E36 Door Handle Replacement DIY

[eatcrispycreme2]

That picture doesn't quite make sense to me. What is the "handle thumb part" that you're referring to? Is the pivot hole towards the back of the door on a drivers side door? Thanks

[M3C]

That picture doesn't quite make sense to me. What is the "handle thumb part" that you're referring to? Is the pivot hole towards the back of the door on a drivers side door? Thanks

See the attached picture I quckly circled the handle part that you make sure is inserted into the hole of the door chassis.
You just need to look inside the door, each door has this hole towards the back.
So use this picture in combination with picture from post #189 and hope you have a clear understanding how to proceed.

[eatcrispycreme2]

Holy Hell thank you that was my problem!

[eatcrispycreme2]

My window is not going all the way up. I ordered new sliders and clips. Does this have something to do with the face that I didn't mark where my rear rail guide was? The window will roll up to about 3/4 of the way and then it won't go anymore. Is there some guide to this somewhere? thanks

I figured it out. I had it all lined up great the only problem was that the actuator arms weren't going up all the way. I played with them for a while (while they weren't hooked to the glass window) up down up down until finally I closed the door and then they seemed to go all the way up and down. It must have been an ecu thing who knows but then I just stuck the arms into the retaining clips (I found the best way to do this was with a c clamp-slowly tightening it until you hear a pop(obviously you have to have the cotter pins already on the retaining clips). Works great now no problems. Glad this is done with. Now to tackle smaller issues.

[BlueMpower]

I haven't posted in a long time but I believe I found a solution to one of the problems we are having and that is the door won't open from the outside when the handle is lifted all the way.

The normal operation, and this is with a 95 coupe, is to pull the door handle and about 1/4" before end of travel, the latch mechanism is engaged. On the 95 the door jamb switch then energizes the window down sequence. The problem is that the pin on the lever of the door handle that fits inside the lock mechanism has a plastic/rubber bushing that deteriorates with age/heat and falls off. This causes excessive play and the door handle is required to be pulled to it's full travel before the lock mechanism is engaged. If there is other wear in other parts then the lock mechanism wont engage.

The fix is simple and cheap but you still have to go to all the trouble to remove the door handle. I'm in the process of finding the correct piece of tubing I can cut and squeeze over the door handle lever pin. I'll take a picture and post it as soon as I can.

[BlueMpower]

Here are some pics.
The first one shows how the parts go together.
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The next one shows a piece of the bushing that use to be on the pin. The piece I found in the bottom of the door cavity.
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The next one shows a piece of the 3/16" vinyl tube I got from OSH for free. I told them I wanted a foot but only needed 1/2" so they gave me this piece.
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And last is the piece I installed on the pin. I wanted to push it on but realized that would probably not happen. What i did was to slice it open then use clear silicone adhesive to bond it back together and on the pin. It will probably last longer than the door handle mechanism or the car which has 220K miles on the odo.
100_9260.JPG

I plan on letting the silicone set up for 24 hours the put everything back together. If everything works like I hope it does I'll post again.

[BlueMpower]

Well! All I can say is IT DOESN'T WORK! So don't try this

I don't want to take the door handle out too many more times but I'm looking at another approach to solve the problem. If your door handle is not broken but does not open from the outside, I think I have a n idea to fix it and you wouldn't have to remove the door handle, just the door latch. I'll post again when I get this figured out.

[BlueMpower]

I found a fix that works. What I did was go to OSH and pick up a package of electrical connectors, PN 14-098 and then modified one so I could crimp it on the door locking lever.
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After I got done, it wont work it's way off.
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I installed the lock and it worked.
Keep in mind that this is not a fix for everyone. If the bushing around the door latch lever has fallen off or if their is enough play (wear) in the mechanism that the door only opens with a hard pull, or wont quite open with a hard pull, and the door latch is not damaged from pulling hard while locked, then this might work. It worked for me on both doors, one with a relatively new handle and one with the original handle some 220K miles ago. You will be able to figure out if this will work because you can look and see. You'll have to remove the door panel anyway then raise the window and get the best look you can.

I also noticed from the pictures on line that a lot of aftermarket door handles and some used door handles don't have the bushing on the lever so beware.
This saved me a lot of money but was a PIA.

[doomviillain]

The gold piece behind the tumbler, how do you remove this?

I have an 98 328is and my old door handle has 3 pigtails, the one I picked up has 2. The 3rd pigtail sensor on my old door handle sits in front of the gold piece & behind the tumbler. I'm trying to remove it to put the 3rd sensor on the replacement handle but I cant until the gold piece is removed. By the way, this is the newer designed handle so its a bit different from the pre 95 handles.

