finally installed the door handle gaskets with a few hitches

The rear ones went on okay, I mean fine but the front ones are a different story. I purchased them from kenneth woo in malaysia a long time ago and finally gto around to putting them on. for the front handles though, they won't go on properly, it seems that that they aren't exactly the right size, I tried using warm water to make the rubber more workable but when I went to install it on the drivers side, its on there now, the door handle won't open, the rubber around the keyhole dosen't align perfectly neither does it for the pins go on the handle.

on the drivers side i removed the handle sorround incorrectly so I broke one of the tabs off which I will have to replace now. Both front door handle surrounds are very difficult / impossible to put on while, the rear gaksets are on almost perfectly.

there have been a few posts about this before. (The first thread is a really good one - http://www.bimmernut.com/forum/showt...+handle+gasket) I realise why now.

I took about two hours to install the front passenger gasket without luck, while the two rear ones, took 30mins in total for two.

Kriss,
what kind of door handles are there on your car? I read on the German E34 forum, that on older E34 they are made of metal while later years they are made of plastic.

Bis/till 09/91 wiegt sie/weight is 80g front 11,90€ netto, hinten/rear 11,20€.
Ab/from 09/91 weight is only 18g (da Kunststoff/plastic) price front 7,90€ netto, hinten /rear 8,95€.

So people which have the plastic ones should replace the complete thing with new parts from the dealer, only the metal pices are of interest to replace the rubber only
http://de.bmwfans.info/original/E34/...1/ill-41_0730/

they are metal Erich :(

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Originally Posted by shogun

Kriss,
what kind of door handles are there on your car? I read on the German E34 forum, that on older E34 they are made of metal while later years they are made of plastic.

Bis/till 09/91 wiegt sie/weight is 80g front 11,90€ netto, hinten/rear 11,20€.
Ab/from 09/91 weight is only 18g (da Kunststoff/plastic) price front 7,90€ netto, hinten /rear 8,95€.

So people which have the plastic ones should replace the complete thing with new parts from the dealer, only the metal pices are of interest to replace the rubber only
http://de.bmwfans.info/original/E34/...1/ill-41_0730/

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When I replaced mine last year with factory rubber it only took a minute or two for each handle (front or back) once I figured out the first one. Yes, OE rubber cost a bit more, but it didn't give me any trouble.

I did do the drivers door on an E36 M3 coupe afterwards. And even though the procedure is the same it took 2 hours to do the one gasket and that was using factory rubber. The door card was off and it still took that long. Problem on those is the slider is behind a sheet of steel and rather a pain to get to.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by BigKriss

they are metal Erich :(

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Mine were metal also, i had ordered a set from Erich an messed around with them some but after looking at the condition of my original trim pieces i ended up ordering new handles and rubbers from Patrick at bma... Then new ones went on without any drama once you have them positioned just right the latch slides very easy and you can watch the rubber being sucked down tight when you're in just the right spot, if you don't have them located just right the sliding latch won't pull all the way and the door handle will bind when you open the door

Oh this is interesting. My handles stick also. I thought it was just me. I have an 89 535i. I bought these replacements off of ebay. I have another pair I bought off of Shogun but have not installed them yet. Its too cold outside and as I remember they are easier to install when it is warm. Is there anyway of fixing this sticking problem?

this is interesting,i have a new trim peice and rubber for one of my back doors,after the origina;l fell off i guess(one morning i noticed it had gone.I have had a couple of goes to reinstall it but without success.I am gald i am not the only one!A pparently it is easier if the gaskets are warm.

Sounds like a common problem. Once it warms up here I will take a closer look at the problem. Hopefully there is a solution.

I went out and took a look an my hanging door handles. Here is the problem as I see it on my car. The new gaskets reposition the cover a little lower than the old gasket and the handle when pulled, hangs on the edge indicated by the red line in this drawing. Other than removing the gasket and trying to figure out how to modify the gasket to reposition the cover a little higher, I don't see how get past this problem. I guess you could shave down the area that is rubbing but then you are messing with the handle and I don't like that. Anyone else have a solution? Wonder if you unlocked the cover and placed a placed a wedge (like one or two old credit cards) in the opening where the red line is and then relocked the cover it would reposition the cover with a proper gap?
http://i273.photobucket.com/albums/j...doorhandle.jpg

Went out again to try the credit card fix. Had problems getting the cover lock plug out of the hole (its cold :)), so I was just about to give up when I decide to check the doors on the other side. Low and behold both of the passenger side doors worked fine with no binding. I looked at the binding area and discovered that there was a larger gap. So I went back to the other side and slipped a thin knife into the gap and worked it up and down slowly and carefully so as to not scratch any of the surfaces. After about 30 seconds I had a large enough gap to work with a small screwdriver and finally a larger screwdriver. I think the important thing here is to work slowly. Don't want to hear that anyone has broken something. ;) To make a long story longer I now have the same gap between all four doors and the handles no longer bind. I discovered that the covers with new gaskets will slide up just enough to allow the handles to work properly. I guess by accident I had position the covers on the passenger side high enough to clear and the ones on the drivers side to low. When I install the new ones on my sons 735i I will purposefully place a shim in that gap before I lock the cover in place. Let me know if this works for anyone else.

You can position the handle a bit lower, that is the trick. Remove the cover with the new gaskets, underneath you see 2 screws, losen them and push the handle a bit down, tighten them again, attach the new cover with the new gasket, done, works perfect.

the front handles/gaskets only have one screw though and you can't do that with them. even if I could the front ones are already in their lowest position.I tried to muck around with it just then and I had no better results :(

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Originally Posted by shogun

You can position the handle a bit lower, that is the trick. Remove the cover with the new gaskets, underneath you see 2 screws, losen them and push the handle a bit down, tighten them again, attach the new cover with the new gasket, done, works perfect.

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Hmm I don't remember any screws being involved. With my 89 535i I just positioned the gasket on the backside of the cover and held the cover with the gasket on the body until I could slide the retainer forward and lock the cover and gasket in place.

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Originally Posted by Kibokojoe

Hmm I don't remember any screws being involved. With my 89 535i I just positioned the gasket on the backside of the cover and held the cover with the gasket on the body until I could slide the retainer forward and lock the cover and gasket in place.

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without the rear trims in place there are two screws which hold the actual handle assembly in place.My LH rear door handle binds as yours do Kibkojoe,so i am gonna try your pry trick and id that doesnt work I am gonna take the trim off,loosen the screws and see if i can move the handle down a bit.

Let me know

even the outer cover where the rubber gasket goes on, has some small space for adjustment. When you lock it again after replacing the gasket, push it up as much as possible and then lock the slider from inside. That is maybe a milimeter or so, but just enough.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by shogun

even the outer cover where the rubber gasket goes on, has some small space for adjustment. When you lock it again after replacing the gasket, push it up as much as possible and then lock the slider from inside. That is maybe a milimeter or so, but just enough.

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agreed the interference is only fractions of a mm,a couple of strokes with a file would fix it but of course you would lose the coating