Glove Box Repair - Splitting open the door

[Bob Kontak]

2002 1.8 with a glove box door that will not close. The plastic pins that hold it into the frame have retracted and will not release. Many discussions calling for replacement of the door and the door halves are glued so I figured it was worth a try. The door handle was fine in my case.

Split the door open with two flat blade screwdrivers starting at the bottom of the door. The shell plastic is very strong and did not break as I worked my way around the perimeter. One screwdriver held it open to let the other in and it was just a moderate prying exercise as the glued points popped open.

Once open I found one of the plastic pivot shafts the pivot arms move on - to move the door stay pins in and out - had broken off rendering the assemble useless.

I cleaned off the broken mounting points with brake cleaner and JB Weld-ed the broken shaft/pin into place. It is cheap plastic part so I gooped on the JB Weld around the outside of the piece as well as under the two thin plastic legs that hold it on. (Legs were the shear point) Repeated gooping on the other pin to add strength. Do not get the JB Weld built up where the arms pivot on the upper part of the pivot shaft.

After the glue set up, I drilled a hole through the cast hole in the pivot shaft all the way through the back of the door. I used a long 10-32 bolt entering through the outside of the freshly drilled holes and installed a washer and two nuts to help add strength to the assembly. Cut off the extra bolt length and glued it back together and that glue is drying now. Seems to work ok.

I did not include pics of every step as it is pretty understandable once you are in there plus your assemble may be broken in a different spot than mine.

[Bob Kontak]

Also here is a pic of the "damage" I did with the screwdrivers. It is not visible from the outside and is not bad considering I did the job for about two dollars and a couple of hours time.

I have pics of the glove door frame and where to remove the hinge pins if anyone is interested.

[dnyed]

Nice work! My glovebox is OK, it's the armrest cover that won't lock closed.

[Bob Kontak]

$18 fix for the latch.

Armrest lid latches for VW Golf Jetta Passat TDI - AARodriguez Corp.

Check out his other stuff too for when the hinges go bad.

Double check to see if it fits New Beetle.

[Unbeatleble]

yea i was lucky with my parts beetle, the other two have broken center consoles, but the parts one had a good one, was first ive seen, most are broken there, sucks when you fold it back and all ure stuff falls out on the rear floor, lol

[Bob Kontak]

Beetle is my wife's car and she has the matching yellow wheels with the yellow leather interior. Armrest with the leather is $400 plus. I'll just buy the aftermarket hinge from the guy I mentioned above.

[Unbeatleble]

yea, really like the look of those cars, hard to find around here though, seen one in kijiji locally here, but too high of price for the kms on it

[Reenie Of the Dead]

Originally Posted by dnyed

Nice work! My glovebox is OK, it's the armrest cover that won't lock closed.

I made a loop with velcro and slip it over the two halves. It holds well, and slips off when I need it.

[Reenie Of the Dead]

I removed the lock and finally opened the glove box. Now I have a hole which I fixed with,,,wait for it... long velcro fastening that loops around the grab bar. According to my brother my world is held together with duct tape, velcro and epoxy. (Actually he said my computer is held together with baling wire and chewing gum.)

[esse10]

good job and great diy thread. The door handle is what was broke in mine so I think I'm SOL. The actual plastic part where the metal pins go through on the handle are broke, been without a glovebox door for a year now.....LOL just not in my priority list and will get around to it some day. JB Weld is a wonderful product I use it every chance I get.

[John R]

Bob - great post! Thanks for documenting your work. A stupid question...before you can work on the door, how do you get it out of the car? Do you have to take the dash apart?

Thanks in advance.

John