Can't open driver's door (long, please help!)

[Mr Project]

Ok, I know, you're thinking...not another dead battery thread! But no, my problems are never that easy. And I can search, after all.

A few weeks ago I replaced my whole driver's door handle assembly with a used unit. The pot metal was actually cracked and broken inside on my old one. I transferred the lock cylinder from my old handle to the new one...a little tricky but I did it, and cleaned and lubed it at the same time.

Worked great! No problems for a few weeks.

Today when I locked my car at work, the key didn't turn very well...but it worked. Then when I went to unlock it, the key was really hard to turn... and in the process I managed to double-lock the doors. After that, the driver's door will not unlock. No, I can't pull up the plunger inside the car. No, I can't do the 'emergency unlock' procedure (I used to do that with my old handle all the time)....this one is seriously stuck!!!

I shot some lithium lube into the lock cylinder...no effect so far...I'll let it sit overnight. The lock cylinder will rotate to the lock position ok, and will rotate to the 'normal' unlock position, but it refuses to unlock. Other doors work as they should.

I can't fix this unless I get the door open...the door panel is not coming off with the door closed. Any ideas? Help!

- Mr Project, now crawling in and out through the passenger door....waiting for the rain to stop so I can do it 'dukes of hazzard' style.

[mikemaster]

Don't know if this would work for you, but once that happened with my back door and I was only able to get in by taking off the inside handle and pulling the rod inside with pliers. It might be worth a shot anyways. BTW, I drove around with the driver's side back door locked for at least a month before I figured it out. My passengers HATED me.

[Kalevera]

Sure the lock actuator didn't get fried? It sounds like a reversed polarity issue to me, only this particular one got stuck in the "locked" position, which sucks. Mine *wouldn't move* when that happened.

Either way, you've got to pull off the door panel to get it unlocked. IIRC, winfred had some way of going in through the door handle cover, but I'm not sure how you could get it off without access to the door jamb.

best, whit

[shogun]

Open the rear door behind the locked front door wide. in the gap to the front you can see the side of the front door. There is a round rubber plug in the front door at the height of the lock. remove this. With a torch you can see now the slider of the outer door handle cover inside

Push this forward. Then you can remove the cover from the outside. Then you see on the outside on the door handle 2 screws. Remove these. Then you can remove the door handle and you have access through this hole to the inside mechanism.
Was found out by Ken Grachow some months ago and he posted it on roafly.
Do not know if this also works on the E34, but give it a try.s

[Mr Project]

Thanks, guys....

Shragon - You are the man, as always. I'll check that out. That actually give me hope!

Lowell - I think it's a mechanical problem, but I might try disconnecting the power first just to remove the possibility that I'm fighting the lock mechanism.

Mike - Yeah, people are starting to look at me funny too.

[Mr Project]

Wow, Lowell, it worked! I disconnected the power and it released the double-lock so I could unlock the door manually. Now I have to tear it down and find out what really went wrong....

[Kalevera]

I bet the screws that secure the actuator in place came loose: when that happens, the thing can move around and do all sorts of funny ****. IE - if it's too far away from the jamb, the door won't lock; too close and it won't unlock (which sounds like the problem). But it could be something else (argh!).

best, whit