S3 glove box lock – mystery solved

[lordofthewings]

Dismantling and refurbing the lock was another of those “been meaning to sort it” jobs, which I finally got around to. And as always, it needed a bit of research and more tools and more time than I anticipated.
Getting the domed nut / friction washer / arm / locknut apart was easy, but what the various threads on PH didn’t seem to mention is that there is a big 26mm nut that holds the barrel of the lock in place inside the glove box lid. As I discovered with a powerful torch and a small mirror, to see what I was doing. Unfortunately I didn’t have a long 26mm socket, and was tempted to bodge it with an approximately right-size open-ended spanner, but in the end borrowed a socket from a mate. With the big nut and underlying washer removed, the lock barrel pulls/presses out of the glovebox lid, but it has flats which engage with matching flats cut into the fibreglass, so don’t be tempted to rotate it or you will wreck it.
Once out of the car, it was evident how the Southco lock mechanism works – a quarter turn clockwise to move the arm to engage with the slotted latch, and then (the reason they fall open) a further quarter turn is needed to pull the arm towards you and “lock” it in place. But only if the lock is in good nick and not full of grit and grot, and of course that action isn’t normally visible with the lid closed ! Evidently the reason most S3/S4/V8S gloveboxes droop, is that the arm of the lock mechanism wears – I fixed mine with a short piece of small-bore brass tubing to increase the effectiveness of the little bent finger at the end of the lock arm. While the Southco key seems to be a universal item (lots of them on Ebay from £1 upwards), the key has the number 715 cast on the inside of the barrel, so that’s something to check for.
I cleaned/degreased/re-pained the parts, and it all went back together in just a few minutes, much quicker than I got it apart, including the 26mm nut which doesn’t need to be torque’d down and can be just an enthusiastic finger-tight*. Result: a neatly aligned and secure glove box lid (the hinges have dropped slightly with use, and they are annoyingly inaccessible for adjustment). Must say, this all sounds somewhat obsessive and it all seems a bit over-engineered for safeguarding the stuff I keep in mine (tyre pressure gauge, selection of spanners and screwdrivers, and a piece of artfully bent wire coat hanger to access the boot emergency pull cable). Incidentally on a previous S, I finally got the lock open (not the way described above, but using a bigger hammer) only to discover a former owner had locked-away an old tin of Zubes (remember them ?), an expired car park ticket, an emergency copy of a top-shelf mag, and a pair of sunglasses with only one lens – maybe it does send you blind….

P.S.: thanks to phillpot for suggesting I do in fact torque it down snugly.

Edited by lordofthewings on Saturday 11th August 15:49

Edited by lordofthewings on Saturday 11th August 15:50

[phillpot]

lordofthewings said:

the hinges have dropped slightly with use, and they are annoyingly inaccessible for adjustment

A pair of 8mm cap head bolts into threaded inserts set in the fibreglass (same as boot lid near enough), there is no adjustment.



I reckon you should have torqued that big nut up

[lordofthewings]

You know.... you're probably right. The socket goes back tomorrow, so I will have another go (after all it will now only take me a few minutes). The trick will be to snug it up just enough before that awful fibreglass cracking noise that tells me I've overdone it.....

[tdiquattro]

Little bit of this, so handy! I use it all the time...

https://www.halfords.com/motoring/paints-body-repa...