2003 Z4 Door is stuck shut.

10Terp · Post by **10Terp** » Thu May 09, 2024 9:33 pm

Hi everybody.

I have a problem that's driving me crazy. I shut the passenger door on my Z4 recently and I can't get it open now. Neither the interior nor exterior door handles will actuate the latch to open the door. When you go to unlock the door with the key, the lock stalk will pop 3 times and doesn't seem to actually unlock. Here's a video of what it does: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/gG7rGYzClOY

I took the door card off (no easy task when the door is stuck shut), and put my boroscope inside the door. All of the cables are actuating the lock mechanism fully, and I also managed to contort my arm into the door and actuate the door latch lever manually and it still wouldn't let go.

Things I've tried:
1) Manually actuating the latch lever with my hand shoved into the door.
2) Using a hammer to hit the visible mounting bolts of the latch while actuating the latch at the spot where the interior handle cable mates up.
3) Contacting a GM5 module repair person, who said, based on my video, it appears the lock mechanism is broken and that my problem is NOT in the GM5 module. Although he said to read the BMW codes and my Creator C310+ for some reason freezes up when trying to read the body module computer ("ZKE").
4) Every button, key, and door unlock combo I could think of.
5) Applying pressure on the door in every which way while actuating the latch.

I'm running out of ideas here, and pretty soon I'm worry I'll have to go the route of this guy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VlIS9Cuow48

Open to any input. Thanks!

the gill · Post by **the gill** » Mon May 13, 2024 12:21 pm

I'm in the same boat. The door handle needed pulling harder and harder to open the door so I replaced the bowden cable ( PITA job). Since replacing it sometimes locks up and won't open. I think on mine it's related to the cable I replaced or the lock actuator. To open the door I popped off the end of the Bowden cable (there are 2 clips you pop out). This allowed me to open the door. I've now put back (minus door card) and it all works again. If you get to the bottom of it all please post up what you find. I may purchase a new Bowden cable again and try again. The actuator isn'r expensive (£40) so may swap that out too.

10Terp · Post by **10Terp** » Mon May 13, 2024 2:07 pm

the gill wrote: ↑Mon May 13, 2024 12:21 pm I'm in the same boat. The door handle needed pulling harder and harder to open the door so I replaced the bowden cable ( PITA job). Since replacing it sometimes locks up and won't open. I think on mine it's related to the cable I replaced or the lock actuator. To open the door I popped off the end of the Bowden cable (there are 2 clips you pop out). This allowed me to open the door. I've now put back (minus door card) and it all works again. If you get to the bottom of it all please post up what you find. I may purchase a new Bowden cable again and try again. The actuator isn'r expensive (£40) so may swap that out too.

I actually managed to get it open yesterday. I essentially followed the second video I linked above, but I was able to be less destructive. I drilled the plastic out where the guy indicated and stuck a flat head screwdriver in and rummaged around for a while and the door popped right open.

I suspect the issue with my door is a bad actuator and some stripped gears in the locking mechanism. It was acting like it wouldn't unlock. My cables were fine; I could disconnect them from the actuator and manually push the lever on the actuator and it still wouldn't open. Fortunately, as you mentioned, actuators are pretty cheap. Around $45-$110 depending on what brand you want.

the gill · Post by **the gill** » Mon May 13, 2024 5:09 pm

That's great - mine will work fine for a few weeks and then go bad again - all looks and sounds ok with the lock button popping up and down as uou'd expect. The bugger just won't open though. When it was stuck both the driver and passenger windows wound down fully when I tried to unlock the car - never done that before?

the gill · Post by **the gill** » Mon May 13, 2024 5:13 pm

I'd also read on here that some 3rd party actuators e.g. Febi then don't allow some functions to work properly. Would be interested to hear how you get on. It's going to rain here for a week straight so I'm not planning on doing any work on the car until the weather improves. Cheers

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