What did you do to / for your E53 today??

[andrewwynn]

The key difference knock off vs. OE is the cable. I will swap cable of it's still serviceable.

Grease up the gear. Don't use oil on the cable but Teflon is good.

[c-bass]

Originally Posted by Fifty150hs

It doesn't matter if you get a genuine BMW or aftermarket, it's a design flaw. Look up Andrew's fix on this board. He has a method of making it so they never break.

Thanks,

I am familiar with his fix and tried it on the front passenger door but it doesn't work from the outside. I took the door panel off and the mechanism appears to be working properly pulling the cable as it should but the door will only open from the inside handle.

After the better part of an hour fiddling with the screw for the door lock I finally got it back together and called that a win for the day since it was a balmy -8 C

Total time was over 3 hours fumbling around with everything and some warming up breaks.

This winter has been the coldest, longest and most snow we've had in almost a decade, which obviously means I've spent the most time working outside I have in almost a decade. Womp Womp

[andrewwynn]

If the outside handle doesn't work that's usually if the cable is not relaxing enough to grab internally.

Lift the arm with a tool or finger to see if you can release the latch manually to determine if this is what's happening.

If the end of the cable rusts it can make the outer cable longer and it can set up for this failure mode. Over had to cut some of the outer cable off to resolve this issue.

[c-bass]

QUOTE=andrewwynn;1243459]The key difference knock off vs. OE is the cable. I will swap cable of it's still serviceable.

Grease up the gear. Don't use oil on the cable but Teflon is good.[/QUOTE]

The build quality and fitment of these chinesium units I've been buying are all over the place. Some of them have been so bad they didn't line up at all trying to get the door handle back on.

On most of them the angle of where the screw that holds the door lock part is terrible making it very difficult to get it back in.

From what I noticed the cable hasn't really jumped out as an obvious weak point but there's always something to look forward to when dealing with these door handle carriers.

There's a guy on facebook in one of the e53 groups that's selling a modified version of the Febi DHCs removing the cable altogether.

[X5chemist]

Topped off coolant and oil check. Full fuel tank. Ready for a cold front to blow through! Oil use has been drastically reduced since installing the aluminum valve cover. I still need to put on the left front seat backing. I had to glue one holder back on after it popped off during installation.

[Factory6speed]

I have the x in the garage now for some needed maint. The f30 with diy built engine seems good, still no noises.

I think I fixed the fuel trim / lean codes. Replaced leaking disa valve, and the large vacuum cap on the back of the intake manifold was split in half. That's really what was wrong with it. Smoke test ok.

Oil and filter change, first time from actual 5000 miles driving and not engine work. Oil looked really nice.

Bleed brakes and clutch, the pedal was getting spongy from sitting out in negative temperatures.

When I took the reinforcement plate off to get to the slave cylinder, discovered blue coolant all over the front power steering lines. Pressure checked and found slow leak from newer plastic thermostat housing, the lower bolt. Removed clutch fan and hand tightened thermostat housing bolts. Pressure check ok. I tried forever to get to them with the fan in and there was just no way.

I spent a bit of time underneath it, more fluid film. Sprayed some penetrating oil all on the rear end bolts. I'm not sure if I'm going to go all in with dropping and rebuilding the rear subframe right now as planned. Most things look pretty good I just probably need to do the brakes. One thing at a time.

Four new genuine tail lights, one was eating bulbs, the other was burnt. Not sure what kind of aftermarket things were going on here, just start over with nice new ones. Expensive but it was Christmas present to myself.

New rear hatch struts

New spark plugs and genuine valve cover, cylinder 5 kept getting wet I think that thing was warped. Decided not to go with the aftermarket options. They're probably okay but I've had bad luck with other Honda valve covers in the past.

[sandbagger]

PLEASE dont use the non cable conversion

as a door engineer in automotive, the cable is there for a reason. in a side impact crash a solid link like those can cause the door to unlatch.

[c-bass]

Originally Posted by sandbagger

PLEASE dont use the non cable conversion

as a door engineer in automotive, the cable is there for a reason. in a side impact crash a solid link like those can cause the door to unlatch.

Genuine question,

How does the cable prevent that from happening?

[sandbagger]

Short version is, the impact can force the rod to release position, where the cable requires it to be pulled and that really cant happen as the cable will just move(housing with the internal)

Originally Posted by c-bass

Genuine question,

How does the cable prevent that from happening?

[80stech]

Actually the counterweight on the carrier, not the cable, keeps the door from opening on a side impact.
I'm not a Detroit car door engineer though