At 01:17 AM 8/18/00 -0400, kathy jacobs wrote:
>Please reply to <mailto:opawalt@my-deja.com>opawalt@my-deja.com
>This was posted on the aircooled newsgroup.
>Help!! My 1981 VW Vanagon has a new problem. The
>sliding door will NOT open. I have taken apart
>everything I can to try and understand the
>problem, but the final disassembly requires the
>door to be open and that is the problem!
>
>Has anyone out there ever heard of this problem
>or what I can do about it? I really hate to use a
>torch. Any ideas would be welcome.

This just happened to my '82, wow small world!  The front catch was not
opening but the rear was.  The solution was strange,  the cable that goes
from the forward latch to the rear latch was not seated properly in it's
holder at the front latch.  To fix it I adjusted the little adjuster to
lengthen the cable a little touch.  Then I placed it back in it's holder
(through the notch) and gave the door a try.  Voila, it worked.   Why the
cable going to the back was keeping the front from working is a new one to me.

The hard part was getting the old door panel clips out without trashing the
panel.  I was not successful with that.  But i figure a nice sheet
of  melamite  would be a decent replacement.

I hope this helps

Chris Smith
'82 Westy, T.U.R.D.
'74 Thing. Thingy
Some cars that really run

-- Lowering property values since 1982! --

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