Okay so one day I go to lock my car, I do it manually with the key, and I turn it both ways and nothing happens. I go to the other side and try that door and it locks and the alarm goes on b/c the red light is blinking on the driver's side. So then yesterday I go to the routine lock the car and I try it from the passenger side and try it and just like the other side it has no effect. The doors lock and unlock okay when you are sitting in the car but when you try the key nothing happens. It's so weird that all of a sudden within a few weeks of each other they both don't work. Do you guys think its the door handle or something inside the door came apart? Also would it be cheaper just to put an alarm in or try and get it fixed? Thanks for the help.

 

You didn't say what car you have, but I think I remember you have a MK3 VR. When you say they open fine from the inside, you mean they still open when you hit the button on the dash? If they still open that way it is not a vacuum leak. The power locks are opened and closed by vacuum lines. It may be a coincidence that boh door handles went bad within a short amount of time. My suggestions would be to get new door handles. You can get them online for about 20 bucks each, and they are complete handles with all required bits, not just the handle. They will come with a new key, or you can change over the lock tumbler from the old door handles to keep your factory key. When you turn the key in the lock is there any "feeling" there are absolutely nothing? Way back when I first got my car, something similar happened to me, only the driver side though. There is a metal hook inside the handle that connects to the lines to open and close the lock, and that had broke off, therefore the lock was unusable.

 

Yeah sorry I have a MK3 VR. Yeah if you are sitting in the car with the doors closed and you hit lock and unlock then both locks work up and down. When I turn the key there is no feeling it's just up or down and nothing happens. Maybe my best bet is to take the door pannel off and look in there....I'll have to do so when I get back from X-Mas, thanks for the help.