbit has a human foot on his keychain.  That's not the scary part.  What I wanna know is what those keys are for." - The Four Postmen
> 
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