98 VW Polo. Key in driver door can only lock doors (can't unlock)

Slydice

I tried to get my full problem into the thread title. So I have a 1998 Volkswagen Polo.

The driver door lock does central locking for the car. Last night when I went to get into the car (by unlocking the driver side lock), it didn't unlock and I felt like something came loose.

So now I can't open the car using the driver side door

I can still use the driver side door to lock the car. It still locks all the doors of the car if I use my key in it. It just doesn't open any door any more.

So, I was wondering if anyone knows how I could go about getting this fixed?

Would I need to bring it to a Volkswagen dealer? Would a regular mechanic be able to sort it out? Would one be better than the other? Could I save myself a bundle of money by doing it one way over the other?

Any recommendations on people who could fix this in the dublin area?

Muckie

If your handy with a few tools, i'd take off the inside door
panel. Giving you access to the inside of the lock mechanism.
Its my guess when you say you heard something come loose.
It could be something simple like a retaining spring on the barrel.
No harm in looking around the bottom of the door well, see what
broke off what. If unsure take it to a local mechanic. Not a major job.

Kid Nothing

It's probably the door lock itself. I wouldn't be trying to do it myself unless you were very handy at DIY, door panels can be a pain and there's a fair few connections on the inside of the Polo's that need to come off that you don't want to break.

Bring it to a local independent mechanic and ask him to have a look. Don't bother with a main VW dealer.

Slydice

Thanks for the replies.

I'd like to try out that mechanic idea. Is there a web directory of mechanics around dublin? I'm thinking of trying the golden pages. Sound good?