[yakev724]

I have a bit of an issue, front passenger side door. Neither the exterior or interior door handle open the door (currently shut with no way to open). I believe the problem is with the actuator. It locks and unlocks perfectly, and when locked, pulling the interior handle once unlocks it mechanically as well.

I was able to remove the door card from the inside, and feel that both lines (from exterior handle and interior handle) pull on the respective levers of the actuator mechanism successfully, so it's not the handles.

(Update: solved by replacing cable inside door, see post #8 below)

[txusa03]

you want to be able to open the door to fix the actuator correct? if so, find the fuse that is blown and replaced it with a higher fuse to allow you to electronically unlock the door to fix it.

otherwise i am not sure what you are trying to do. gl.

[iflyjetzzz]

Your post is extremely hard to understand. Are you saying that the door locks work but the door won't open? When the lock actuators fail, the door locks won't work.
If that's the case, you've got a very common problem; door lock actuator malfunction. There's a technical service bulletin on this, SI B51 19 07.
See this link for more details: http://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=543952

I'd check the fuses first.

[M340i Pride]

fuses, fuses my friend...

[yakev724]

sorry for misunderstanding.

Locks and everything electrical works perfectly.

Just the mechanical system inside the actuator which translates the pulling of 2 levers (one for interior handle, one for exterior), into the opening of the clasp which holds the door shut.

Anyway, took it to BMW and had a service guy look at it. He was clueless, then pulled the lever for the interior handle (as I'd done about a hundred times), and on the 3rd or 4th try it magically popped open.

Ordering replacement actuator now.

I wouldn't have posted this as a new thread if it had been the lock issue, I know of the SIB and searched before posting and couldn't find anyone with the same problem.


Thanks for the input regardless.

[ddogg35]

Originally Posted by yakev724

Anyway, took it to BMW and had a service guy look at it. He was clueless, then pulled the lever for the interior handle (as I'd done about a hundred times), and on the 3rd or 4th try it magically popped open.

Be honest, how pissed were you when that happened?

[yakev724]

Quick update, in case someone runs into this issue in the future.

The door actuator mechanism (part you see with the latch in photo above) is prone to becoming stuck and unresponsive to pulling both interior+exterior door handles (at least on E53s ). This happens when the cable running from the exterior handle assembly inside the door to the door actuator mechanism (i.e. bowden cable) is worn. When the exterior handle is pulled, the cable pulls on the lever in the door actuator, but because it is worn, the actuator lever does not go down to completion, and the door stays shut (latch doesn't pop open to release the door). The internal mechanism of the actuator does not reset back to fully-shut-door position, and subsequent pulling of either door handle, partially or to completion, has no effect on the latch (stuck shut). Lock/unlock (electronic or pulling on the interior handle once (if locked)) works perfectly.

To remedy, you must feel for the lever of the actuator mechanism connected to the bowden cable and manually depress it (to completion), resetting the internal actuator mechanism and opening the door. It took some force in my case, especially at the end, near full extension. This is the lever that needs to be depressed from inside the door:



More specifically:

Pull seat backwards all the way (if affected door is front), raise the window all the way up. Remove horizontal trim piece and door grab handle trim piece (if pass. side). Remove the 3 or 4 torx screws from where the trim piece(s) covered them. With all screws removed, pull on the side/bottom of the door panel to unclip the clips holding it in. Work your way around the perimeter of the panel to unclip all of the clips. Now you want to carefully unclip the speaker and tweeter cables, as well as window switch and bottom puddle light connectors, they will all simply unclip when pulled at the correct angle (opposite connection).

The door pannel may be held in snugly by the front dashboard. In this case, you want to keep it as close to the door as possible and move it around while pulling towards the rear of the car. This will require some force and it should come out, little by little. Do not pull away from door as panel can crack. You'll damage some clips while doing this, but they are easily replaceable and only cost a few cents (51418224781).

With the door panel removed (and window all the way up), you'll want to unlock the door, then reach inside with your hand and feel for a connection of the bowden cable into the actuator. There should be a ridged rubber boot covering the cable from the exterior handle, and a small plastic piece (about 2 inches from the end of the cable), locked into a ridge on the latch mechanism's lever. It's much easier to find if you have someone pulling the exterior handle (or you can do it yourself through the rear window) as you'll feel it move left and right. Once you've found it, simply get a good finger behind the moving lever and pull all the way to completion (same direction as when the exterior handle is pulled). Actuator will reset, then both handles will work, at least temporarily.

