E30 Zone

Could not find the answers so here goes.

My drivers lock is fubar, basically the bit at the back of it which the little pin goes through has snapped, so not only does the barrel just spin round and round it comes out with the key. If i get a new lock & barrell, can I just swap that barrels over then put the new lock and existing barrell back into the car?

Also, I was looking at the wiki guide to removing the lock by getting off the big black c shaped bracket thing holding it onto the door. The problem is the guide shows a 2 door car which has a gaping hole for access, but the 4 door doesnt. Its their any tricks for access

This is the guide I used

http://www.billswebspace.com/BMWE30Door ... ebuild.htm

Yep as above that has quite a large hole to access through, the 4 door only has a hole the sixe of a pen

cheers, thats what i thought, bloody fiddly job. the clamp thing really has been pushed on there.

Your door lock has failed in the 'usual' place,I would suggest that you buy a 'lock repair kit' from your local friendly stealer for about £20.

You get a bag of bits and an instruction sheet(in German!)to build up a brand new lock barrel to suit your key.

Remove and dismantle your broken lock using the guide posted above,then you can see how the thing works so that you can assemble the new one correctly.

I have found that the cause of the lock failing is usually the latching gear partly siezing or sticking,so whilst you have the door card off,remove the latch from the door jamb and clean and lubricate all the pivot points.

Removing the lower rear glass guide mounting bolt and sliding the guide down a touch will enable the guide to swing out of your way,making this a little easier.