View Single Post
  #10  
Old 01-27-2018, 08:54 AM
bmw540san bmw540san is offline
Member
 
Join Date: Jul 2014
Location: Ooltewah, TN
Posts: 714
bmw540san is on a distinguished road
Quote:
Originally Posted by andrewwynn View Post
All brands have the same design fault. You can fix it with a piece of 16ga wire and with a Dremel you can cut off the nubbin that causes the breakage.

The last one I installed, the spring was too long and scraped on the window!

Find my threads on the topic they can be repaired for free.

Also, if you use a knock off simply swap the OE cables they are better quality even old.

Window must be up. Find some YouTube videos.

My tips:

1) cut the through the adhesive goo on the vapor barrier with razor knife it will re-adhere like new

2) turn the carrier vertical to remove and install

3) CUT off the NUB that blocks the motion when locked it will never break again. Impossible.

4) flip the airbag around and reattach to one of the mount points it will hold it safely out of the way while still plugged in: this eliminates the need to disconnect the battery

These carriers break due to a design flaw: when locked they are designed to prevent lifting the handle to give feedback to the operator that the door is locked the problem is the locking mechanism gets gummy with oil and will operate slowly when cold.

The operator will assume the door seal is iced and just needs a good tug so they do. The door handle is still locked and you tug with several hundred pounds of force compounded with leverage into 10s of 1000s of psi onto a piece of pot metal that is about 8 mm˛. It off course snaps.

I did a very simple modification that eliminates the flaw: it removes the NUB that blocks the handle motion when locked; it now simply "dry fires" when locked: the handle is allowed full motion since the cable is internally disabled and does nothing anyhow.
Thank you for detailed and invaluable tips. I just did last one by the book and your tips seem time saver and clever. I'll definitely use them when I do repair in the near future.
__________________
2010 BMW M6 * Black Saphire Metallic * Full Black Merino Leather
2019 BMW X3 M40i * Alpine White * Mocha Leather
Reply With Quote

Sponsored Links