Door Lock

[MarcusP8]

Good morning, I have a problem with the central locking of the driver's door of my 850i E31 (1991).

I explain in detail:
By closing the vehicle with the key in the lock, all the doors are closed and the door lock pins are also lowered - everything is normal
If I close with the appropriate button on SWITCH ELECTR WIND LIFT, the problem appears.
The passenger side door closes correctly and the handles are stiff and block the opening and the door lock pin also lowers; instead the driver's door remains open, the pin is lowered but the handles remain soft and if you pull it, the door open.

Where is the problem?
I exclude fuses; could be the door lock microswitch inside panel or cables or the door lock?

Help me

[Hyper]

Classic fooked fork.
Some one was in there, re-installed the mechanism incorrectly as shown in pic.
Start over. Lock bar goes into the middle of the fork. Not under, not above.


*** Forum etiquette ***
Answer a question like you've never heard it before.

[MarcusP8]

Thank you
But, are you sure that this is the cause of the problem?
Is the lock bar only electronically regulated by the switch on pushbutton and not by the outside key lock?


Would you be so kind as to show me the passages (with photo) for the correct restoration of the centralized lock?

[Hyper]

...But, are you sure that this is the cause of the problem?...

No. I actually walk around all day uncertain about most things.
In this case my uncertainty stems first from communication issues rather than from technical ones.
Over on the communication side, we need to share the same terminology, hence the picture is posted with labels.
For example, on a refrigerator forum a few years back I famously closed out a help-me thread that had the moderators baffled for some time.
I explained to all that the expert/moderators absolutely nailed it on their very first reply, but the conversation dragged on for another 38 posts over 2 years without resolution simply because the Original Poster was unintentionally feeding them all along with just a single piece of misleading information. It all came down to the choice of a single word, the meaning not universal.

Beyond that, on your first post I'm having to do a subtle parsing of your phrases and word choice because it is not how door & lock people speak precisely.
My parsing and translation of your first post led me to conclude that the issue talked about involves the "classic fooked fork".
However, I could have applied incorrect parsing and translation rules and ended up in a wrong part of the world.

The third source of my uncertainty is that I'm not actually right there, the one doing the investigating, and things aren't always what they seem.
There could be clues present that are significant to me, but would seem unimportant to anyone else.

**** More technical background ****
The physical locking of the door is accomplished by the latch mechanism, mounted vertically on the inside rear wall.
The locked or unlocked state is established by the fork, either stationed in an up or down position.
The fork can be operated either by ...
- the motor associated with central locking system
- the key cylinder on the outside door handle
- the plunger (stem or whatever that term is) at the top of the door.

The fork is what keeps the latch mechanism synchronized to the key cylinder, and it works in both directions, as initiator of action and recipient of action.
Hence the key cylinder can force the latch to change state or the latch can force the key cylinder to change state.
Hence if the central locking system commands the door to be locked, the fork communicates that state to the key cylinder.
This is significant because the sensing of locked versus unlocked state are is on the key cylinder and not the latch.
Hence if the fork and key cylinder are not synchronized, it is possible for the cylinder to tell the vehicle computers that the door is locked when in fact it is not. Or the reverse.
***
If the lock bar is correctly in the fork, then the key has resistance to turning, because it is operating both the cylinder and the latch mechanism via the fork.
If the lock bar is not inside the fork, then the key has little resistance to turning, because it is only operating the cylinder and not the latch mechanism.
***
Fyi and somewhat independent of the synchronization topic, the fork being in the locked position does not directly prevent the latch from releasing its claw grip on the striker bar on the vehicle chassis.
Rather it locks up the outside actuator arm and the actuator rod that goes to the outside handle, preventing the lifting of the outside handle, yet another indication that the latch is in a locked state.
Iirc (!), even with the outside actuator arm locked up, the inside actuator arm is free to operate, release the claw in the door jamb.
***
The current fork versus lockbar situation can be inspected by removing the door panel, looking up and back with a flashlight and reading glasses.
This is how you diagnose the current problem, as-is.