[M3C]

Take out the securing pin from the back of that gold piece and remove it.

[Hagbard]

Hey CRYPTiC, great DIY. My handle broke in exactly the same two places yours did.

I replaced my driver door handle.
I pulled out the lock tumblers from both handles (the new and the old) and switched the lock pins in the new tumbler out with my old pins so I could use my old key. The handle works great and it locks...However it won't unlock.

Why?

At first I thought the little electric switch that clips onto the top of the door handle was turned backward because: After the door is locked, if I pull the handle and release it I hear an electric sound like the door lock actuator is being engaged again (this doesn't change the state of the door lock). However, when I checked the wire for that switch it is nestled in the little notch that is cut in the metal of the door handle for that wire, therefore I think it's oriented correctly--*EDIT*--(I think this switch controls auto-window close anyway.)

My next hypothesis is that my lock tumbler is upside down. I checked the back of the lock tumbler and the little "L1" etched on the back of it is upside down. Could this be why my handle will lock but will not unlock?

I definitely don't want to go through the process of disconnecting the window sliders, uninstalling the new handle, etc. So my plan is to take a small C-vise, connect a neodymium magnet to the clamp head and attach a pin/nail to the magnet that I can squeeze the tumbler pin out with.

Any thoughts? Am I on the wrong track? Could it be something else? Any experience with this sort of thing?

*PS: My new door handle came with a wire that has a white plug at the end of it coming out of the bottom of the door lock. My old handle didn't have this. I found a capped plug for this wire inside my door so I went ahead and plugged it in. I figured it was just a feature that my car didn't come equipped with. Anybody know what this wire is for? Alarm system maybe?

Thanks in advance for your feedback.

- - - Updated - - -

*EDIT: I drove to and from lunch just now and I think I figured out which feature from the "PS" above I now have that I didn't have before. Now when I get in the car after having my windows cracked, my windows go up automatically. So that's sort of nifty I guess.

I'd still like any feedback from my lock tumbler question above though. Thanks!

PSS: In your DIY, the picture where you presumably describe how to remove the window glass is missing from the DIY. This part was a huge challenge to figure out without a diagram so for future DIYers trying this project you may want to re-post that picture.

Thanks!

[bmwsmurf]

There were two people that said they didn't have to remove the window guide rail. Can anyone reconfirm that this is doable without removing the guide rail and pulling the rear of the window out even if it's a tight fit and hard to do?

[jereisluke]

There were two people that said they didn't have to remove the window guide rail. Can anyone reconfirm that this is doable without removing the guide rail and pulling the rear of the window out even if it's a tight fit and hard to do?

I tried to do it without pulling the rear of the window out, but could not do it and had to break down and remove the rear. Bad design by BMW engineers if you ask me. Someone may have done it without removing the rear of the window, maybe they got their kid to reach in there and do it.

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Hey everybody. I read Cryptic's post in this thread about replacing the door handles, but some of the pictures do not load. Anyone here have the missing pics? Or Cryptic, could you send them to me or repost them? Thanks.

I do not know where to get the missing pics. Maybe try searching online for keywords related to the missing pics. It looks like Cryptic has not been active on here for a couple years, but you might try sending him a message directly.

[yensed]

I found one of them on a French website but that seems to be all I can find so far. :-/
lock2.jpg

[tmurin26]

PLEASE HELP ME!!!!

so i have this issue i replaced my door handle and everything was smooth sailing except now its still not opening the door...on the side of the door there is a peephole where you can see the arm from the handle that sits inside the latch plate and when those to move it should open the door, how ever when i pull my handle im not getting enough movement out of the arm to move the latch plate enough to pop the latch its falling just short...

ive thought about adding a spacer to the arm but it just seems that anything i add would fall off or break off...

[jpilk99]

tmurin26. Not sure if this helps, or if it applies, but, as I've been reading this thread and working on it myself (my driver's door won't open from the outside - does from inside - and I can see up, with door panel removed, up to the door handle and everything, that my handle's arm is broken) and one of the parts car "new" handles I took off had the handle-structure broken. When I say "handle-structure", I mean the infrastructure of the whole handle device that rests inside the door. The "frame" of it is broken, and the handle, as you pull on it, does not stay firmly in place and hence does not (just barely) make the actuator arm move fully to disengage allowing the door to open. I wonder if this is happening in your situation. If you took the door handle out and looked at it in your hand, eyes straight at the handle - just above it is the piece that is busted on my old handle mechanism that I'm replacing as well as one of the parts car handles...

