a flash light is necessary. You need to find the latch which to me was the hardest part. I found it useful to give a shot of WD40 to lubricate it once I did. Also, make sure the trim is flush against the handle once installed such that there is no interference when you open it. If the trim sticks out an 1/8th of an inch, it will not work. The handle was literally hitting the trim when I would open it after my first attempt and it was just a matter of pushing the gasket against the handle. As you will see, its two different pieces. I had to remove the gasket to confirm the trim fit; it was just that bad.
In my car, I'd say the trim was still original and the latch was just stuck to the point that it needed encouragement. If you are doing this for the first time, try taping the paint on your first door. Like everyone says, once you do the first one, the other goes quickly. I spent more like 20 minutes for the first handle and about 3 minutes for the second. I didn't place any tape on the paint on the second door since I knew the routine. Remember the trim must be flush to the door handle for this to work. Takes a bit to figure out but once you do it its goes quickly.
I think the gasket on my first handle was a bit warp which caused the problem. Couple that with a latch the wouldn't budge, it just made it impossible to the point that I questioned the part#.
Last edited by Javier H; 04-19-2017 at 07:40 PM.
This thread was great, the paint can opener did the trick. Thanks!
It's still a s@#$ job. I spent an hour the previous morning after watching some YouTube videos, no luck. I decided to do some more research and found this thread. It was a 20 minute job after that, but felt entirely like luck both times I found the slider and both times I was able to pull it back.
Just did this the third time for the 27 years old E36. For such an old car I decided to buy cheap Chinese gasket, but great regret !! The rubber fitment is so poor, thicker than original, I only fitted one gasket and throw the others in bin.
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