Folks,

The problem of the sliding door stuck closed was caused by the bowden cable
which connects the front latch handle to the rear locking mechanism.

The bowden cable had become unhooked from the slot in the front handle
mechanism, which created a situation in which the cable could not pull hard
enough to pop the rear latch free.  It probably fell off as the door was
closed, so the door could not open again.

Solution is to remove the interior trim panel, put the cable back into its
slot on the forward latch mechanism, tighten the nut holding it to the
slot, and then adjusting the tension on the cable barrel adjuster.

Hope this info can help others in the future!

T.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tobin Copley   Bowen Island, BC, Canada              tobin.copley@ubc.ca

'82 westy 1.6L NA diesel ("Stinky")
'97 son Russell                                   =============
'99 daughter Margaret                            /_| |__| |__|:| clatter
1995: 'Round US, Mexico, Canada 15,000 mi       O|.           .| clatter!
1996: Vancouver to Inuvik, NWT   7,400 km        ~-()-==----()-~
Previous buses: '76 westy deluxe (Daisy), '76 westy standard (Mango)
http://www.sfu.ca/~tcopley/vw/