Not sure if that helps. Good luck.

Jay

[bmwsmurf]

Wondering if someone can provide some advice:
Removed the rear rail, angled the window up and the latch couldn't be removed, there wasn't enough room. But the latch decided to break into 3 pieces and it made it infinitely easier to remove after that. I have a few questions:

1) How do you guys find enough room to put the new latch back in? I couldn't even get the old one out. Maybe I didn't force the rear of the window up high enough?
2) How do you guys reattach the hook from the locking mechanism back to the latch? Some people mentioned removing the actual latch to give it enough play to rehook?
3) Is a window realignment really necessary and is it just basically making sure the bottom bolts for the rear rail are in the right place or is it more complicated than that?

Thanks alot, this job is a bit of a pain but hans't been too bad so far, but the reassembly worries me.

[bmwsmurf]

Just finished this job. This thread was helpful and I'd like to offer a few tips of my own:

1) There's nothing too difficult in particular, just that most of it is not easy or quick. I would encourage for DIYers to try it as long as you have some DIY experience and helping hands and it's not freezing outside.

2) As per the original post, it is not necessary to remove the window, but you will have to remove the rear window guiderail and also tilt the window such that the rear is as high as possible. Make sure to support the window (we slid a thin piece of wood between the rubber and the window from the top.

3) It's a tight fit to put the new assembly in but not as tight as some would lead you to think. As long as you play with the window by lifting the rear up and angling the front down enough and move it around it is actually not that hard to slide the assembly into place. Having someone help you move the window while you move the assembly is VERY helpful. Removing the old assembly was easy for me as it broke into 3 pieces... reverse the installation directions below for removal:

4) Study the new assembly: above the articulating arm is a round pin that has to go into a slot in the door. As a result, when you put in the new assembly, you have to put it back in this order:
- attach the hook first. The hook can be pulled down into a horizontal position. I put a drop of oil into the rubber hole where the hook goes in because it takes some force to put the hook through. I also sanded the hook a bit. This was one of the more difficult parts of the entire task.
- have someone help move the window as necessary as you push the assembly up into the door cavity. The hook will rotate upwards. Slide the rod from the assembly into the door body.
- now you will have to angle the assembly a bit to get the articulating arm pointed into the tab. Again, not too hard if the window is positioned out of way.

5) It is much easier to move the sliding tab that holds the front cover in place by using a screwdriver from the inside.

6) The front window guide is just a long rubber with a slot in it. it's kind of hard to keep the window in that slot. Best way to do it I found, was to pull the window all the way up, then apply some pressure from back to front to keep the window in the rubber and gently bang the window all the way down to where you need it to be.

7) You can just look at where the old screws were in place for the guiderail and reattach everything without any real window adjustments. I would suggest loosening and tightening a few times to scuff up the metal before removal so it's easy to see where to reattach. Just reattach everything loosely, make sure it goes up and down smoothly in sections with the door opened and closed, and then tighten down.

8) Have extra door clips. Also, the new window sliders will be a lot tighter than the old ones. So make sure to spend time to thoroughly clean the tracks and lubricate.

Good luck. I wouldn't recommend anyone with large hands to try this, and it will most likely take a few hours from start to finish.

[corn13read]

I crawled this and other forums for hours after getting my door taken apart and nothing worked. I saw one guy use zip ties but couldn't for the life of me figure out how to get any attached without removing the whole assembly. Aaaand as we all know Ain't Nobody Got Time For Dat!

There is a piece of plastic above the two screws remove that and then if you look at how the mechanism works when you use the handle it pulls the lever back to operate the catch. Using simple deduction I decided that the lever wasn't being pulled back far enough and if it was pulled back more it would open the latch easier.

All I did was put a large screw driver the hole and bent the lever mechanism towards the inside of the door more. Eureka! Worked like two charms!

AND THE BEST PART IS YOU DON'T EVEN NEED TO DISASSEMBLE THE DOOR PANEL!

