VW Golf MK4 Fix Door Handle Staying Out After Pulling Frozen Door Too Hard

There is a design fault in VW Golf MK4 which cause the doors to get frozen shut if temperatures drop after rain. The door rain gutter rubber is covered by some sort of velvet material which soaks water and freezes to the doors.

There seem to be some protective foil part to fix this issue, below are the part numbers:

2 doors        1J3 898 105
4 doors        1J4 898 105
ESTATE/VARIANT 1J5 898 105 or 1J9 898 105

Once you pull the handle too hard, it won't go back in flush anymore. If you try to push it in, you will feel resistance and it will pop back up. Below picture is taken from a UK-MKIVS forum thread as an example to the situation.

To be able to fix this, you will need to remove the lock tumbler part from the door. Pelican parts have great instructions on how to accomplish this. It involves loosening one T20 screw which is conveniently behind a rubber grommet on your door. Below is a picture taken from the pelican parts instructions.

I found out that I needed to turn the screw several times before it got loosen. To not drop it accidentally, I loosened the screw 1-2 turns and check if I can remove the tumbler. When screw was out enough, it felt lose and also tumbler moved about 2mm away from door. From that point, it needed 1-2 more turns for being able to remove the tumbler completely.

Below is a photo where the latches are not in the rail. When you press the handle in, they touch to the rail and this is the reason for the felt back pressure.

Below is a photo after re-seating the latches in position.

The reseating is quite easy. It require a thin screwdriver, should be about 2mm thick. Make sure that it is hard enough to not bend. I used an electronics screwdriver.

I first pulled the handle little bit out towards the lock cylinder opening. It moves few millimeters that direction which helps when re-seating the handle.

Next, by using the screwdriver, I have pulled the lower rear holder/rail outwards as much as possible. Luckily the plastic around the opening protects the paintwork. The screwdriver should be thin enough for the latches on the door handle to be able to pass behind it.

Last step is to push the door handle in, going around the holder/rail parts. It goes rather easily through, and once the handle is in, it can be moved back to its original position.