Club 80-90 Forums

Hi,

Just had a major service done on the van and the guy mentioned my locks (cab door/sliding door and tailgate) are a bit worn. I knew this as you really have to fiddle about to get the thing to open/lock. Anyone got any remedies for this? Will I have to buy all new barrels and if so from where and any idea of costs?

Many Thanks

Russell.

If they are a bit sticky.. ..
just squeeze some graphite powder in them.
If you can't find graphite powder (normally pretty cheap) just 'shave' the end of a pencil (not the wood!!!!) into a fold of paper and either blow it into the lock or coat your key in the powder and pop it into the lock. You may have to open and close it a couple of times to work the graphite into the mechanism.
The above is just for sticky locks - anything else I don't know

Yes they wear over time and become less secure - you can rebuild them but it's fiddly and the handle/casting may be worn so getting a few spares and cannibalising may be the way to go - it's what I did anyway.
Here's the link

Mine were the same. Full of "pooh" and the little springs wern't strong enough to spring back in place. Stripped the barrels down and gave em a good clean. Had to replace drivers door though as it was too far worn. Managed to swap the leaves round so I could use the existing key for all doors.

my son lost the van keys in the atlantic ocean (well, Irish Sea) whilst mum and I were watching Portugal trouncing England in a shoreside pub.

I had to break into the van and destroy the steering lock in order to camp/go anywhere. When we got home I purchased a SEAT Cordoba steering column and lock/handle set from the local scrappy for £20. I replaced the ignition barrel/steering lock with the SEAT one and then transferred the springs and little-brass-key-followers-I can't-remember-the-proper-name-for from the SEAT barrels into the barrels of the front doors and tailgate. It's fiddly but I now have one key which does all the work.

If you do this you must be (mad or obsessive) and careful to take bits out in order and replace them likewise, any minor misordering of the bits creates a national lottery scale probability of getting it back together right

Hope this helps

Jim

just one thing to add: on the keys that were lost to the sea there was a really nice chunky chrome VW logo fob, now being molecularly distributed into the oceans. If anyone knows where to get one of these please let me know.

Chees

Jim