Frozen door locks - Common Problem ?

[jpnut]

I'll call the service advisor to get some info on CPO, thanks guys.

[jpnut]

Damn! Happened to me again this morning 29 degrees with freezing rain two nights prior!!!

[TonyVA]

Ok guys very informative thread, now here is my situation. Had a freeze,went to open the door and like many of you...nothing! I was heading to work so went in the passenger side no issues. The next day the temps got out of sub-zero and door worked ok. Just last Sunday I was going on some work related travel to a conference and when I went to open the door to put gas in the truck the inside latch did nothing. At the same time I heard something dropping inside the door. So I am thinking bowden cable clip broken. Has anyone enountered this situation? Has anyone had to change their cables? Need help or I will have to drop it off at the (St)dealer...(and potentially replace the "d" with the "St".

[bd3500]

I had this issue once when I went to my parents this winter in Pennsylvania. It was after an ice storm and I think water froze in the door lock somewhere.

My solution? A hairdryer blowing on the latch that catches for about 2 minutes. hasn't happened since.

Sounds like a different issue than yours though TonyVA (if you were in Virginia Beach) as Arlington, VA this morning really wasn't that cold....

[butundo]

TonyVA, does the door open at all? If not, most likely dealer is the only fix. You need to remove the door panel, but if the door doesn't open, that will cause a major problem.

[X5 Meister]

Here's the stuff BMW uses.

[Piston]

Well this happened to me last year and once again today. Love Chicago weather. Will try to order the recommended parts and fix my doors. What a PITA! Wish my car was under warranty. 2002 x5 100k+ so definitely not anymore. I like the car but it doesn't fare so well in the winter.

What worries me about replacing these parts is some people here have complained on their 2004's and the bulletin mentions a late build in 2002's as the last year of the problem. SO how is it that these 2004 cars are still having the issue is it really worth buying those parts and replacing or should i do the surgeon glove method that is on the how to's section?

[primetime]

Piston, i've heard that spraying anti-freeze into the door latch (open your door first and look at the latch mechanism on the door) keeps it from freezing. There is a thread about it on here somewhere, seems some members have had great success with this method..I'll try to find the thread.

[primetime]

Found it..here it is.

http://www.xoutpost.com/bmw-sav-foru...sy-remedy.html

[Piston]

Thanks Primetime, I was going to go with WD40 solution. I wasn't thinking of putting antifreeze on it since the latch is greased. Will read your thread.