Door Handles Keep Disconnecting/Not Working
11-29-2018, 03:09 PM
#1
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Location: Leeds
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My Ride: E60 520D
Model Year: 2006
Door Handles Keep Disconnecting/Not Working
My 2007 LCI E60 front passenger and driver side door handles (both inside and outside) keep failing.
The car doesn't has comfort access and usually works like normal with the key to lock/unlock the car and all doors, and I have to put the key inside the ignition and hold the clutch in whilst pressing the start button to start the car.
My door handles have always worked perfectly since I owned the car.
A couple of weeks ago, a friend who owns a vehicle wrapping business and I vinyl wrapped my car which involved removing the door handles. We followed instructions to remove the handles and then reinstall them, and they worked fine for a couple of days until one night I got home and went to go and get out of my driver door and it wouldn't open from the inside.
I rolled down the window and it would not open from the outside either.
I then tried locking and unlocking the central locking using the dashboard centre button and also the key but it made no difference - the door was locked shut and won't open. For a couple of days I had to climb over the centre console into the passenger seat and open the passenger door to get out and back into my car (very annoying).
Then a couple of days later the passenger side door handle also failed in exactly the same way as the driver door. Wouldn't open from the inside or outside.
The locked front doors will then not open until we go through the process of removing the rear doors to be able to access the the lock mechanism on the front doors where i have to remove the front door handles and assemble them all again properly before putting it all back together. The handles then worked perfectly again from both the inside and outside.
A few days later and the exact same thing happened again, first the driver door and then the passenger door.
This has now happened twice (where both doors have randomly stopped opening after a couple of days) and I suspect it may be some sort of electrical/safety measure/deadlock issue.
I think it must have something to do with the unlock/lock mechanism itself and not the handles because they "feel" as though they are still connected and the 'pin/knob' at the top of the door card that raises/sinks to indicate if the door is locked will raise up as normal when the interior handle is pulled if the door is locked. For example if i sit in the driver seat with the key in the ignition and press the centre dash lock/unlock button to lock the doors, and then pull the interior driver door handle, the pin will rise up at the top of the door card as normal, but then a second pull of the handle does nothing (where it would normally open the door).
Please can anyone help me??? What is happening? How can the doors open fine for a couple of days and then randomly not work? But then if I take the doors apart and reassemble everything in the same way I did each time, it all works fine again??? I am extremely puzzled.
I appreciate any help at all!
The car doesn't has comfort access and usually works like normal with the key to lock/unlock the car and all doors, and I have to put the key inside the ignition and hold the clutch in whilst pressing the start button to start the car.
My door handles have always worked perfectly since I owned the car.
A couple of weeks ago, a friend who owns a vehicle wrapping business and I vinyl wrapped my car which involved removing the door handles. We followed instructions to remove the handles and then reinstall them, and they worked fine for a couple of days until one night I got home and went to go and get out of my driver door and it wouldn't open from the inside.
I rolled down the window and it would not open from the outside either.
I then tried locking and unlocking the central locking using the dashboard centre button and also the key but it made no difference - the door was locked shut and won't open. For a couple of days I had to climb over the centre console into the passenger seat and open the passenger door to get out and back into my car (very annoying).
Then a couple of days later the passenger side door handle also failed in exactly the same way as the driver door. Wouldn't open from the inside or outside.
The locked front doors will then not open until we go through the process of removing the rear doors to be able to access the the lock mechanism on the front doors where i have to remove the front door handles and assemble them all again properly before putting it all back together. The handles then worked perfectly again from both the inside and outside.
A few days later and the exact same thing happened again, first the driver door and then the passenger door.
This has now happened twice (where both doors have randomly stopped opening after a couple of days) and I suspect it may be some sort of electrical/safety measure/deadlock issue.
I think it must have something to do with the unlock/lock mechanism itself and not the handles because they "feel" as though they are still connected and the 'pin/knob' at the top of the door card that raises/sinks to indicate if the door is locked will raise up as normal when the interior handle is pulled if the door is locked. For example if i sit in the driver seat with the key in the ignition and press the centre dash lock/unlock button to lock the doors, and then pull the interior driver door handle, the pin will rise up at the top of the door card as normal, but then a second pull of the handle does nothing (where it would normally open the door).
Please can anyone help me??? What is happening? How can the doors open fine for a couple of days and then randomly not work? But then if I take the doors apart and reassemble everything in the same way I did each time, it all works fine again??? I am extremely puzzled.
I appreciate any help at all!
Last edited by TGPrince; 11-29-2018 at 03:48 PM.
12-03-2018, 02:30 PM
#2
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Problem sounds electronic in nature. Assuming everything is hooked up normally and there's nothing loose (like connectors, wires, pins, etc) then I'd personally disconnect the battery for an hour or so and see if that resets any subsystem gremlins.
I've had a less frustrating issue concerning the occasional failure to lock all the doors using the key fob while a door is still open. It's the same door I always have open, it's the same process I use daily, and nothing really changes, save for that one gremlin 1 out of 100 times where the locks just won't lock till after I close that 1 open door. "It's a BMW" could be the explanation.
I've had a less frustrating issue concerning the occasional failure to lock all the doors using the key fob while a door is still open. It's the same door I always have open, it's the same process I use daily, and nothing really changes, save for that one gremlin 1 out of 100 times where the locks just won't lock till after I close that 1 open door. "It's a BMW" could be the explanation.
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