mkV rear door lock

[ericcs]

has anyone had the misfortune of being unable to open their rear door. the solenoid can be heard working, but the door won't open with the handles. have been informed the only way to open it is to cut out the outside door panel to gain access to the door lock, then re skin it once repaired.
is there an easier access option?

[Umai Naa!!]

Apparently you can pull both the inner and outer handle at the same time, and it'll open.

If that fails, the inner door trim will come off with the door closed, and you can drill a hole in a certain spot in the door (on the inside) and through into the locking mechanism to release it.

Depending on how accurate you are with your hole, it can be covered up by the inner door trim.

[polski_ogurek]

There's a few threads already about this issue. Have a search. People have had success in a few different ways of opening the doors.
Once open. Don't close it again. Or you will be back at square 1.

Sent from my galaxy spaceship

[grtuned]

Cut out the outside door panel??? That ludicrous information is from some clown who has no knowledge at all. Umaii na has given you the correct method. You can also try a very long flat head screw driver and insert it through the window channel and try and break the lock. Be careful as you can do other damage. Cheers.

[ericcs]

yes the door skin blew me away, hence why i'm asking the question.
will try some of the the methods stated on the forum
it would be handy if there was a precise spot to do the drilling method

[polski_ogurek]

I mentioned this somewhere else in the mk5 section. But the way dad and I did it was quite simple.
Basically, One person was pulling on both inside and outside handles constantly. And one unlocking and locking the doors using the key in the drivers door. Worked twice. Then we took the lock out and somehow jammed the door till we got a new mechanism.

That was in a mk5 jetta

Hope that makes sense.

Sent from my galaxy spaceship

[Umai Naa!!]

Yeah, that's the correct method if you can get it to work.

I might have a template for drilling somewhere, but all my stuff is spread from one end of the garage to the other at the moment as I'm changing vans. I'll see what I can turn up this afternoon.

[Umai Naa!!]

Cut out the outside door panel??? That ludicrous information is from some clown who has no knowledge at all.

Yeah, that's a bit extreme.

[snoopin99]

I have the same issue, rear drivers side door won't open, i put the rear window down, push the unlock button on the drivers door and pull the handle on the inside of the back door, time it right and it opens every time, then it will be ok for a day or so and then stop working. Only way to fix it is replace the door lock module. (about $500 fitted)

[polski_ogurek]

Hit up your local VW wrecker(paid$125 for ours IIRC), if you're handy with a few tools, then it is very easy to swap out, total time would be about an hour to strip the door down, replace lock and put the door back together, plenty of write ups on how to do it out on the interwebs, hit up google.
Then

[ericcs]

so you were lucky to have the door open when you changed yours?