Have to pull the driver door handle twice sometimes to open, locks work fine.

[59vampire]

Sometimes the INNER door handle doesn't open the door the first time and I have to pull again. The door locks work fine with no delays. Actuators have been replaced in two of the doors in the past but I don't know which ones.

Is this an actuator issue? I'd like to get it resolved before I hand the car to my son full time next month when he turns 17.

Anyone ever experience this? Suggestions? Thanks again for all the help.

[lo_jack]

Sounds like door handle carrier failure.
Search around, there are plenty of those here. It is not difficult to replace. People have mixed results with non-oem carriers. One of those is me. My admittedly cheap carrier only works every once in a while, but its not in full failure mode like my old one that actually broke. Eventually, you cannot open the door from the outside at all.

[59vampire]

Thank you. This is something that happens when I am inside the car. I will do the search as you suggest.

[Ricky Bobby]

Originally Posted by lo_jack

Sounds like door handle carrier failure.
Search around, there are plenty of those here. It is not difficult to replace. People have mixed results with non-oem carriers. One of those is me. My admittedly cheap carrier only works every once in a while, but its not in full failure mode like my old one that actually broke. Eventually, you cannot open the door from the outside at all.

Agreed - if it sticks a bit it may be signs of a door carrier going south - I just did my drivers door for the first time and the passenger door for the second time this year, the passenger door was replaced with an aftermarket carrier and was never right.

Both doors work perfectly now with the OE carrier from BMW - stick with Genuine for this part IMO

[Proflyer]

My E90 requires two pulls of the handle if the door is locked when exiting from the inside. First pull unlocks it, second pull opens it. I can't remember if the X5 does the same thing or not, but I'm fairly certain it's a BMW thing...are you sure the door is unlocked when you pull it and it doesn't open?

[oldskewel]

I used to have intermittent weirdness opening the driver's door from the inside - maybe like you're saying. More specifically, I'm talking about pulling the lever to mechanically unlock and then open the door from the inside. Not too bad and not often enough to worry much, but I did wonder about it because of the obvious safety issue. The solution whenever it would happen would be to keep trying and then, if needed, roll down the window and open from the outside handle.

I repaired my door lock actuator the other day, and the whole thing works better than it ever has, including this issue. I now realize it was a little uncertain every time I pulled the handle. Now, every time I pull it, it is clear what is happening (unlock, open) and it works every time.

Not sure if it was just the act of removing and reinstalling the actuator (maybe things were not in there right; it seems that the PO did a hack job replacement of the door handle carrier - fortunately for me, that was about the only thing not done at the dealer), or maybe the previously weak actuator was doing just enough to unlock the door, but leaving things in a bad spot, or ??? But surely it is 100% now and was less than that before the actuator repair.

So I would recommend to at least consider that the door lock actuator is related to this behavior. Also, double check (disconnect and reconnect, at least) the interface between the inner door handle lever and the cable that it pulls. That's very simple, but I did disconnect and then reconnect that as part of my repair, and that could have been it.

Also, if I am correct in reading that you are specifically talking about the inner door handle, then you might want to edit to make that clear in your first post.

[59vampire]

Proflyer. I will check what you said. I'm not sure. I'm away floor the next few days so I will check it out when I get home.

Oldskewel. Corrected ! Thanks

[upallnight]

If the door is locked, you need to pull the inside door handle twice.

If the door is unlocked you only need to pull the inside handle once.

You can un.lock all the doors with the switch next to the Hazard Light.

[59vampire]

Thanks for all the help. There is nothing with the the car just me! The issue is the door is locked and you need to pull it twice. Any other quirks I need to know about?

[OptimusPriM5]

Damn that was a cheap fix!