Driver Door Issue
 

The E53 doors are, well, amazing :)

I can open the door just fine from the inside, if I pull the door inside lever. However, the door remains closed no matter how hard I pull the outside door lever. Is this the infamous carrier issue, or some other part? Can it be lubricated, or it needs a replacement?

Yep, its your door carrier. Here's the DIY: http://www.xoutpost.com/articles/x5/...andle-fix.html

Not a difficult job (approx an hour if you haven't done it before), although unless you have boy hands its a bit of an arse getting the bowden cable plastic retainer back in the metal tab ;)

Thanks. Today the outside lever got stuck in the "pulled" position, sticking outside like when you pull it to open the door. Probably the spring is having a hard time to bring it back in the normal position.
Can it also be lubricated, or it has to be replaced with a new carrier?

Alright, I just changed it today. Almost got locked out the other day. I coded the car to auto-lock the doors and I stepped out of the car to open a parking barrier. Luckily I am a smoker and I had the window half way down, just enough to fit my hand and reach the inner lever.
The carrier was un-recoverable and lubricating it was not an option. One of the holders for the axle with the spring was broken. So when I was pulling the lever, the axle was just shifting around the only holder that was left intact. Anyway, being the driver door I would recommend getting a new carrier, to avoid scenarios like above.
The whole operation was pretty easy, though it would have helped if I had done this before. It was harder to put the door trim back together, then taking everything down :)

Sour thumbs now :)

Glad to hear it all worked out in the end! ;)