Broken Outside Door Handle Fix

[Russianblue]

subscribed!!

can't wait to see this in action. i will follow even if i've sold my e53 by then! best of luck.

[andrewwynn]

thanks. I hope to fix my door this weekend; for expedience i will be putting in the shitty bmw designed carrier but will LUBRICATE the damn thing first, but my plan is to fix/upgrade my old one to make it awrsome an worthy of installing in a car the with the class of an x5. I will then install into my wife's x5. when i take hers out I will upgrade it and offer it up for somebody to take advantage of it (unless i can use in the back; i am not sure if the front and rears are the same).

[andrewwynn]

Originally Posted by PersonaNonGrata

It is crazy that a part like this fails so commonly. It should not be related to cold temperatures because I live in Southern CA and my X5 has never seen any temps below 45 degrees. It has seen a ton of 100+ though.

I wish I had taken some pictures of the broken part. IIRC, it was just a small crack on a part of it that held in a spring tensioned piece. It wasn't a catastrophic failure but was enough to cause the entire thing to malfunction.

I hope this helps other members here save some money and aggravation.

That sounds like exactly what I just repaired for free. A simple twist of 16ga steel wire makes it 10x as strong as original.

I determined that in my case (wife's copy of x5) the lock mechanism had some gummy lubricant on and when it got cold the door handle stayed locked while the door was unlocked. A solid yank on the handle snapped the tiny piece of pot metal casting.

http://www.bimmerfest.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=894305

I have a bunch of videos showing how i fixed my wife's carrier for free and will now install into my car so we BOTH can enter via the drivers door


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[richardb]

One year later, and the door handle is still going strong!

[andrewwynn]

Both my wife and myself have successful repairs. The issue that breaks these things is that the lock mechanism will stick so the handle is actually still locked after you hit unlock.

If you ever notice a delayed click or it takes two tries to open STOP and if you have to use another door for entry. It will be a lot easier to clean and lubricste a non broken door handle than replace or repair a broken one!

If you think the door is frozen in ice more likely the lock mechanism is frozen. Pull the handle while locked to learn what it feels like. It feels like a stiff spring because you are actually bending metal but no mechanical clink/thunk because no moving parts.

Just before I broke mine I noticed up to a 1 second delay in the unlock mechanism especially when cold temps. If you hear a soft click with any delay at all after remote unlock progress slow

[crystalworks]

I just did a regulator on the passenger side front and lubricated the lock mechanism at the same time since access was fairly easy. Used white lithium grease. Sometimes it still doesn't unlock with the rest of the doors however. Thinking the actuator might be going bad.

Will investigate further as I fear one day someone will pull too fervently on that door handle and break the carrier.

Thanks for the videos. Will certainly review them when I decide I want to pull the carrier.

[andrewwynn]

It's not from cold. It's from the lock mechanism getting gummy. It's just exacerbated by cold partly because it makes the grease gummy but compounded by mental conditioning that we in colder climates will assume the door deal is frozen and pull harder. The hard rug will break the axle through the hinge.

I posted photos of a relatively easy fix using 16ga steel wire. If I have to do again I will use a steel band strap (looks like cable tie but stainless steel vs nylon).

I have a broken one that is be willing to fix and send on to somebody needing a driver door carrier. I only paid $35-40 for the knock off copy I used to fix wife's car but I moved over the cables from the oem they were much better made.

I repaired my wife's broken carrier and used in my car (swapping the BMW cables). I also greased up the gear part and used it only some dry lube on the trouble part so it won't gum up in winter.

[Russianblue]

has anybody done this repair on a door that will NOT open? how the hell do you get the door open to get the panel off?

[MPDano]

Originally Posted by Russianblue

has anybody done this repair on a door that will NOT open? how the hell do you get the door open to get the panel off?

When the carrier fails (broken cast), the interior door handle still functions. In other words, you should still be able to open the door using the interior pull handle.

[upallnight]

Originally Posted by Russianblue

has anybody done this repair on a door that will NOT open? how the hell do you get the door open to get the panel off?

You need to remove the seat so that there is adequate room to remove the panel.

The panel can come off with the door in the close/lock position.

Here's a video (not a BMW) but the concept is still the same.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CcYaJKlhX5s&t=138s