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Mon Jun 02, 2003 9:04 am

i have a 76 westy, i replaced both driver and pass side outer door handles. the key wont turn the pass side and is hard to unlock the drivers side. do i need the lock mechanism or what? also my outer sliding door handle wont work. i took the panel on the inside off and noticed that when the handle is moved it wont seem to grab anything on the inside for it to unlock or unlatch? any ideas or info- thanks a lot

Mon Jun 02, 2003 12:15 pm

Sometimes if you tighten the screws inside too much you can't use the lock.

Mon Jun 02, 2003 6:26 pm

One possibility is that the door lock springs need replacing.
There is an article on type2.com called "Replacing the '69-79 Bus Front Door Lock Spring" by Ron Van Ness, October 17, 1998. Go to the Library and look under doors. I followed this procedure and changed a non-working door lock into a working door lock. Note that I haven't been able to locate the spring at any of the usual on-line parts sources, but at the recommendation of one of them, I contacted a dealer's VW parts department and the spring is still in the VW parts inventory. Costs a couple of bucks each.

If you find out about the sliding door, put up a post. I have a problem that sounds similar - push down the handle and nothing happens. But if I grab the back edge of the door with finger tips and pull it slides right open. Seems like some kind of spring problem, but .....

Tue Jun 03, 2003 7:33 pm

I had this same problem too with my 70. I ended up taking the lock mechanism out and found the plastic cover had cracked causing the lock to be very hard to turn. Removed the plastic and put the lock back in at it works great. I dont know about the slider though.