Manual Sliding Door problem

laurentfox · Jun 27, 2015

Hi all,
I have a 2005 T5 with a sliding door that you must shut manually. When it latches, the rear part closes by itself. At least it's supposed to. I've been having this problem for a couple of years where it was intermittent, then I would push the rear part of the door to help it along, and now it seems I have to slam the door and push at same time to get it to completely close. I took it to a VW repair place and they said they couldn't repair it (can't remember what the reason was). Any thoughts on a possible solution? Thanks for any help. Cheers.

motacyclist · Jun 28, 2015

I have a 2014 with the same intermittent fault, although it hasn't happened for a while.

Apparently this has worked for some people, if you turn the ignition on and open/close the door it resets it ("the brain"), so worth try ...

laurentfox · Jun 28, 2015

motacyclist said:
I have a 2014 with the same intermittent fault, although it hasn't happened for a while.

Apparently this has worked for some people, if you turn the ignition on and open/close the door it resets it ("the brain"), so worth try ...

Thanks Motacyclist, I did see that trick when searching the forum but I assumed it was for the Cali that has the sliding door that closes automatically, ie at the pressing of a button? Mine you have to slide by hand and it's just at the very end when the latch seems to engage and close it completely that it's been hanging up. I will give it a try though! Cheers!

WelshGas · Jun 28, 2015

Make sure the plug and socket contacts on the leading edge of the sliding door are clean. They provide the power to the latching mechanism.

laurentfox · Jul 1, 2015

Thanks WelshGas, I did clean them but still the same problem, just won''t go into that final slide in.

Motacyclist, I tried also with the ignition on and the door close/open, and no luck.

Thanks Gents!

barry · Jul 1, 2015

I have a different problem with my manual sliding door. There appears to be some obstruction when it is halfway along its slide that a degree of force is needed to complete the slide (closed).
The top rail and the bottom rail appear clear and I've cleaned out whatever crud there was there and the plastic wheels appear to turn easily. These two rails seem to offer guides for th slide rather than take the weight?
The middle rail seems to take the weight and it seems to be along this rail that the obstruction occurs in the middle of the slide. Trouble is, everything is out of view so I can't see what's going on. I've squirted some 'white grease' upwards into slot that seems to hold the sliding mechanism and things are much better but not perfect.
Any ideas?
btw The electric motor that kicks in at the end of the slide that draws the door towards the body of the van (like the tailgate) works fine.

bcasey · Jul 5, 2015

Hi, I bought the new Haynes Manual for the T5, (Ref. No. 5743) which is only out a month or two, it includes information on how to get into the middle slide and hopefully find what is causing the problem. It doesn't deal with the Cali specifically, but is probably a must-have for anyone with DIY tendencies?

Unfortunately, it's a bit flimsy compared to the hard backed Haynes of the past. Cost about €24 from Halfords in Ireland, and cheaper online. There may be an online download available, but for UK only, so no use to me!

barry · Jul 5, 2015

bcasey said:
Hi, I bought the new Haynes Manual for the T5, (Ref. No. 5743) which is only out a month or two, it includes information on how to get into the middle slide and hopefully find what is causing the problem. It doesn't deal with the Cali specifically, but is probably a must-have for anyone with DIY tendencies?

Unfortunately, it's a bit flimsy compared to the hard backed Haynes of the past. Cost about €24 from Halfords in Ireland, and cheaper online. There may be an online download available, but for UK only, so no use to me!

Good spot: must get it, thanks

RichardThorpe · Mar 13, 2023

laurentfox said:
Thanks WelshGas, I did clean them but still the same problem, just won''t go into that final slide in.

Motacyclist, I tried also with the ignition on and the door close/open, and no luck.

Thanks Gents!

Hi LaurentFox, we are having exactly the same problem. Did you fix it! What worked?

flying banana · Mar 13, 2023

RichardThorpe said:
Hi LaurentFox, we are having exactly the same problem. Did you fix it! What worked?

Its an old thread so assume it's fixed by now . If your soft close isn't working or intermittent try spraying duck oil or wd40 here. This is the cam that pulls the door in