Mk5 Golf GTI Cannot open drivers door from Inside or Outside

[Omerta11]

Hi All,
2006 Mk5 Golf GTI. I'm unable to open my driver's door from inside or outside.
I can hear the actuator when I lock or unlock using the key fob or the lock/unlock switch on the inside.

Does anyone have any tips on how I might be able to get the door open, or access the actuator without doing any damage to the door?
As the door is shut, it seems to me to be virtually impossible to access anywhere where I can remove the inside door panel to get to the actuator, or even the latch itself.

I've tried banging on the door, locking\unlocking while holding the handle etc.
I've even tried to unhitch the cable that is attached to the exterior door handle, unfortunately it won't go all the way back in to the door, it just moves to a deeper part of the door handle and won't release (I've seen that if you can unhitch the cable, the interior door handle should be able to open the door).

I would very much appreciate any tips.
Cheers.

[Omerta11]

Ok, after a long and arduous process (with a lot of trial and error), I managed to get the door open.

Unlike lots of people on YouTube, the actuator on my door was physically damaged - it was not due to an internal electrical failure, where pulling on the internal cables would force the actuator mechanism to mechanically open.

For the benefit of those who end up in a similar predicament, I’ve roughly detailed what I did - what worked and what didn’t. These things may not work for you, but at least it gives you more options to consider.

Before I outline what I did to successfully get the door open, I’ll mention a few things that didn’t work for me…

The ultimate challenge is getting to the actuator. In my opinion, VW did not design this very well. Sure, it’s great for anti-theft measures, but horrible when it comes to repairs & maintenance.

Removing the interior door card was futile. The door card was not able to be removed completely as there’s a screw that is completely inaccessible from the A Pillar side - you will have to break the clip that the screw goes in to if you want to remove it. I managed to loosen the door card to have a look inside, but all it did was expose the interior metal skin of the door, which does not have any access points to the actuator. Unless you want to get a small angle grinder to cut through the interior metal skin, it’s a waste of time.

Along with partially removing the interior door card, I managed to remove the entire internal cover for the B Pillar that houses the driver’s seat belt mechanism, along with the trim that covers the edging of the B Pillar. This gave me a (very restricted) glimpse of the pin that’s bolted to the B Pillar itself, but not much else. There was no room to feed a camera scope to look further, or even to get a tool in there to try and dislodge the actuator’s latch off the pin.

Trying to access the actuator via the gap between the window and interior door card (after you’ve dislodged it) was also futile. The actuator has a cover on it to prevent dust & water deterioration, so you can’t even see where anything is, and the gap is so narrow it’s almost unworkable. There are a few YouTube videos that show this method works, but it relies on the absence of a cover over the actuator so you can see it, and the ability to remove the door’s window first to make a bigger gap to work in.

This is what worked for me…

I managed to remove the rear passenger door on the drivers side (see YouTube on how to do this) and in doing so I also removed the upper hinge for the rear door that’s bolted to the B Pillar.

Once the rear door and hinge was removed, I was able to gain access to the plastic cover on the side of the drivers door - this came off easily as it’s held in place by a few clips.

Once the cover was off, I was able to access the internal screw that holds the Driver’s Door lock in place (again, there are lots of YouTube videos on how to access the screw, remove the lock, and the door handle).

With the lock and door handle removed on the driver’s door, I now had an access point into the door cavity about the size of a 50c piece, but more importantly I had direct access to the actuator itself.

Using a new replacement actuator as a visual guide, I was able to determine how the actuator was mounted onto the inside of the door, which gave me valuable insight into how I could reach the latch (via the hole from the door lock) that was locked onto the pin, holding the door in a closed state.

From there, I was able to insert a long screwdriver at the correct angle, and using a hammer to brute-force the screwdriver into the actuator, I was able to get the screwdriver to reach the latch and force it to move, thus removing its grip on the pin and opening the door.

Yes, it was likely the result of a bit of luck, but using the new actuator as a visual guide, I was able to work out where to locate and target the latch on the actuator, and force it to move. The actuator was already damaged, so doing more damage to it was inconsequential as it had to be replaced anyway.

This was all achieved by doing no damage to the car at all.

Once the door was open, I was able to access the screws to remove the outer door skin, which gave me full access to the actuator, and replace it with a new one (again, refer to YouTube on how to do this).