Damn locks not working!

[PeteE30Tourer]

Afternoon all,

My door locks have been getting progressively stiffer to the point last week that I couldn't unlock the driver's door. I climbed over from the passenger side and got the door open, but then it wouldn't shut again!

I've stripped the door card off and sprayed loads of penetrating fluid around all the mechanisms. Now the external door handle works fine and I can see the key is moving parts inside, but it still wont lock it. I can lock it from inside by pushing down the lock button, but cant unlock it again with the key.

I was thinking the key could be worn, but i've got two and they both do the same thing. The key will turn the full 90 degrees plus a bit and I can hear the central locking relay clicking, but it wont actually lock the door.

The drivers side is also very stiff, but I can just about lock and unlock that. I'm worried that I'll eventually break the key off in the door though.

Any ideas????

Car is 1992 325i cab by the way, not that I expect that makes any difference.

[Rtaylor2208]

Sounds similar to the problems I'm having. Here is some advice I got from another very helpful zoner:

Remove the armrest/door card
Peel back the plastic membrane from the rear of the door to about halfway
Using a long flatbladed screwdriver,slide the big C clip off the rear of the cylinder lock
Wriggle the lock barrel out from the outside
With the glass up,unbolt the lower rear glass runner,slide it down a little and swing foreward
Unbolt the latch from the door jamb and remove


Clean all the crud from the outside of the latch gear
Oil all the piviot points that you can find(light oil that you use on your kids cycles is ideal)work the latch using the fork that the lock engages until is moves freely

Re-build is Mr Haynes(above from the bottom...)

[PeteE30Tourer]

Thanks for this - i'm running out of daylight to try it today, but i'll give it a go next time, if i cant find a quick fix.

I tried the red-black wire mod detailed in the wiki - but i could only find two red-black wires, whereas the article suggests there are three on cab's. There is another red-brown wire, but i'm reluctant to cut that without knowing what it is. Anyway, i cut and connected the two red-black wires and it made no difference in terms of getting the central locking working.

There are two connectors around the loom behind the speaker though that are lying loose - see photo below. Anyone know what these are for?

[Rtaylor2208]

The smaller of the two is for connecting the optional tweeters I believe. there should be another hiding in there somewhere. No idea about the other

[PeteE30Tourer]

ok, got the lock barrel out and cleaned it all up - moving freely. Loosened off the latch but couldn't remove it. Still, found the fork and sprayed that well and exercised it plenty - moving fairly freely - a lot better than it was. I can now see that it is the lock that moves this fork up and down to lock/unlock the door, but having re-assembled it all, it still wont work. Seems the key isn't moving that fork enough in either direction.

Any ideas?

[Grrrmachine]

If you need to check out the wiring for the door loom, I put a pin-out of the door pins on the Wiki this week:

http://www.e30zone.net/e30zonewiki/index.php/C40x

This shows the single cable as a tweeter wire, but the other plug has nothing to do with anything inside the door.

The wiring diagrams for the Central Locking are also on the Wiki:

http://www.e30zone.net/e30zonewiki/inde ... g_Diagrams

[PeteE30Tourer]

Many thanks for this - extremely useful information. From this, the red-brown wire is an inhibitor switch - any idea what this is for?

I've narrowed it down to a mechanical problem though I think. The lever that sticks out at 90 degrees from the end of the lock barrel, which operates the fork up and down when you turn the key, has a spring-loaded mechanism at it's fully anti-clockwise position for the dead-lock. The problem is that this spring is moving before the fork is fully pushed down, so the fork is never actually getting to the locked position - it just flicks over to the deadlock position, which doesn't actually do what it's supposed to do because the the lock still hasn't locked. I can operate the lock from the internal push-pull pin at the top of the door, but it is still quite stiff, despite me soaking everything in penetrating oil first, then exercising it loads, then squirted it with white grease too and exercise it loads.

Should the central locking actuator help with this, if it worked, i.e. does it actually push the mechanism as soon as you turn the key anti-clockwise? I'm pretty sure I haven't heard the relay working since i cut and joined the two red-black wires.

[d1mkaz]

did some respraying and the door had to be taken off (everything worked) , when "clever guy" put everything back, the door would not lock, the key would turn hardly but would not lock the car, only could lock from inside. The garage had to put in new lock but that did not help. Another day I took the door panel off and checked all the bolts and they where very tight. When I loosen one of the bolts on the lower level and checked everything worked as it should. Not sure if that will help in your case.

[PeteE30Tourer]

When I loosen one of the bolts on the lower level and checked everything worked as it should. Not sure if that will help in your case.

Which bolt do you mean?

[d1mkaz]

I was going to take everything off that door so was ready to unscrew everything . Can't find any clear picture of the door insides. If you take the door panel off, there are few bolts around the area on inside where the handle is on outside. Try to loosen them, but don't take them off completely, and then try lock unlock.

