Rear Driver-Side Door Stuck

[270_BMW]

Good Evening All,

Been a little while, got a 2006 E53 this go around. *Edit LH Drive
Spent all day getting it road worthy after sitting for five months.
Part of the agenda today was replacing the driver’s side carrier grouping.
So if that is what this ends up being I won’t be terribly upset since it takes a little less than an hour to do.

Getting to the diagnosis,
Door will not operate from either side, when using the outside handle you can hear the mechanism moving and it pulls to the full range and goes back flush. I can’t remember for the life of me if this worked when it was parked. From the inside, the handle has tension but you can’t hear anything audible moving inside the door... most likely child lock engaged if the 2006 was equipped with one.

I don’t have any door ajar lights on the dash and no interior lights are on, I haven’t attempted to have someone push from the outside while attempting to use the outside handle which it might just be stuck. Going to attempt this when I get the kids to bed in half an hour.

Door unlocks with all key and button commands and window operates normally too.

Thoughts?

[andrewwynn]

Double lock motor failure.

Try the double lock inside override. (sit inside the car, use key fob to lock the car, press twice to deactivate the motion alarm, then hold the central lock button and at the same time pull the door handle inside.

If child lock engaged I'm not sure if the double lock will stay off and you can subsequently unlock from outside.

The next most likely candidate is that one of the release cables is not returning fully to reset the latch. You will have to wriggle off the inside panel to get to the door actuator, usually disconnect the cable/s and manually pull the latch lever.

If the double lock motor is dead you can manually flip the double lock but it's tricky to get to it as it's covered by the weather protection.

[270_BMW]

Originally Posted by andrewwynn

Double lock motor failure.

Try the double lock inside override. (sit inside the car, use key fob to lock the car, press twice to deactivate the motion alarm, then hold the central lock button and at the same time pull the door handle inside.

If child lock engaged I'm not sure if the double lock will stay off and you can subsequently unlock from outside.

The next most likely candidate is that one of the release cables is not returning fully to reset the latch. You will have to wriggle off the inside panel to get to the door actuator, usually disconnect the cable/s and manually pull the latch lever.

If the double lock motor is dead you can manually flip the double lock but it's tricky to get to it as it's covered by the weather protection.

Hey Andrew! Thank you for the reply!

I’ll give the double locking trick a try. The battery had died after being locked with the key fob some months ago. I had initially tried to get this vehicle going three weeks ago but I was stuck with the dilemma of a dead battery and broken driver side exterior handle while parked on the street in front of my house that had more traffic than usual due to a road closure. Eventually got the door inflated enough to pull the inside handle, pop the hood, get a jump pack on it and managed to get the passenger side doors open just left them unlocked so I could do what I had to do yesterday. So I’m not sure if it was double locked but that was my initial fear.

Can that freeze up on just one door?

[andrewwynn]

It's usually the DRIVER door but yes double lock is actuated by a second motor in each door actuator. The motor can wear out and act up or apparently just get confused.

[270_BMW]

Originally Posted by andrewwynn

It's usually the DRIVER door but yes double lock is actuated by a second motor in each door actuator. The motor can wear out and act up or apparently just get confused.

Do you think the alarm will sound when tinkering with this? The only real time I’ve got an extra pair of hands is when the kids are in bed and wife can assist.

[andrewwynn]

You won’t need an extra set of hands. if you open the door before you turn the alarm off it will sound but by double clicking the lock you will defeat the internal alarm. Roll down the window to be able to use the exterior handle in case the safety kid lock is set. Don’t do it when people are sleeping there is a good chance the alarm will go off.

[Conajw]

If you do not have it fixed as yet I had the same problem! I had to remove the rear seat side cushion and take off The door panel from the inside . You then have to reach in and with a light find the door latch pull down on the back side of the lock. It is where the outside handle attached with the push connector to the living mechznism. Push UP on that ball like connector in stead of down and the lock should release! You will need to replace the lock mechanism as it has most likely separated where it is on a swivel! I was lucky there were four x5 in the u pull your own parts wrecking yard near me and I found one that appeared to be new! They sell them in e bay as well but one I had bought in a previous x5 I owned had to be returned as it did not fit!

[andrewwynn]

Nice tip on the seat cushion removal

[Mike1261]

This EXACT issue is what happened to our 06 E53.

Parked for 2 months. Battery died (internal short! Even a multimeter denied the battery even existed lol).

Replaced battery, got everything running, driver side rear door won't open from either side but everything feels like it's functioning.

I'll try the bypass button handywork this evening when it stops raining.

[Mike1261]

Originally Posted by andrewwynn

Double lock motor failure.

Try the double lock inside override. (sit inside the car, use key fob to lock the car, press twice to deactivate the motion alarm, then hold the central lock button and at the same time pull the door handle inside.

If child lock engaged I'm not sure if the double lock will stay off and you can subsequently unlock from outside.

The next most likely candidate is that one of the release cables is not returning fully to reset the latch. You will have to wriggle off the inside panel to get to the door actuator, usually disconnect the cable/s and manually pull the latch lever.

If the double lock motor is dead you can manually flip the double lock but it's tricky to get to it as it's covered by the weather protection.

This very timely post saved me countless hours of effort! Rear door works fine again. Thank you so much both y'all for posting!!