central locking problems 91 318i cabby
Moderator: martauto
hi i am new to the e 30 zone forum i have a 91 318 i cabby which has completely dead locked its self i managed to open the drivers door by inserting the key and jiggling it while lifting the handle after a while the door opened but the passengers door boot and petrol flap remain firmly closed the central locking control unit clicks when the key is turned but the motors will not work i managed to remove and test the motor from the drivers door this did not work motor is u/s how do i get the passengers door / boot and petrol flap open anyone know how ?
- Brianmoooore
- E30 Zone Team Member
- Posts: 49358
- Joined: Mon Jan 10, 2005 11:00 pm
This usually happens when the locking ECU gets flooded, when the drain slots in the driver's side sill get blocked.
For the passenger door, you need to ideally totally remove, or at least unclip the rear edge, of the door card. There are two 7mm hex headed screws just hidden by the card, which hold the lock motor in place. If these are undone, the whole motor will be free to move up and down, allowing the lock button to be pulled up.
For the fuel flap, there's no deadlock, and the motor usually survives. There's a slot in the boot liner where you can hook the arm back. If it is burnt out, then remove the RH rear lamp bulb assembly, pull back the boot liner, and unscrew the motor.
P.S. This section of the zone is really only to introduce yourself. Questions like yours should be posted in 'tech. help', which is where I've moved this to.
Welcome to the zone on behalf of the management.
For the passenger door, you need to ideally totally remove, or at least unclip the rear edge, of the door card. There are two 7mm hex headed screws just hidden by the card, which hold the lock motor in place. If these are undone, the whole motor will be free to move up and down, allowing the lock button to be pulled up.
For the fuel flap, there's no deadlock, and the motor usually survives. There's a slot in the boot liner where you can hook the arm back. If it is burnt out, then remove the RH rear lamp bulb assembly, pull back the boot liner, and unscrew the motor.
P.S. This section of the zone is really only to introduce yourself. Questions like yours should be posted in 'tech. help', which is where I've moved this to.
Welcome to the zone on behalf of the management.
I had this issue on mine. If you remove the drivers kick panel and speaker you will get to the central locking module. Open it up and look to see if anything is damaged. Mine had a piece that had come unsoldered. Pushed it together and the locks popped.
- Brianmoooore
- E30 Zone Team Member
- Posts: 49358
- Joined: Mon Jan 10, 2005 11:00 pm
That's not "a piece that has come unsoldered", it's a thermal fuse, which should have prevented the motors from frying themselves.adam_2922 wrote:I had this issue on mine. If you remove the drivers kick panel and speaker you will get to the central locking module. Open it up and look to see if anything is damaged. Mine had a piece that had come unsoldered. Pushed it together and the locks popped.
It's in order to re solder the spring to reset the fuse, BUT you must not add any new solder, since the original stuff is a special very low melting point version.
hi brian and adam thanks for the quick response i will try your suggestions and get back to you as i have the drivers side door open i can see the screws that hold the motor inplace but they cannot be accessed on the door card side they are behind the rear window guide the motors are cooked but how to get in to the boot there is no access from the rear seat but there must be a way just need to find it thanks again
Hi all, Just to let you know I managed to get into my deadlocked bmw E30, first the drivers door. This came undone by giggling the key in the lock while moving the door handle up and down. Next the passenger door wound down the window and removed the plastic cap on the door pull, with a pair of long nosed pliers, grip and pull hard on the wire and it opened, might not work for you but for me it did. Finally the boot not easy no access on a convertible to the boot; first you need to remove the rear number plate. My car also has a plastic panel which fits between the rear lights. If yours has the same you need to remove it too. Now the drastic bit. You need to bore a hole through the back panel with a hole cutter. I used an 1 1/4 hole saw. Once you have made a hole which needs to be in line with the lock approximately 3 - 4 inches below you will be able to see the boot motor. I cut through the plastic ring on the top and pulled the wire and the boot opened. The petrol filler cap is easy as now you have access just remove the trim on the right hand inner wing and you will find the petrol flap motor. I have decided for the time being to forget the central locking and unlock the car manually. Hope this has been a help to anybody in a similar situation to myself. If there is another way into the boot I would be very interested to know how it's done. Not sure if my reply will get a general posting to help others but I am sure the boys a E30 will make good use of it. Thanks to all those who tried to help. Kind regards, Longwire
- Brianmoooore
- E30 Zone Team Member
- Posts: 49358
- Joined: Mon Jan 10, 2005 11:00 pm
You can get into the boot by removing the number plate and drilling a hole of 2 - 3mm in a certain place behind it, pushing a rod through the hole and pushing against the release lever that is just inside. I won't publish the exact location of where to drill the hole, because a) this is a open public forum, and b) I can't remember in which folder I have the details.
There's no dead lock on an E30 driver's door, so it should unlock easily with the key. The reason it often doesn't is general wear and tear on the linkage and 20+ years of lack of lubrication. The mechanism is normally 'power assisted' by the lock motor, so the stiffness goes unnoticed, until the 'assistance' isn't there.
There's no dead lock on an E30 driver's door, so it should unlock easily with the key. The reason it often doesn't is general wear and tear on the linkage and 20+ years of lack of lubrication. The mechanism is normally 'power assisted' by the lock motor, so the stiffness goes unnoticed, until the 'assistance' isn't there.
hi brian just to clarify your comment about there being no deadlock on the drivers door, on my car the key would not turn to the right it was solid and because the lock motor was stuck in the down mode it would release the catch to allow the key to turn, the inside door release would not let go either is that not the function of a deadlock ?
- Brianmoooore
- E30 Zone Team Member
- Posts: 49358
- Joined: Mon Jan 10, 2005 11:00 pm
It's usually the dead lock motor that fries. The normal lock motor usually survives.longwire wrote:hi brian just to clarify your comment about there being no deadlock on the drivers door, on my car the key would not turn to the right it was solid and because the lock motor was stuck in the down mode it would release the catch to allow the key to turn, the inside door release would not let go either is that not the function of a deadlock ?
If the normal lock motor is indeed fried, then you will struggle to drag the linkage up.
The deadlock position on the drivers door (and the boot) simply moves the part that operates the latch to a position where it is physically separated from the part it pushes against. On the other doors, a separate dead lock motor prevents the lock motor from moving, and so holds the lock button down.
Hi brian sorry to seem a bit dim but it sounds like there are two motors in the door, or are the motors two stage .In the CLCU there are two relays one pulse to lock and a second to deadlock signalled by the drivers door micro switch when turned 90 degrees is that correct ? i also have a query regarding the MPG gauge which seems to swing to the left and stay there or the same to the right i used to move smoothly and indicate the MPG any ideas
- Brianmoooore
- E30 Zone Team Member
- Posts: 49358
- Joined: Mon Jan 10, 2005 11:00 pm
MPG gauge: It's not getting any road speed information. This comes from a buffer circuit on the speedometer circuit board, which then passes to the MPG meter circuitry which is on the SI circuit board.
On the one case of this that I tried to sort, I found a charred and burnt out component on the speedo. board and an exploded transistor on the SI board. At this point I binned the speedo. and the SI board and fitted working replacements.
On the one case of this that I tried to sort, I found a charred and burnt out component on the speedo. board and an exploded transistor on the SI board. At this point I binned the speedo. and the SI board and fitted working replacements.