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  #1  
Old 12-28-2005, 09:21 PM
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Frozen door locks - Common Problem ?

This morning, opened passenger front door and when trying to close it, it would just rebound without "catching". tried manually rotating the locking mechanism with my fingers to try free it up, but without success,

I then opened the driver's door and unbelievably, same thing happened. So now I have two front doors that won't close and a funeral to attend within the hour - Not good !!! Eventually I got the driver's door to close, and had to use a little WD40 on the passenger lock to get it rotating freely enough to "catch" again.

The temperature was only -2 degrees C, so not exactly extreme weather conditions.

My car is an 2002 model, and just wondered if this is a common problem in cold'ish weather or not. Never had this problem with any previous cars, and was really surprised to get this problem at all, never mind it happening to two doors at the same time.
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  #2  
Old 12-28-2005, 09:25 PM
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happened to me once! i was pissed!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! called BMW roadside assistance coz i wasnt about to drive around with doors like that....they got the car back to dealer and it was fixed...hasnt happened again since.
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Old 12-28-2005, 09:29 PM
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Glad to know I'm not alone !!! But not happy that locks freeze at such temps as not exactly Arctic conditions !!!

It was just lucky it happened outside my home rather than somewhere else where I had no access to WD40, rope to tie the doors shut etc !!!
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  #4  
Old 12-28-2005, 11:00 PM
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The Bowden cables connecting the outer door handles to the latch assemblies may get water inside the outer sheath of the cable. If the temperature drops below freezing before the water dries out, the water may freeze, preventing the movement of the inner cable.

There is a BMW service bulletin for this. It's a really common problem.
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Old 12-28-2005, 11:17 PM
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Never had that problem
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  #6  
Old 12-29-2005, 08:35 AM
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Yeah, I had that too acouple of times! Just had to wait for the temp to increase to have the door free up. My 2001 front door window seals don't keep water out of the door. May look into what is involved to replace them. as I regularly wash my X5.
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  #7  
Old 12-29-2005, 10:16 AM
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It happened to me twice last winter. BMW NA was completely useless since my warranty expired. This problem is a safety hazard, since you can shut the doors by pulling the door shut, then pressing the lock button. Problem with that is you get locked in the car until the doors thaw. And the door isnt even completely latched shot. Piece of crap design.
The way this problem seems to happen is that when snow/ice melts on the windows, the water runs down into the door. If its still inside the door when you shut down and this water remains there long enough to freeze, then your screwed.
POSSIBLE SCENERIO: You run out one very cold night to the store. You park, come back out to your car and find the doors dont shut because with all the cold, the water in the door froze. Now you're stuck at night in a parking lot without doors. As bad as that sounds, now replace that scenerio with your wife and small child being stuck one cold night in a parking lot and cant shut the doors. I would send BMW a threatening legal letter (my wife's an attorney, so its free).
I really see a lawsuit looming for BMW because this is clearly a defective design in the doors.
BMW needs to step up and recall these particular models because if they cant figure out how to shut a f****n door, I will never purchase another BMW again (I'm on my third and last).
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Old 12-29-2005, 11:39 AM
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Here is one of the service bulletins sent out by BMW. They are are aware of the problem but, still, no recall to fix this design fault.

This Service Information bulletin replaces S.I. 51 51 02 dated March 2002.

SUBJECT
Outer Door Handles Freeze

MODEL
X5 produced prior to 7/02

SITUATION
Some owners of X5s built prior to 7/02 may complain of one or more outer door releases failing to operate in freezing weather. This usually occurs after a period of heavy rain which is followed by a sudden, hard freeze.

CAUSE
The Bowden cables connecting the outer door handles to the latch assemblies may get water inside the outer sheath of the cable. If the temperature drops below freezing before the water dries out, the water may freeze, preventing the movement of the inner cable.

CORRECTION
As of 7/02 production, the sealing of the outer cable from water penetration was improved by modifying the rubber nipple on the handle end of the cable.

[S5104U07.JPG]
The early nipple (1) has a flat top.
The improved nipple (2) is extended and has more of a barrel shape.

In case of a customer complaint, replace the outer door handles with the improved parts.
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  #9  
Old 12-29-2005, 12:39 PM
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Bill count me in lawsuit against BMW

Bill K,
When you send that letter make sure you include my name. I have been dealing with this problem for 3 years. I have talk to everyone till I was blue in the face. I call BMW and spoken with Molly Sullivan many times about it. Still nothing. The first time I took it in it was still under warranty and my dealer told me there was nothing they cold do about it, and just to spray the door latch with WD-40. The dealer never wrote that down on my work order and now the are saying that I have to pay for it. Every year I have the same discussion with BMW about this and still nothing. It's about time someone sends them a letter threatening to sue them over this.
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  #10  
Old 12-29-2005, 02:32 PM
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I've just been making calls to the dealer. I'm not done yet, since they've passed me around. Next call is to the service manager.
If they can fix it for cheap, I'll do that. if not, I'll send them out a letter.
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