Hi i have a 52 plate 9n polo and the passenger side door refuses to open atall from central locking or the inside handle an pin, pulling the inside handle pops the pin up but the door dosnt open an i cant pull the pin further, i cant get the door card off as the doors shut too! any help pleasee it getting rather anyoing now an i have no idea how to beat it.

thanks :)

Hi mate,

It sounds like the handle has come off the guide runners (is the outside handle loose or floppy? No resistance?) unless you've had the lock mech off at some point at which you may have re-attached the bowden cable incorrectly, if this is the case tell us now and we'll go from there. As someone who's worked on the lock mechs I can tell you they're a pain. I've had both problems on a Lupo (inc re-attaching the bowden cable incorrectly) and while this may not be 100% identical for a Polo 9N, the steps from a fairly abstract perspective are the same as the handle and lock mechs are pretty much identical. This is what I posted on Club Lupo about the issue, I hope it can help you:

Basically, behind the handle is a guide mechanism which provides extra resistance tension on the bowden cable when it is pulled by the handle, aka when opening the door. It does this by pulling the handle back which is what allows the bowden cable to rest further back in the lock mechanism increasing the tension, specifically in it's natural resting position, if you get me? The bowden cable, which itself pulls the catch is directly part of the lock mechanism and controls whether the door opens or not. Weirdly, the outer and inner bowden cables are linked somehow and if one is borked or lacking the correct tension, neither will work, which is why you can't open from the inside. The guide which works on a spring-like pivot also provides the effect of being 'flush'. If you pull the handle too hard, this can cause the guide to jump off the runner, which means the guide pivots and fully recesses back to the resting point for when you change handles and you essentially lose all of the extra tension in the bowden cable. The result, is that the cable won't naturally recess back to it's original resting position (as the tension is one-way only) but most importantly prevents you putting enough tension on the cable to release the catch. This is enough in most cases to stop the door being opened. If you're lucky, it might open after multiple pulls. Overly ****ing complicated eh? You bet.

The fix to open the door? Thumping the handle with a clenched fist hard enough that it moved just far enough so when you pulled, there was enough tension to release the catch. Don't forget, the tension is one-way, the further you can move the cable back, the more tension, however it won't do this for you. Not pretty admittedly, but after hitting it several times very hard to just provide a tiny bit of extra tension, the door opened okay (don't dent your door though). I suppose a better way might be to inside the door and pull the bowden cable with needle nose pliers, but really, the whole point of hitting the handle is to allow that process to occur and to move the bowden cable. Once open, initially, I was able to bodge fix this temporarily by moving the bowden cable back, so it recessed more into the mechanism and the tension was somewhat increased. However it meant pulling on the door handle multiple times to simply open the door as there still was nowhere near enough tension, so it was just about pulling repeatedly until there was enough tension (not an exact science).

However today I had a proper good look and worked out from a mechanical perspective how this guide runner thing works. It was just a case of pulling both clips of the runner up and down respectively and pushing them forward so they landed in the handle runner. Few swear words exchanged but nothing too extreme, especially on a Lupo (would be a nightmare on a Golf with all the door cards and insulation ****). Move the bowden cable back to it's original position as not to mess with the original tension and bim bam bosh it's working perfectly again.

I know this isn't the best explanation but I hope it helps. Thumping the handle is genuinely one of the better ways of doing it however pulling the bowden cable with needle nose pliers only works if the bowden cable has recessed far enough. If it hasn't, you won't be able to pull and thumping will be the only way my friend. The only other way you could possibly fix the guide runners without taking the door cards off, is by removing the lock barrel and going from the front, sounds a bloody nightmare though, so door cards off imo.

Feel free to ask any questions and I'll help to the best of my ability.

