Door locking issues

[C33]

Hi folks, I've spent the last hour or so searching the boards looking for a similar issue to what I'm currently experiencing but nothing quite matches. I've recently bought a 318is and the long and short of it is I can't lock either of the front doors.

The central locking ECU is dead - the pin for the red/black wire on the ECU has corroded to dust and the loom terminal doesn't look much better; I've got a spare ECU so that's not a problem in itself but does anyone know the correct part number for the female terminal in the loom plug? (red/black wire mod has never been done)

The next problem is the only way I'm able to lock the car is by attaching a length of wire to the fork that the lock barrel actuates, threading it thru the drain hole at the back bottom corner of the door and pulling it once the door is shut. Needless to say it's not a long term solution.

On the drivers door mechanism there seem to be 3 positions for the fork to be in, up looks as if it should be open, middle lock and down deadlocked. If this is the case the only way I can get the mechanism to lock is by manually placing the fork in the deadlocked position. I've seen reference to an over centre action on the lock barrel which the drivers door barrel does have but I'm not sure if the action is correct.

On the passenger side it looks like there are just two positions for the barrel / fork but neither seem to lock the door unless I manually pull the fork down again.

What's the best way to get things working as they should, is the first thing to sort the electrical side of things and then move on to the mechanics, or vice versa?
Regards
Iain

[BenHar]

Mechanical bits first.

Ben

[C33]

Ok, thanks Ben.
I'm away for a few days now, but when I get back I'll take a video of the driver's barrel mechanism and see if it's what folks expect.

Regards
Iain

[Contours]

Fuse 27 covers the central locking circuit so I assume this is in place. You haven't mentioned the actuators in the doors, usually they make a slight screech when seized and may be not allowing the rods to move---the central locking also includes the boot and fuel filler cap locks. You can get a barrel lock replacement kit for the doors if the barrels are seized --usually caused by a small ball bearing within the lock mechanism getting rounded off and not allowing it to rotate when you turn the key. It is always the drivers door that suffers this mishap first. Only the drivers door has the deadlock position. The black/red mod is well documented here.

[C33]

I've removed the central locking actuators for the time being, when I took the lock mechanism out to figure how to attach my Heath Robinson wire, it didn't seem much point reattaching them as the controller was FUBAR.

The lock barrels move freely, maybe too freely.

Regards
Iain

[flybynite]

First stage for me would be to get the doors to lock correctly with the key with none of the central locking attached.

Then test the central locking with none of the locks attached.

[BenHar]

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

gives a good break down of the drivers door lock.

Ben

[C33]

Evening folks,
I've tried rebuilding the lock barrel assembly into an assembly I had left over from when I scrapped my tourer years ago and still no joy on the drivers side. It seems like the over centre mechanism doesn't have enough strength to overcome inertia of the forked arm in the door lock assembly; I've had that out and there doesn't seem to be any obvious way to strip it because it looks to be held together by two rivets. Is it just a case of dousing in lubricant in the hope it frees up a little?
Regards
Iain