E38 Door Latch Stuck

[EuropeanAddict]

Hi everyone,

New to the forum and this is my first post. I've got this really nice 1996 750il with only 72,000 ks, owners and log books etc.

Everything works except the front passenger door latch (used to work).

As per posts on this forum... I've removed the rear door, front external door handle and the actuator. Electrics and the actuator all seem to work. The manual lock/unlock lever on the latch appears to also work, but the latch wont release. I've given the door a good shove from inside and given the latch a good whack with the hammer handle.,, Both to no avail. The internal door card is still attached.

My question.... What can I do to release the latch? Is there anything else I can try? I've read that a die grinder from inside the door pillar is an option, but I'd prefer to leave that as a last resort.

Thank in advance.

Pete

[Lime725]

I've had the same issue, did all the same things as you did, nothing worked. Until i pulled the inner door latch cable with alot of power, and voila door popped open, after that I lubricated everything and put everything back on. Hopefully it will help for you aswell. The reason why the door latch gets stuck in the first place is still unknown for me though. Anyways good luck with it and hopefully it works for you the same it did for me! 🙂

[EuropeanAddict]

Thanks for your reply.

I got my wife to try it and the damn thing opened! No rhyme or reason. Maybe the whack did it.

My challenge now is to reinstall the actuator from the external door handle opening. I've been trying, but had to stop to preserve my remaining sanity.

Does anyone know if the actuator can be installed via the external door handle?

[Lime725]

Great to hear that the door's open! Probably, as long as it doesn't fail again it doesn't matter why it didn't want to work anymore. 😂
I don't think it will work from the outside though, but don't count on that, never tried it or needed to replace the actuator. If you still have the door panel removed, try fitting it that way back in,unless the window regulator blocks the way. If you don't need the car to drive anytime soon, just leave it be and if you have time or whatsoever, try fitting it then in , eventually it'll decide to pop somewhere in. That's what I do pretty much every time I need to fix something. Worked everytime so far.
Good luck!