Door lock actuator adjustment

[chazsandiego]

I'd been having issues with my driver door lock. It would consistently stick and fail to unlock with the key or even the manual lock on the interior would jam and fail to unlock. The only way to open the door was to semi force the key while lifting the handle. My passenger door is currently mimicking this behavior (just replaced broken door handle bracket). Actuators are making noise and will also cause my doors to re lock themselves immediately (maybe micro switches?)


As of today I have repaired/replaced the brackets marked in red and purple on my drivers side and the bracket marked in red on the passenger side. Is there a specific alignment for the two brackets as far as spacing? Should I have the actuator moved farther forward or backwards? Could the brackets in the rear doors cause similar issues?

Thanks for the help as always!

[shogun]

It mainly breaks in the driver door as this is used mostly. As for installation/adjustment, maybe you check in the shop manual https://www.bmwtechinfo.com/repair/main/

[chazsandiego]

Appreciate the response shogun I was able to get those brackets figured out. But after some additional trouble shooting I have discovered that my door lock is seizing and causing issues with my manual locking mechanism. I saw on Johans 7 Series page he was able to refurbish it but it requires you to drill out the fasteners as they are a single use type item.

Rather than buy a new one for $350+ would I be able to use the door lock from an e34? My local junkyard doesn't have any 7's currently.

I have also posted this question in the e34 forums. Thanks for the assistance as always!

[youngbimmer]

Would lubing the lock with graphite and making sure your door seals are good prevent this mode of failure?

[shogun]

I removed the door lock and cleaned it with brake cleaner and removed all the old hard grease with that and then greased it, there was no need to drill the rivets and open it completely as shown in Johan's DIY http://bmwe32.masscom.net/sean750/do...kMechanism.htm
item 1 http://www.realoem.com/bmw/enUS/show...diagId=41_0704
that lock p/n is only on E32, not E34

[chazsandiego]

In that case I will use the "shogun method" on my door lock and hope for the best! As for the e34 door lock, I had seen on real oem that the part numbers were different. I was hoping that maybe it would still work because of the other similarities between the vehicles. If im at the junkyard tomorrow I may pull one for my curiosity.

....

So I checked out the door lock to clean and discovered that the plastic sheath around the latch (marked in red) had expanded and was preventing the latch from moving freely and removing the plastic has fixed the issue! I'm guessing that the plastic is there to prevent rusting in certain climates.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1R30...w?usp=drivesdk


Also my original issue with the bracket alignment was also resolved by loosening all the bolts to allow free movement while going through the lock/unlock procedure and it pretty much aligned itself. Afterwards I made sure not over tighten anything because my "after market" repair required a slight bit of movement from the actuator.

Thanks again to all for the help!