E34 door lock grommet replacement procedure?

[e32 lover]

Hi,

Due to eratic door lock behaviour I have decided to replace all the door lock grommets on my E34. Just wondering what the procedure is, I assume it's done via removing the door cards rather than the external handles? Also the rod that the door lock thing screws onto (the bit that you pull up to unlock the doors) is very loose, is there supposed to be some grommet where that rod connects to the mechanism?

Thanks

[shogun]

Yes, you have to remove the door cards also

[e32 lover]

I am just tackling this procedure now, I can only find one grommet in the doors, number 8 on the following diagram: http://www.realoem.com/bmw/enUS/show...diagId=41_0730

How do I access this grommet? I have pulled the door trim off but the lever is nowhere to be seen. Also just wondering if anyone knows where the other grommet should be? The rod that the thing screws onto (that you pull to unlock the doors from the inside) is very loose, all the door locks are like that now. I installed a grommet in there on one of the doors. Is it possible that if I just install grommets here on all the doors it will fix the problem?

Thanks in advance

[shogun]

Not 100% sure how that is on the E34, but as far as I remember on my E32 door I removed the complete lock from the door. As for the other grommets someone with an E34 had to tell you, I only made it on E32.
Maybe something here in the workshop manual https://www.bmwtechinfo.com/repair/main/
this might help https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zXzY5cLWdmI

[cirrusblau]

Just done this literally a few days ago. You're gonna need 3 grommets per door. 1 for the lock, 2 for the interior door handle cable (optional but worth doing since you're in there).

Take off the door cards as well as the foam insulation. You have to take out the door lock mechanism. It's held down by 3 torx head screws. 2 are easily visible while one is hidden by the weather strip at the side of the door (where usually child locks are). But you won't be able to take out the mechanism without removing the window guide inside the door. Pull out the felt covering of the window guide for the bottom and it will expose one torx screw. Remove that and the guide slides out. When you've taken out the lock mechanism it's quite obvious where the grommets will go. Same procedure for the rear doors, except for disconnecting the lock levers from the door. Can take 2 hours if everything goes smoothly.

One thing that can be an issue is if your window guides are rusted out and the screw has rusted as well. I encountered this problem at the rear doors and wasn't able to pull out the lock mechanism, but you can jimmy into a position that you can replace those grommets. At the front, I don't think this can work so hope that you guides are not rusted.

[e32 lover]

Just for future reference, I just replaced the interior door handle grommets and the interior door lock grommets and it seems to have fixed the problem. Managed to do them without removing anything. The rears were an absolute nightmare. Replaced the door lock grommets with the cable ends still going through the hole. Only did 3 doors because it was so frustrating, but it's working now at least. Thanks heaps for all your advice, very much appreciated.