Rear door won't open

alleycat`

Had a passat with the same issue.
Lose connector block was the issue in my case.
Pretty simple fix and it never failed again in the time i had the car (4 years).

Ximian

colino wrote: »

You haven't ruled out a wiring fault. A partial break in the wiring, poor conductivity in the connectors, or even a partially jamming solenoid may well give the similar noise of a properly working unit, but it's not throwing the mechanism enough to open/close properly. Get the basics checked before you throw money at parts.

True, but I meant to say that the lock appears to have a live electrical connection at least, but you're right it doesn't rule out an electrical fault entirely. I'll take your advice and have a good look at the lock once it's removed and lubricate the moving parts. It does sound like a faulty solenoid or as you mentioned a partially jamming solenoid as in the past the door would work more often during summer and at one stage I even thought the problem had gone away since I could open the door every time. There was one time that the door wouldn't open and I bumped the door with the palm of my hand a few times and it opened afterwards. I hardly ever use the rear doors and have had the car for 4 years and I'm wondering if that's one of the reasons for the lock fault.

Ximian

Update on the issue: the door lock module is faulty, it's not engaging a lever that moves into position which allows the door to be opened from outside. I'll see if I can open the unit for closer inspection, if not there are some used one's on eBay for £35 upwards.
Removing the inner door panel/card is easy, the outer skin did not need to be removed (I've seen that on some VW cars the outer skin is removed)