Door Handle Fix (E53)

[Sanj]

You're probably right but I just like making sure before forking out!

The door card comes off in minutes - go for the eBay one with an offer. Like you say, clean it up and stick it in ( ) - should do the trick!

[storminmike]

[quote="Sanj"]
You're probably right but I just like making sure before forking out!

The door card comes off in minutes - go for the eBay one with an offer. Like you say, clean it up and stick it in ( ) - should do the trick!
[/quote]

I guess being the passenger side has the bonus of no key lock to engage....small mercy I know.

Is this the only bolt holding the carrier in place once the lock (or blank in my case) and the handle has been rotated out?




I take it this bit showing where the cable is only visible once the airbag is out of the way?

A coat hanger was mention before...is this because access is rubbish to get you hand in?

[Sanj]

No - there's that one and the one in the side of the door - where the allen key needs to go in behind the cover.





Yes airbag out the way - remove the 3 bolts and the weather barrier. But you only want to see in there - then order the carrier and worry about cutting the weather barrier out carefully, etc.

[storminmike]

Ta

Knew I wouldn't get bored this weekend, only have the horse to re stable from one farm to another (and its associated bits/bobs/hay etc) and watch the Monaco Grand Prix

Damn not being able to put my feet up

[Sanj]

[quote="storminmike"]
and watch the Monaco Grand Prix
[/quote]

Damn right! But it will be boring and a Merc affair, I think...

[storminmike]

[quote="Sanj"]
[quote="storminmike"]
and watch the Monaco Grand Prix
[/quote]

Damn right! But it will be boring and a Merc affair, I think...
[/quote]

Unless the dreaded performance drop appears again.

Update.....ebay part on the way. As a precautionary measure for now and winter do you think copper grease would have any benefit on longevity of this part if applied to the bar bit?

I cant't recall which bit freezes either....is it the striker, the cable or even part of the carrier.

I'm thinking for the new parts I might need to lube with either wd40 or copper grease these parts before assembly
1)The carrier bar where it rotates
2) The cable within the sheath (2nd hand part)
3) The latch behind the striker where the cable attaches

[Mick.H]

Im a big fan of lithium grease for door parts. It sorted out a few issues I had on my 5

[storminmike]

[quote="Mick.H"]
Im a big fan of lithium grease for door parts. It sorted out a few issues I had on my 5
[/quote]

Cheers for that Mick

The new....or rather 2nd hand part has arrived and I can't for the life of me see what causes the breakage as seen in Sanj's

The only thing I can think of is over rotation about the hinge shaft...perhaps because corrosion sets in or too good a yank using the large moment of the handle versus the short travel of the cable end

Either way the part looks reasonable enough, the inner wire within the sheath looks to be coated so I see no signs of freying or corrosion.  I'll dribble wd down that for good measure and grease the moving bits.

Then if after the horse has moved farms, I've got rid of man flu.....and tried to watch some F1 I might have a go....probably monday. How too pictures printed for reference....good stuff...so far

[storminmike]

UPDATE....My attempt at a door handle FIX........epic job.....done....and some cautionary added detail

First off.....after removal of the old part it seems the mode of failure was EXACTLY the same as the pictures shown previously. The casting was broke around the hinge bit at the lock end

The EPIC Swap

Thanks to all the pictures the nuts/bolts etc were found with ease for which I am gratefull.

What did I learn: The little bolt that holds the handle on needed to be pushed out to seperate the two, I thought the arm would swing down just loosened but the bolt had to come out




This bolt can easily be dropped.....because I did when refitting. A bit of paper/blutack stopped me knocking it off the 2nd time after I'd had to fish around the bottom of the door


Rotating the handle to remove from this part was relatively straight forward...apart from avoiding scoring the door. AT refit I would STRONGLY concur that you push the hinge from the back whilst pushing the handle into the hole from the front. The CAM bit of the handle that fits in this hole is plastic and you wouldn't want to chew the cam wings off.



GOD DAM HARDEST BITS

Shuffling the new bit in is fiddly enough so one in place I put the little screw back in to stop it dropping down whilst attaching the cable to the lock


This bit blew my mind. A combination of pliers, grips, wire pulled the bits off the lugs. In fact the plastic bit was dragged out using a pinch from some wire strippers.