[DPenhead]

I discovered something after spending 2 days trying and swearing, and swearing, and bleeding to get both in there... I couldn't believe that the door handle was this well thought out. (Forgive my incorrect terminology) Take out both the handle and latch out of the door, then reinstall the handle (however the Hell you actually get it flush right so that the trim fits correctly on, I haven't yet discovered). When installing the handle, attach the rod to the latch before installing it, THEN install the latch. On the latch, where the rod connects from the handle (NOT the rod that goes in the slot...the skinny one), when you move the plunger thing up for the catch for the small rod, there is a very small hole in the latch that you can stick a wire or nail through in order to hold up the plunger thingy to clip onto the rod coming down from the handle. First clip on the rod thing that goes into the elongated slot, THEN swivel it just a little and clip the bottom of the rod coming down from the handle into it. when you have it exactly where you want it, pull out the nail or wire and the plunger thingy drops about 1/8", thereby putting pressure on the small rod, and everything pinches itself together in that confined space pretty well. It's WAY easier than you think it is. I laughed out loud when I saw the hole.... 'Like, No way!... that is not... Oh my God, it is!' That's what came out of my mouth. NOWHERE DO ANY WALKTHROUGHS ON THIS TOPIC MENTION THIS!!!! And I sure wish someone would've... Now, if someone can just tell me how the heck the latch attaches flush, I'd sure like to get that door back together. Been 2 weeks now cussing it... and another thing, why are BOTH wires from the Pelican Parts handle BROWN? BOTH?!! And the electrical socket doesn't fit... I'm ok removing pins to interchange with the old one, but what does what???!!!

[bmwsmurf]

I had a bit of a hard time understanding what happened here exactly, but this is the second post mentioning a falling plunger and I wonder if there are some plungers that are worn that don't let them stay up (or vice versa). As per my post, I just:

1) pull the hook down 90 degrees (some people may not be realizing that this whole hook swivels down.
2) put the hook into the latch
3) push the latch into the cavity of the door (and swivel the hook back up 90 degrees to make it vertical again).
4) as you wiggle the latch into place, you should be able to also maneuver the rod into the plunger. I forgot to mention that you need to make sure it inserts properly into the door body where a piece of small metal sticks out, otherwise it will never be flush. (thanks to someone else who talked about this in the thread earlier)

I discovered something after spending 2 days trying and swearing, and swearing, and bleeding to get both in there... I couldn't believe that the door handle was this well thought out. (Forgive my incorrect terminology) Take out both the handle and latch out of the door, then reinstall the handle (however the Hell you actually get it flush right so that the trim fits correctly on, I haven't yet discovered). When installing the handle, attach the rod to the latch before installing it, THEN install the latch. On the latch, where the rod connects from the handle (NOT the rod that goes in the slot...the skinny one), when you move the plunger thing up for the catch for the small rod, there is a very small hole in the latch that you can stick a wire or nail through in order to hold up the plunger thingy to clip onto the rod coming down from the handle. First clip on the rod thing that goes into the elongated slot, THEN swivel it just a little and clip the bottom of the rod coming down from the handle into it. when you have it exactly where you want it, pull out the nail or wire and the plunger thingy drops about 1/8", thereby putting pressure on the small rod, and everything pinches itself together in that confined space pretty well. It's WAY easier than you think it is. I laughed out loud when I saw the hole.... 'Like, No way!... that is not... Oh my God, it is!' That's what came out of my mouth. NOWHERE DO ANY WALKTHROUGHS ON THIS TOPIC MENTION THIS!!!! And I sure wish someone would've... Now, if someone can just tell me how the heck the latch attaches flush, I'd sure like to get that door back together. Been 2 weeks now cussing it... and another thing, why are BOTH wires from the Pelican Parts handle BROWN? BOTH?!! And the electrical socket doesn't fit... I'm ok removing pins to interchange with the old one, but what does what???!!!

[325isED]

i have a 1995 325is coupé i can open the driver door from the out side and the inside but the passenger door only from the inside< i had the door open and i was looking in at the mechanism whne the door locks and it seems like the pin/arm that releases the lock doesn't go back far enough (only when i pull from the outside handle on the passenger side) ANY HELP i might need to lube it up but any one got a fix to this?!?!?!?

[yensed]

anyone know what piece is on the top right side, the hinge looking thing.
would love if anyone has a link or know what it's called.

None of the 3 pieces in the picture are individual, removable components. The whole handle in your picture has literally broken apart into 3 chunks. The piece you are asking about is the lever which actually opens the door when you lift up on the handle. Here is a complete handle to give you an idea.

[Mojo328i]

anybody got instructions to remove the keyhole tumbler? someone broke mine and i have an old e36 i want to take new handle/key out of.

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i got the door handle lose but broke the clip that holds the flat screw thingy. but how do i remove the window glass? its in the way removed 2s hex and 2x 10mm bolts.. what else am i missing ?

[flyfishvt]

Bentley has a great section on removing and reinstalling the door glass. I use it every time I have to remove the glass on an e36