Getting ready to replace my drivers side handle
 

We had some extremely cold weather with lots of freezing rain and ice. I broke my drivers door handle. Ordered a new one, arrived yesterday. Since ordering the new drivers side, my passenger side broke. I now have to crawl through the back doors and over the seat to open from the inside. What a pain. I guess I'll have to order the passenger side now. I was hoping warmer weather might thaw out the door handle so it works again. It seems every year I have problems with either the door not shutting becauseof a frozen latch or the handle doesn't work. I have a 2001 X5 4.4 that is starting to nickle and dime me to death. Self Leving Suspension inactive, ABS lights on, DSC light on, SES light on, airbag light on. It's beginning to look like a Christmas tree. And I only have 83K miles.

I followed the instructions in this post and changed the carrier in less than an hour. Thanks OP

That's good to know. I'm trying mine on Sunday

Attempting right now to replace the handle. Old one looks fine. Anyway, I had a hard time replacing the lock mechanism. I could not get the new hex head bolt to thread into the lock assembly. Removed new bolt, replaced with old bolt and it went right in. Now I am having trouble snapping ball joint back into place. Once I have that done, it's time to put it all back together. Hope it works. Wish me luck...............

Well it works. However, I am trying to get the interior door handle attached again. Mine doesn't seem to snap together. Is it supposed to? I also have an extra wire with a clear end, looks like there is a bulb at the end. Where does this one go?

The clear wire is the door handle light. It snaps behind the door handle.

Yupp i agree, although i have yet to attempt to replace this part yet, come spring time i will :)

Cool! Glad it helped you. :thumbup:

Well, my drivers side finally broke. I knew it was near, since it started getting worse every day. Does anyone know if the replacement part is updated to prevent the frozen door issue? I just want to make sure that while I have the door apart, I fix that issue as well.

THANKS!
 

Just wanted to say a big THANKS for posting this fix. THe instructions worked great. I replaced the carriage on my wife's 04 x5 in about an hour or so. Thanks again, and I'm sure if my wife knew about the site here, she thank you too... dig it!:rofl::thumbup::thumbup::thumbup::thumbup::D:D: D:D:D:rofl: