2003 Passat Door locked shut with deadlock on and no central locking response

The above is clearly familiar to many judging by the number of web posts both here and on other forums. Having
trawled the net for an answer and trying every plausible solution offered without success, I decided to tackle the job
in the following manner, which led to a successful outcome for an outlay of 22.99, a fair chunk of time and a
screwdriver injury to my left thumb, oh and a couple of 8mm holes in the interior door skin...
1.
Assuming you can open the opposite door, strip this one first. Why? Because you then have a frame of
reference for how things should appear when correctly assembled. Doing this allowed me ascertain how the
deadlock works (and why its such a pig to override). The lock assembly looks like this...

Securing Screw

Interior opening arm (operated

by interior handle)

locking arm (nylon)

shown in unlocked
position

locking arm (steel)

shown in unlocked
position

The steel and nylon locking arms rotate about 20 (anticlockwise on the RH assy shown above) when the door is
locked, making the exterior handle inactive but as you know the interior one still works unless the deadlock is
applied. The deadlock mechanism is an over-centre geometric lock applied by the mechanism inside the green
plastic cover its the second whirring sound you hear when the car is locked. To deactivate it mechanically, you
remove the securing screw from the locking arms, whereupon springs will go various places and the two arms will
detach and the deadlock is overcome the door can now be opened and you now know why you want your
assembled lock as a reference to reassemble the other one...
But, how do you get the lock assembly out when the door is locked? Read on...

2.
Removing the inoperative lock with the door locked shut. First remove the door interior trim. This involves
prising out the centre trim of the door grab handle and removing the two screws revealed beneath. There is a third
screw at the bottom of the door just forward of the door speaker. Whilst a little fiddly, this can also be removed
(using an appropriately size torx bit). Unclip the panel from the door and lift it clear of the window edge before
detaching (as required): Interior handle Bowden cable, Window switch wiring, Tweeter wiring, Bottom door light
wiring
With the door trim panel removed youll be looking at the pressed steel component carrier, which also needs to
come out but the lock is attached to this as well as being bolted into the door in a place thats inaccessible with the
door closed...
3.
Fortunately, all that fixes the door lock to the component carrier are 2 plastic rivets. These are located on
the side of the carrier furthest from the hinges and in my case were black. Drill them out for now. Detach the
electrical plugs from the door pillar and pass them through the plastic channel into the car so that theyre free from
obstruction, release the door locking indicator knob from the actuating rod that passes through the grommet
adjacent to the lock side of the door, released the window glass from the carrier (by carefully driving out the inner and outer
nylon pegs (take care because they can hit the inside of the door skin and could cause a dent if hammered too far and too hard), which are
visible through the inspection port with the window fully wound down, and lifting the glass back up and taping it in the closed position) and

remove the bolts attaching the carrier to the door, it can now be prised off. Carefully manoeuvre the carrier away
from the door whilst passing the locking rod and door opening cable through their respective openings. Recover the
two nylon pegs that hold the window glass from the inside bottom of the door.
The next part requires some drilling of the door panel itself the price you pay for this approach...
4.
Using the other door as a reference, mark the point on the inside of the door panel where the securing
screw mentioned above will be... I did this by measuring the location of the securing screw in relation to the child
lock actuator then refitting the lock to the door, whereupon the child lock actuator appears in its opening. Applying
the mirror image of the measurements (bearing in mind the visibility restriction with door closed you need to use
other points of reference too) taken earlier will allow you to mark where the securing screw will lie under the panel
this will be immediately adjacent to the door seal rubber and its worth sliding some cardboard over the top of this
to prevent scuffing from the drill bit. When youve marked the location, drill a hole the panel is double skinned
here - large enough to
expose the screw head as
You cannot see past this
shown below (youll note
line with the door closed...
that I took 3 attempts to
locate it but this was my
first time...)
Hopefully, youll now be
looking at the securing
screw for the locking arms.
Remove this and various
components will drop into
the door and the door will
open with the exterior
handle...

5.
With the door open the lock assembly can be removed and either repaired or replaced as you see fit. The
plastic rivets drilled out earlier are simply replaced with nuts, bolts and appropriate washers and the whole thing is
reassembled on the bench before refitting to the car. Test everything electrical before final assembly...
6.
The cause of my lock failure was a dirty armature in the lock motor preventing a good connection so the
motor wouldnt run. Cleaning it and applying a good dose of WD40 were enough to fix the problem. The 22.99
motioned at the beginning was for a set of splined bits (you could just buy one but its a welcome addition to the
toolbox) to remove the door lock screws without destroying them. The thumb injury was just clumsy.
7.
The application of some Duck Tape over the holes drilled resulted in an invisible repair when the door is
closed...