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Thread: Door Handles Keep Disconnecting/Not Working

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Apr 2011
    Location
    West Yorkshire
    Posts
    2
    My Cars
    2000 E46 318CI

    Exclamation Door Handles Keep Disconnecting/Not Working

    My 2007 LCI E60 front passenger and driver side door handles (both inside and outside) keep failing.

    The car doesn't has comfort access and usually works like normal with the key to lock/unlock the car and all doors, and I have to put the key inside the ignition and hold the clutch in whilst pressing the start button to start the car.

    My door handles have always worked perfectly since I owned the car.

    A couple of weeks ago, a friend who owns a vehicle wrapping business and I vinyl wrapped my car which involved removing the door handles. We followed instructions to remove the handles and then reinstall them, and they worked fine for a couple of days until one night I got home and went to go and get out of my driver door and it wouldn't open from the inside.
    I rolled down the window and it would not open from the outside either.
    I then tried locking and unlocking the central locking using the dashboard centre button and also the key but it made no difference - the door was locked shut and won't open. For a couple of days I had to climb over the centre console into the passenger seat and open the passenger door to get out and back into my car (very annoying).

    Then a couple of days later the passenger side door handle also failed in exactly the same way as the driver door. Wouldn't open from the inside or outside.

    The locked front doors will then not open until we go through the process of removing the rear doors to be able to access the the lock mechanism on the front doors where i have to remove the front door handles and assemble them all again properly before putting it all back together. The handles then worked perfectly again from both the inside and outside.

    A few days later and the exact same thing happened again, first the driver door and then the passenger door.

    This has now happened twice (where both doors have randomly stopped opening after a couple of days) and I suspect it may be some sort of electrical/safety measure/deadlock issue.

    I think it must have something to do with the unlock/lock mechanism itself and not the handles because they "feel" as though they are still connected and the 'pin/knob' at the top of the door card that raises/sinks to indicate if the door is locked will raise up as normal when the interior handle is pulled if the door is locked. For example if i sit in the driver seat with the key in the ignition and press the centre dash lock/unlock button to lock the doors, and then pull the interior driver door handle, the pin will rise up at the top of the door card as normal, but then a second pull of the handle does nothing (where it would normally open the door).

    Please can anyone help me??? What is happening? How can the doors open fine for a couple of days and then randomly not work? But then if I take the doors apart and reassemble everything in the same way I did each time, it all works fine again??? I am extremely puzzled.

    I appreciate any help at all!
    Last edited by TGP; 11-29-2018 at 07:48 PM.

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Apr 2011
    Location
    West Yorkshire
    Posts
    2
    My Cars
    2000 E46 318CI
    Can anyone help?

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Feb 2010
    Location
    Atlantic Beach, Fl
    Posts
    502
    My Cars
    81,e21 orig ownr&05,e60
    This link will take you to a BMW service document. Drive down in body repair area for repair/installation procedure.

    https://www.newtis.info/tisv2/a/en/

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Mar 2008
    Location
    Coquitlam, BC, Canada
    Posts
    226
    My Cars
    2003 530i
    I had a similar problem, I think. I removed the door card and discovered the inner door pull had been assembled incorrectly by the last monkey that touched it. Make sure the nubbin on the cable pull is seated in the tracks of the white nylon plastic insert, and that this piece is seated correctly in the handle assembly.

    Sent from my LG-H915 using Tapatalk


  5. #5
    Join Date
    Oct 2020
    Location
    US
    Posts
    2
    My Cars
    07 550i
    I have the same problem. I removed my front passenger door handle and now this door will not open. I can lock/unlock all doors with the remote, center unlock button, and manually with the key, causing the plunger on the front passenger door card to go up and down, but door will not open. I have pulled apart the door card, and all the components, including Bowden cable, are connected properly.

    I have found a couple YouTube videos which offer a promising fix, but it didn’t work for me. Hope this helps someone.
    https://youtu.be/pIb5ZYmm658

    Today I had to walk away from it because I was seriously considering cutting into the door with and angle grinder. If anyone has any ideas, I would appreciate it!

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