Now you can open the door, remove the actuator assembly so it's loose inside the door, remove the exterior handle mechanism, and finally replace the bowden cable which connects the two. (Cable - Front 51217059971, Rear 51227060299)

[hubble bubble]

Question to all those who had door actuators replaced - How many times have you had this problem? Was it a recurring problem or did replacing the bad actuator fix it?

I just had my door actuator replaced under warranty, after twice replacing fuses. Wondering if I should expect problem to recurr.

[Alex123E90]

Originally Posted by yakev724

Quick update, in case someone runs into this issue in the future.

The door latch mechanism (part you see with the latch in photo above) is prone to becoming stuck and unresponsive to pulling both interior+exterior door handles. This happens when the cable running from the exterior handle to the door latch mechanism is improperly adjusted (length-wise). When the exterior handle is pulled, the cable pulls on the lever in the door latch, but because it is too long, the latch lever does not go down to completion, and the door stays shut. The internal mechanism of the latch does not reset back to fully-shut-door position, and subsequent pulling of either door handle, partially or to completion, has no effect on the latch (stuck shut). Lock/unlock works perfectly.

To remedy, you must feel for the lever of the latch mechanism connected to the cable running to the exterior handle and manually depress it (to completion), resetting the internal latch mechanism and opening the door. Obviously you'd then want to adjust (shorten) the cable length from the exterior handle mechanism by twisting the end piece.

More specifically:

Pull seat backwards all the way (if affected door is front), raise the window all the way up. Remove horizontal trim piece and door grab handle trim piece (if applicable). Remove the 3 or 4 torx screws from where the trim piece(s) covered them. With all screws removed, pull on the side/bottom of the door panel to unclip the clips holding it in. It will be latched on to the window, so don't pull backwards from the top. Once all clips are undone from the sides/bottom, lift it vertically up and pull back from the top. This will unclip the top window clips. Now you want to carefully unclip the speaker and tweeter cables, as well as window switch and bottom puddle light connectors, they will all simply unclip when pulled at the correct angle (opposite connection).

The door pannel may be held in by the front dashboard. In this case, you want to keep it as close to the door as possible and move it around while pulling backwards. This will require some force and it should come out, little by little. Do not pull away from door as panel can crack. You'll damage some clips while doing this, but they are easily replaceable and will only cost a few cents (51418224781).

With the door panel removed (and window all the way up), you'll want to unlock the door, then reach inside with your hand and feel for a connection. There should be a ridged rubber boot covering the cable from the exterior handle, and a small plastic piece (about 2 inches from the end of the cable), locked into a ridge on the latch mechanism's lever. It's much easier to find if you have someone pulling the exterior handle as you'll feel it move up and down. Once you've found it, simply get a good finger behind it and pull all the way down. Latch will reset, then interior handle will work.

I'll update with another post on shortening the cable to prevent the problem in the future.

So was replacing the actuator necessary, or could you have fixed the problem by just shortening the length of the end link like you said? I'm pretty sure I have the EXACT same problem as you had. Thanks...

[yakev724]

Originally Posted by Alex123E90

So was replacing the actuator necessary, or could you have fixed the problem by just shortening the length of the end link like you said? I'm pretty sure I have the EXACT same problem as you had. Thanks...

Not necessary. The cable isn't easily shortened/modified, but I ended up just buying a new one from Tischer for ~$30. So far works perfectly. Wish I didn't dish out the ~$150 for the new actuator and new handle mechanism

...at least now it opens and closes smooth as new

Old cable was definitely tired/worn, specifically the rubber 'spring' connections which help pull it back into original resting state, which were stretched beyond function.

[yakev724]

To clarify, as I tend to write these late at night when all my patience is spent , there seem to be 3 problems with the door locks (in order of frequency from most to least common):

1) fuse blown, locks don't work. Search the boards, I think it's 57 or 58, don't quote me, never had the issue

2) gear inside actuator broken, you'll need to find a way to open the door (if closed) and replace it.

3) problem I had, see OP and post #8

[yakev724]

The front actuator is $72 + shipping from Tischer. It comes unthreaded; the holes for the screws which secure it to the door need to be threaded for the correct bolts at a machine shop (or just with the correct bit) before it can be used.

