1993 VR6 Door Problems

I have a 1993 VR6 which I hate to love (or maybe love to hate) with a boatload of problems. The most frustrating of which is the door issues that I have been dealing with for almost a year now. Neither of the two front doors open from the outside any longer. At first, the door handles/lock mechanisms became loose and shaky and then ultimately they stopped opening the door. The passenger side door will no longer open from the inside either. I have no problems with this flaw, I have perfected the open-the-back-door-lean-in-and-open-the-front-door move, however my tiny girlfriend who likes to drive my car has a hell of a time with this manuever. The shotgun door not opening has severely limited the ability for me to use my car with anyone else in it. I think only my dog has ridden shotgun in the last 6 months. I recently purchased new door handles over the internet, but have run into problems trying to install them and fix the doors. I am reluctant to take it to a mechanic because I foresee another $600 repair bill.
Anyone run into this problem? Any suggestions?

My car also has about a million other issues, however this is the most important to me because if I dont take my girlfriend out on a date using my car soon, I think she's gonna leave. She is sick of walking to the subway all the time.

what problems fitting door handles(outer).

I had very similar problems with my 1997 VW Passat GLX. I have replaced the driver side twice and the passenger side once. I thought I was going to have to replace the passenger side a second time but it was actually something a local mechanic could fix once he got inside the door. I can not remmeber exactly but a pin or something had come out. My only advise is that you go to a local VW mechanic for the installation and avoid the dealer and save some money.

I have a1996 Passat GLX and have had the same problems. If you search google for passat door handles, you should find a site that discusses the problem.

The set pin in the handle assembly comes loose. All you need is a phillips screwdriver and a nimble hand to fix. The pin comes out and you just need to pop it back in. Takes three hands though to hold it aligned. Pretty easy to do. I paid $150 a couple of times before finding out the problem. I am looking into putting a set screw or some other item in to keep the pin from popping out. If anyone has any other suggestions, I would welcome them.

I understand how ya feel, i have a 93 passat vr6 glx and its a sweet car, for it only being my third car at the age of 18, but i constantly find things like that the matter, the driver door is having issues, and i find that when clear i simply leave the window down a bit, and open from inside, - i have a mechanic who is a vw dealer who said that he would install a new one for less than $30 - try a dealer
good luck

Thanks so much for the tip. I just fixed one of my (1996 Passat GLX) doors. I had not gone to the mechanic yet, so I guess I saved a lot of money.

But, my drivers seat door does not open from both the inside and the outside. I cannot open the door and fix it, for that reason. How to repare this?

I have found the link to the web page that deals with the door handle problem on 95-97 Passats (and maybe others).

http://tdi.natescape.com/doorfix.asp

As for fixing door if you cannot open from inside or outside,....The only thing that I can think of is to take apart the passanger side handle to understand how the mechanism works and then use something like a slim-jim or similar to unhook the latch. Once open, you should be able to fix. Alternatively, maybe ask dealer, cop, tow truck driver to perform open as they are all pretty good at getting into cars.

Hope this helps.

Karlos69

I had the same issue with not being able to open my door to fix the door handle. This is caused by the linkage applying tension to the door mechanism, preventing the door form unlocking.

I solved the problem by pulling back the interior door handle and pulling it loose form the door (you should be able to snap the door handle out if you pull it straight away form the door in the open position.

Unhook the linkage from the handle, and push the linkage towards the door lock. Wiggle it back and forth while you try to unlock the door. I was able to get mine open after a few seconds.

I have also had the "door issue" with my 97 VR6. The passenger door would not open from inside or outside and to open the drivers side door you had to pull with all of your body weight. I went to a body shop (at a toyota dealer no less) and they fixed the passenger door by taking it apart piece by piece and streightening a piece of linkage that they say could have been bent simply by slamming the door to hard. (great materials they use). The drivers side door was very easy to fix. They removed the handle by removing the large phillips head screw on the side of the door. The handle came out and there was a pin completely missing. As there wasn't a replacement pin available, they used a finishing nail and just jammed it in or something. Both doors have worked fine ever since. They charged me $40. Not to bad.