During installation, the fork alignment is established by a sight line thru the key cylinder hole in the outside sheet metal just before seating the outside assembly.

[MarcusP8]

Thank you for your accurate technical description.
True, terminology is important for understanding a speech.
However, this mechanism was hitherto unknown to me; and from what I have learned it seems that it could be the cause of the problem.

If you want, I could send you privately a video of the problem in order to exclude all incomprension

Thanks for all.

[tvjake2]

No. I actually walk around all day uncertain about most things.
In this case my uncertainty stems first from communication issues rather than from technical ones.
Over on the communication side, we need to share the same terminology, hence the picture is posted with labels.
For example, on a refrigerator forum a few years back I famously closed out a help-me thread that had the moderators baffled for some time.
I explained to all that the expert/moderators absolutely nailed it on their very first reply, but the conversation dragged on for another 38 posts over 2 years without resolution simply because the Original Poster was unintentionally feeding them all along with just a single piece of misleading information. It all came down to the choice of a single word, the meaning not universal.

Beyond that, on your first post I'm having to do a subtle parsing of your phrases and word choice because it is not how door & lock people speak precisely.
My parsing and translation of your first post led me to conclude that the issue talked about involves the "classic fooked fork".
However, I could have applied incorrect parsing and translation rules and ended up in a wrong part of the world.

The third source of my uncertainty is that I'm not actually right there, the one doing the investigating, and things aren't always what they seem.
There could be clues present that are significant to me, but would seem unimportant to anyone else.

**** More technical background ****
The physical locking of the door is accomplished by the latch mechanism, mounted vertically on the inside rear wall.
The locked or unlocked state is established by the fork, either stationed in an up or down position.
The fork can be operated either by ...
- the motor associated with central locking system
- the key cylinder on the outside door handle
- the plunger (stem or whatever that term is) at the top of the door.

The fork is what keeps the latch mechanism synchronized to the key cylinder, and it works in both directions, as initiator of action and recipient of action.
Hence the key cylinder can force the latch to change state or the latch can force the key cylinder to change state.
Hence if the central locking system commands the door to be locked, the fork communicates that state to the key cylinder.
This is significant because the sensing of locked versus unlocked state are is on the key cylinder and not the latch.
Hence if the fork and key cylinder are not synchronized, it is possible for the cylinder to tell the vehicle computers that the door is locked when in fact it is not. Or the reverse.
***
If the lock bar is correctly in the fork, then the key has resistance to turning, because it is operating both the cylinder and the latch mechanism via the fork.
If the lock bar is not inside the fork, then the key has little resistance to turning, because it is only operating the cylinder and not the latch mechanism.
***
Fyi and somewhat independent of the synchronization topic, the fork being in the locked position does not directly prevent the latch from releasing its claw grip on the striker bar on the vehicle chassis.
Rather it locks up the outside actuator arm and the actuator rod that goes to the outside handle, preventing the lifting of the outside handle, yet another indication that the latch is in a locked state.
Iirc (!), even with the outside actuator arm locked up, the inside actuator arm is free to operate, release the claw in the door jamb.
***
The current fork versus lockbar situation can be inspected by removing the door panel, looking up and back with a flashlight and reading glasses.
This is how you diagnose the current problem, as-is.

During installation, the fork alignment is established by a sight line thru the key cylinder hole in the outside sheet metal just before seating the outside assembly.

Priceless......

[alex840]

While you are in there do the following upgrade since it will break at some point:

https://www.bimmerforums.com/forum/s...r-handle-pivot

I don’t think anyone has been in the door handles more than Hyper. He tests every single pivot he ships on his own car......so he might know a few things about the "fork"

Thank you for your accurate technical description.
True, terminology is important for understanding a speech.
However, this mechanism was hitherto unknown to me; and from what I have learned it seems that it could be the cause of the problem.

If you want, I could send you privately a video of the problem in order to exclude all incomprension

Thanks for all.

[lloydsss]

Thank you to Hyper
Your referral to that post about the “Classic fooked fork.” Was spot on and that picture was the “money shot”
I really appreciate the help this board is a godsend thank you very much