[Alex123E90]

Update: So today I went to BMW and got the cable, installed it myself (I know my way around a car and I'm a big DIY guy)
So after the two hours of labor of removing the door panel, door handle, and switching out cables, I find out that my actuator makes a whining noise when I lock and unlock, dont know how I overlooked that but at least I know that its bad... The door went back to being stuck too..I cant even express how frustrated I am right now haha..
Is it supposed to make a little whining noise when locking and unlocking or is it in need of a replacing? Originally I thought it was still good because it still locks and unlocks mechanically with no problem, just the damn door is stuck and both the outside and inside levers dont open..but the inside will unlock the door if it was in the locked position. HELP!!

[yakev724]

Originally Posted by Alex123E90

Update: So today I went to BMW and got the cable, installed it myself (I know my way around a car and I'm a big DIY guy)
So after the two hours of labor of removing the door panel, door handle, and switching out cables, I find out that my actuator makes a whining noise when I lock and unlock, dont know how I overlooked that but at least I know that its bad... The door went back to being stuck too..I cant even express how frustrated I am right now haha..
Is it supposed to make a little whining noise when locking and unlocking or is it in need of a replacing? Originally I thought it was still good because it still locks and unlocks mechanically with no problem, just the damn door is stuck and both the outside and inside levers dont open..but the inside will unlock the door if it was in the locked position. HELP!!

No idea. Sounds exactly like my problem, but the new cable completely fixed my issue.

I did first install a new actuator (thinking it was the actuator), but then the new actuator got into the 'stuck' state (as you describe above), so I doubt that was the variable. Note: my old actuators made no noise, but the new one (different part no. and looks different) makes the whirring noise you describe. It's normal.

I say go for the actuator next. It's inconvenient but not terribly expensive, ~$80 shipped from Tischer. Throw your old one up on eBay 'as-is' for $50 and you'll probably eventually sell it. Plus it should take you under an hour to swap it out now that you know how everything comes apart. Actuator is tricky to get out though, you'll need to unbolt the window support inside the door to make room to squeeze it through the gap. And you'll also need to thread the new one as it'll come without threads for the mounting screws. I did this at my uni machine shop with a bit and hand drill.

I have my original pass side front actuator if that's the door that's your door, PM me if you want it.

Good luck.

[Timothy J]

Thanks for the info

[ZZZZ]

was going to say, the bowden cable is slack.

glad to see you fixed it though.

[PSEE]

The front actuator is $72 + shipping from Tischer. It comes unthreaded; the holes for the screws which secure it to the door need to be threaded for the correct bolts at a machine shop (or just with the correct bit) before it can be used.


How useless is that?

C'mon Tischer - sell the part in use-able condition!

[yakev724]

Originally Posted by PSEE

The front actuator is $72 + shipping from Tischer. It comes unthreaded; the holes for the screws which secure it to the door need to be threaded for the correct bolts at a machine shop (or just with the correct bit) before it can be used.


How useless is that?

C'mon Tischer - sell the part in use-able condition!

Well that's the way it comes from BMW. The reasoning is that the part is used in nearly all of their models and some models use different screws to others. To make the one part work with everything, it's unthreaded.

I can find out what bit's needed if someone needs it. Just took it to my school's machine shop.

[atlai89]

yakev i seem to have the same problem but i cant open my door i tried what you posted but cant seem to reset the actuator. is there any specific steps that i might be missing??

[yakev724]

Originally Posted by atlai89

yakev i seem to have the same problem but i cant open my door i tried what you posted but cant seem to reset the actuator. is there any specific steps that i might be missing??

not sure. once you have the door panel off and can feel behind the actuator for the arm that moves with the exterior door handle, play around with that for a bit and you should get it to open. might take a bit of force (on the arm).

feel like I should go back and edit my posts here, probably confuse ppl more than explain the issue.

[atlai89]

Originally Posted by yakev724

not sure. once you have the door panel off and can feel behind the actuator for the arm that moves with the exterior door handle, play around with that for a bit and you should get it to open. might take a bit of force (on the arm).

feel like I should go back and edit my posts here, probably confuse ppl more than explain the issue.

thanks for the help man i just probably need to use more force. oh did you have someone pulling the outside handle when you pushed down on the latch??

[yakev724]

Originally Posted by atlai89

thanks for the help man i just probably need to use more force. oh did you have someone pulling the outside handle when you pushed down on the latch??

pulling on the exterior handle contracts the bowden cable which runs to the actuator, and pulls on a lever on the back of the actuator. Pulling on the exterior handle will pull that lever so should make it easier to find and let u know what direction it needs to be pushed. Then just push it manually from inside the door and u should be good. GL

edit: here's a photo, circled the lever that I pushed down