It's been like this since it was new. When the windows are closed the doors have to be slammed shut pretty hard to close all the way. Crack either window open and they close easily. There's a plastic grill on the back of the cab behind the seats, I'm thinking of enlarging the slots to see if that'll fix it. When it was still under warranty, the dealer replaced the door rubbers but that didn't fix it. There's no door misalignment and it's never been wrecked. Anyone else have this problem?

 

Supposedly, that was one of the selling points of the older Beetles -- they fit so tightly, you had to roll down the window to close the door.

I doubt that's your problem, but I really don't know. I would check the lock strike fit first. http://personal.utulsa.edu/~nathan-b.../3frontdoo.pdf You could coat the strike with lampblack (a burning candle or cigarette lighter will usually do it) to see where there's contact.

 

It's not the lock latch or door alignment, been there already. Even opening the sliding rear window lets the doors close easily. It's too airtight with the windows closed. You can even feel the heater fan blow faster when a window is cracked open. I'm still sure modifying the vents at the back of the cab might fix it.

 

Can't get to the plastic rear cab vent without taking the bed off. I fired up my air compressor and blew it out from inside, it vents next to the side seat belt mounts and around back to the plastic grill. I found a couple 1 1/4" rubber plugs at the back of the cab, removing them helps a bit. I cleaned and armor-all'd all the door seals. I still have to leave any window cracked open to close both doors without slamming them.

 

And if you leave the air controls to fresh instead of recirc, the problem...?

 

Haven't heard of this before.

Well, you shouldn't have to modify anything to make it work. I suggest finding the actual problem, as you never know what other problems it can lead to..

SO, from what I gather reading through the thread, you know where the vents are, but you are not able to get to them easily in order to check their condition? What if you took some interior trim off?

 

The quarter vents are made to vent air from inside out = release pressure.
Peek though the louvers from outside and observe the rubber slats when you slam door shut with windows all the way up. The slats should swing out. If they do not, something may be blocking the vent.

 

Bingo

 

I can't get to them unless I take the bed off. But from what I can see, it's only a hard plastic grill on the outside rear of the cab with no swinging slats. The inside where it connects to is where the side seat belt ratchet bolts up. The air flow is between the inner and outer sheetmetal skin around the corner of the cab. It's a base model cab. There's no interior trim in these areas. It's better with the two 1 1/4 plugs off, so instead of a heavy slam it's a light slam, but with either side or sliding rear window open the doors close easily. I'll pull those rear grills off if/when I do the body lift and see whats going on. And there is slight door skin damage from years of pushing the door shut all the way when it wasn't slammed hard enough. Like I said, it's been this way since the truck was driven off the lot with 3 miles on it and the dealer didn't fix it by replacing the rubbers when it was still under warranty.

 

They usually are.

 

Bring the truck up to me in Pa for at least one winter if it is a good one.

Trust me your new issue will be finding all the holes.

 

^ We're having a rough winter here too, it got down to 46°F last night.

 

Yep, 46 is rough, hard to get a tan when its so cold Anyway, I am pretty sure those rear cab vents are the issue, those ones are on the outside edges of the cab correct? Could you place a sheet of paper or something thin over the vents and watch as someone closes the door? Should see the paper move indicating that air is being pushed out of the vents.

 

I went out (in the cold 61°F weather) and did that, yes they move air. It'll have to wait until the next time I pull the bed off to see if I can modify the grilles on the back of the cab. Maybe if I drill some holes on the inside (opposite the grilles) so it has a more direct flow. I left the two 1 1/4" plugs out for now, I'll see if I can find some duckbill valves that will fit in those spots, don't want mice crawling in and chewing on my new bucket seats.

 

Maybe you could get some plastic body plugs from a hardware store and drill several small holes in them. Or you could get another set of rubber plugs and stick something hot through it several times to create the extra venting you need.