[d1mkaz]

sorry mate, it was not on the lower level, I think there was 2 or 3 of them, and the one I unscrew was the lowest one.

[Rtaylor2208]

Going through the same at the moment, looks like someone tried to remove the latch from the door before and rounded out the star shapped screw in the bit where the door closes on to. After 3 knackered drill bits still cant drill out the screw

Gave up for the moment but if I can get mine out and working I'll post back what I did.

[PeteE30Tourer]

I did a search on here about this problem and found your post detailing what seems to be exactly the same problem as mine. I gave up for today due to bad light, but I'll have another go next weekend.

By the way - noticed you're in Ayr - not far from where I was born and brought up near Largs. Used to get up there once a year, but since my Dad died a couple of years back, I've stopped going. Looks like your cab is very similar to mine too.

[Rtaylor2208]

Yeah living in Ayr. Scottish weather insn't the best climate for a E30 cabby.

As well as looking the same it appears they have the same frustrating problems. Why is it the small jobs end up being the biggest PITA.

[Rtaylor2208]

Pete got this working last night but its a pig of a job to do but if you want to tackle it the steps are:

1. Remove Door Card
2. Remove the drivers door lock by removing the big C Shapped clip holding it on.
3. Loosen of all the bolts that hold the window regulator to the door. Be carfeul that the regulator does not become seperated from the window.
4. Remove the nut that holds the plastic inconnecting thing that joins the door pin rod, handle rod, central locking rod to the door
5. Remove the bolt from the other side of the plastic thing (10mm)
6. Remove the 2 screws holding on the door handle, push the handle through and disconnect the link rod.
7. Remove the 3 torx screws from the door jamb holding the latch on
8. Remove the bolt holding the window guide rail to the lower part of the door nearest the latch.
9. Disconnect the wiring loom from the latch.
10. I imagine at this point you would need to remove the actuator for the central locking but as i dont have one i didnt have to.
11. Pull, Shout and Swear while your hands get cut to pieces trying to wriggle the latch out of the door.
12. Use WD40 to remove all the gunk and old grease that has built up in the latch making sure the locking and unlocking mechanism runs freely.
11. Lubricate with 3in1 oil.
12 Replace everything in the order you took them out.

I had to cut a notch out of the plastic that goes around the spring loaded mechanism to get the latch back into the car as the cabby has the steel impact bars on the inner side of the door making it near impossible to get it both by this and the window rail.

Not a pleasant job and all in has taken me a good few hours but at least I can now lock the door.

[PeteE30Tourer]

Many thanks for this.

I had another go at my cab on Sunday - I'd left all the door card and speaker cover etc. off from the previous weekend's fun and games. I was pleasantly surprised though to note that the door lock was working! I assumed that all the soaking in penetrating oil and anything else I could find must have soaked in throughout the week and cleared the problem. So, I happily put everything back together, packed up my tools and went to lock the door - but i couldn't! It was back to square one! Same problem as before - the spring loaded lever on the lock barrel flicking over to the dead-lock position before it had pushed the fork of the lock mechanism down. So, for a second time, I left my car in disgust.

Having read through your procedure, it all makes perfect sense and I can picture what you mean at every stage. I'd almost got there on the previous weekend, but got stuck at stage 11. It's a pig to move, let alone get out.

As a precautionary/prepared to try anything to get it working, I've ordered a lock rebuild kit from BMW at the princely sum of £22.76 in the hope that the spring may be stiffer for the dead-lock lever, but I guess the main problem is that my door lock mechanism is gunked up. The passenger side is exactly the same. I suppose leaving the car for long periods without use (mainly throughout last winter) just allowed everything to settle and dry up.

I'll keep you posted on how I get on, but thanks again for the advice.

[Rtaylor2208]

Fortunatly the passenger side doesnt have the deadlock function so nothing to spring open so brute force will keep it working. I tried similar and bought a known good lock set off a reputable zoner as I didnt fancy the whole fiddly lock repair kit. But alas was still the same.

Hope it works for you as thats a job I hope to never have to do again.

[PeteE30Tourer]

Update: I bought the repair kit from BMW, which basically is a complete replacement barrel. Found an excellent article on the web (http://www.billswebspace.com/BMWE30Door ... ebuild.htm) and followed the instructions on setting up the new lock. Fitted it back to the car and hey-presto - working door lock again! Dont you just love it when a job goes right after fighting with it for ages??!

[daimlerman]

Update: I bought the repair kit from BMW, which basically is a complete replacement barrel. Found an excellent article on the web (http://www.billswebspace.com/BMWE30Door ... ebuild.htm) and followed the instructions on setting up the new lock. Fitted it back to the car and hey-presto - working door lock again! Dont you just love it when a job goes right after fighting with it for ages??!