Edited 19 June, 201412 yr by Skezza

Hey thanks for the info!, it happened a few times on and off but didnt think nothing of it but now its suck closed. am i hitting the inner handle or outer? and how am i ment to get to this cable without opening the door also i only have a lock barrel on drivers side not passengers D: Can see this being a cow of a job for something tiny.

thanks :)

Hey thanks for the info!, it happened a few times on and off but didnt think nothing of it but now its suck closed. am i hitting the inner handle or outer? and how am i ment to get to this cable without opening the door also i only have a lock barrel on drivers side not passengers D: Can see this being a cow of a job for something tiny.

thanks :)

Sorry, you're hitting the outside handle as that's where the tension is lacking due to it slipping off the guide runners Hit it firm but for god sake don't dent your door. Don't hit it with a hammer or anything stupid like that. I hit it with the side of a clenched fist. You do need to put effort in but just be careful. If you hit the handle square on, you won't dent your door because the handle isn't actually attached to the door. If you can, hit the right hand side of the handle as well as that's where the bowden cable attaches too.

Regarding the de-locking, that's not an issue, I assume you just have a blanking plate right? You can remove that very easily.

Report back with how you get on :) Once you get the door open, you should be able to close it and open it without a problem. Your issue will return when you lock it again.

Ohh, and regarding the cable, we're hoping you can get the door open but if not, you would need to take the inner doorcard off, with the door closed. A horrible unpleasant job, but easy enough on a Lupo (behind the door card you have direct access to the mech). No idea how hard on a Polo but it looks seriously hard on a Golf though :(

Edited 20 June, 201412 yr by Skezza

Hey U ARE A LEGEND!!! got in the mota today and gave the door a smack from the inside an pop! she unlocked, it still works as normal a few times but then either dosnt unlock or dosnt lock, seems like its catching on something and a smack sorts it. ill have a crack at taking the door card off this weekend after I've put my mk2 together. thanks for the help made my morning seeing that pin pop up haha :)

Glad it worked mate :)

I'm still gunning for the fact its something to do with the bowden cable as opposed to catching, although if it's catching I'm betting it's the bowden cable catching There's nothing for them to catch on though really. Are you sure your outer handle is definitely flush and straight? If you pull on the handle just a little bit, does it feel floppy? If you pull it, does it return to the natural resting position or do you have to push it back to make it sit back in it's resting position. If not, it's probably on the runners and perfectly fine, however if it's floppy etc then yeah I'm gunning for that. I suppose theoretically it could be your inside handle, especially if hitting that fixed it, just not something I've seen and as the bowden cable to the inside is usually under tension from the handle mech, you normally can't go wrong with that. Still, not beyond the realms of possibility.

You have to consider why a hard impact makes it work, it's because the tension is out when the not seated correctly therefore by hitting it hard your effectively pushing the cable back as far as it goes increasing the tension and returning it to it's natural resting place within the mech. To put this into context, if you re-attach the bowden cable incorrectly, and then make the same mistake, you could effectively render your door unopenable, even with a smack. The only way you could do it is by removing the door cards and pulling and tugging on that bowden cable until it sat right and then once you opened it, you'd need to sort it immediately, or perhaps even remove the lock while you did. That's assuming you did get it open.

Now that you've got a bit of a temporary solution you can have a crack. I would say take the door cards off and check the tension etc. Get the door in a state where it won't open, then pull the cable back using your fingers, does it open? if so, it's a tension issue, narrow down why (e.g. handle mech, cable stretched etc).

Good luck, let us know how you get on and feel free to ask any questions, I'll do my best to help. I might be able find some photos of when I did the Lupo if you like?

hey mate, yeah just left it how it is kinda like the fact i have to punch it to open it, gives it character :P, nah the outer handel is fine, it feels like its not fully engaging or disengaging and a smack finishes it, when its stuck when u pull the door handle i can now pull the door pin and it opens. I'm okay with how it is maby if i can be bothered one day i will have a look inside, thanks for all you are help much appreciated saved me alot of time, swearing and breaking things :P.

thanks again

ollie

yup, sounds like a classic case of bowden cable issues. What specifically is for you to find out