Refitting the new one was a nightmare. The cable had to be bent in an S shape to shorten enough to push the plastic bit on....not easy with one hand, poor access and no long needle nose pliers. The bit with the ball wasn't a breeze either. It did go on with a tap from long bar




DID ANYTHING GO WRONG........................PLENTY

I have NO IDEA how this happened but my feeling of smuggness evaporated when the door window wouldn't go up or down....then it would.

This was a replacement of the passenger mechansim. When it did go up and down the button for the passenger window on the drivers side did nothing. Using the keys they all went up a down. Worse was to come....the central locking on the passenger door refused to work. Now feeling might fed up that the job had gone wrong

I resorted to disconnecting that battery then putting it back (and that's not a minute job)...still no change

I was begining to suspect the switch....was it knacked...had I broken a wire!

Brainwave and a bit of alottery....went to my car (the handle was on the wifes) and removed the switch. Sure enough the switch disabled the central locking on that door. Took my switch to hers and put it in......SUCCESS......all working.....UP/DOWN/LOCK/UNLOCK

Put her swich in mine resigned to a new switch and the FECKER worked without missing a beat

EXHAUSTED....but relieved....especially the battery bit as the boot was rammed with HORSE rugs and STRAW that had to be removed

ps.....I had some spare door cover pegs as some shattered

Mike....where every job he does is an EPIC

[ITBarbie]

Well with the help of my step father we replaced the door carrier on the passenger side. OMFG what a revolting job! Thanks for the how to

With my heavy handiness I managed to break the little light assembly on the interior handle so were trying to repair that.

Could kick myself as took out fuse 44 before disconnecting the airbag.  After getting to the carrier we decided it was stuffed beyond the cable tie repair so ordered a new one from eBay.  As I had to drive the car we put airbag back in and interior door handle back on but left the card off.  Popped the fuse back in off I went.  Doh! I presume that leaving the door card off breaks the connection so you guessed it the flipping air bag warning light is illuminated!

Now vines want £65+ vat to turn it off.  I know some of you folk on here said about a programmer tool to reset it.  Can someone let me know if I'm better off buying one on eBay and if so which one? Alternatively is there a kind soul Surrey way that can reset for me

Any help appreciated

[briankerrys47]

[quote="ITBarbie"]
Well with the help of my step father we replaced the door carrier on the passenger side. OMFG what a revolting job! Thanks for the how to

With my heavy handiness I managed to break the little light assembly on the interior handle so were trying to repair that.

Could kick myself as took out fuse 44 before disconnecting the airbag.  After getting to the carrier we decided it was stuffed beyond the cable tie repair so ordered a new one from eBay.  As I had to drive the car we put airbag back in and interior door handle back on but left the card off.  Popped the fuse back in off I went.  Doh! I presume that leaving the door card off breaks the connection so you guessed it the flipping air bag warning light is illuminated!

Now vines want £65+ vat to turn it off.  I know some of you folk on here said about a programmer tool to reset it.  Can someone let me know if I'm better off buying one on eBay and if so which one? Alternatively is there a kind soul Surrey way that can reset for me

Any help appreciated
[/quote]i am sure you have it sorted by now IT Barbie!but as I am the middle of the Med for a month cannot help plus I am from North of Watford,hopefully someone has answered your distress call

[ITBarbie]

Yep all sorted now thanks have a good time

[yzf.shaun]

Well... After 3 days of ownership the drivers door handle gave in on me.

Anyway tonight I set to work. The carrier had broke in the typical location.

It really does seem to be a bad design. The return spring seems way over strength for what is required. I used a cable to tonight and didn't bother to relocate the spring. All iOS nopw working and the handle feels nice and firm.

I ran into a few problems and a one point couldn't open the door from inside or out which caused a bit of a panic.

All told 4 hours. I'm quite sure if I purchased a replacement then it would be a 45 minute job.

Thanks for the great thread.

[rampantsilverfox]

Hello there,
Firstly, thank you for such a detailed instruction for the door latch issue on the X5.
My question is  - can you attach the cable tie without totally removing everything?
I appreciate that if total replacement is likely then it all has to come off, but thought maybe if just doing the tie repair, then maybe not?
Heres hoping !!

Many thanks again.......

[redz]

anybody bought any of the  'replacemnets' off ebay? at £28 its a much preferred option the BMW