Interesting. The door on my '85 started doing the same thing, popping open while driving. However, in my case I had just installed one of the Delrin sliding door bushings made by Mark I VW's. I noticed when I installed the bushing the handle got harder to move. At first I thought the bushing was just a little to snug, but with the handle removed from the door the bushing fit fine, so it had to be that the lock mechanism was slightly off center. I loosened all the mounting screws and then re- tightened it and it has been fine ever since. jeff

Jeff Stewart

----- "John Rodgers" <inua@CHARTER.NET> wrote:

David,

Since you brought up a sliding door lock issue - in this case the
electric lock - here is another slider door lock issue that is
no-n-electric.

My sliding door on my '88 GL started just popping open at odd times.
Very bad news if you have kids or the family dog back there and are
whizzing down the road at speed. I inspected the lock and didn't really
find anything obvious, but I couldn't stop the problem. I called
Camelback VW in Phoenix and they told me that there was a problem with
the lock, and it had been re-designed and replacements were now
available. I bought a lock - at the time about $75 - and installed it.
Problem solved. Door had not popped open unexpectedly since. When I got
the lock I looked at it and saw that a metal tab had been added. That
seemed to be the only difference, but it made a difference.

BTW - as a VW Dealership - Camelback (Parts - 800-876-5199) has always
given pretty good prices, and goes out of the way to satisfy customers.
It always makes a difference when talking to the parts department to let
them know you are a subscriber to the Vanagon List and learned of them
through the group. I have used them for a long time for parts I can't
get from our regular list vendors.

John

John Rodgers
Clayartist and Moldmaker
88'GL VW Bus Driver
Chelsea, AL
Http://www.moldhaus.com

On 10/14/2010 9:29 AM, David Beierl wrote:
> If you have a stubborn or recurring problem of the sliding door power
> lock not working, clean the contacts thoroughly with 1500-grit
> sandpaper. If that doesn't work, carefully file down the wear
> grooves in the spring-loaded contacts so they're at least mostly
> gone. That makes sure the contact is on the little raised dots on
> the door connector, which are the only part you can keep bright and
> shiny.
>
> Yours,
> David
>
>