Golf GTI Horror - Victim Reveals All

[Jeremy]

Yes, the unbelievable truth is...They go wrong! This is my wife Christine's lovely 13 yr old GTI Mk5. Der rear door lock ist kaputt gewesen. So while waiting for a replacement for a suspect radiator fan switch for the E, I spent a fun-packed afternoon with son Ben dismantling and diagnosing.

The electrics are quite wacky when compared to the sixties norm - a 5 second pulse that drops the voltage from 12 to 4V (IIRC) for both locking and unlocking. So there are brains inside the lock it would appear, from which fact I can doubtless infer that a replacement unit is gonna cost ein Arm und ein Bein.
Among other fun facts for the desperately bored:
1. To access the lock you remove the outer door skin, which is held on with 18 bolts - cunning, eh? What would I have given for a detachable outer skin when I was trying to get the Jag window winders to work....
2. No rust ANYWHERE on a 13 year old car that has sat outside its entire life. Not a trace. They don't make em like they used to. Oh no. Athough there are very definite cost cutting measures evident on the Mk8. Oh yes. Probably for the dieselgate fund....

[johnetype]

2. No rust ANYWHERE on a 13 year old car that has sat outside its entire life. Not a trace. They don't make em like they used to. Oh no.

Oh yes, Jaguar still do. A 13 year old Jaguar will reward you with lots of rust, it's depressing reading the monthly JEC magazine with folks listing one corrosion based challenge after another.

[Series1 Stu]

I had a 1988 Audi 100 that Audi wanted to buy off me in 2000 to strip it and assess for corrosion. Shortly after that the extended the corrosion warranty to 12 years.

They didn't buy mine in the end because it had been accident damaged but they did buy quite a few cars back at the time.

Regards

[Durango2k]

15 yr old E class, everyday outside, salt in winter, no serious corrosion.

Carsten

[TomArden]

No corrosion is always good news for any car owner.