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How I opened a stuck door

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Maxwell
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How I opened a stuck door

Post by Maxwell » Fri Jul 03, 2015 10:29 am

When I bought the Z4 it had been in the garage that day for its MOT and Junglie had them replace the the door handle cable, during my inspection of the car the passenger door opened just fine but then all of a sudden didn't (Junglies face was a picture :rofl: ) anyway I was not overly concerned as its not a big problem for someone like me.
The garage had replaced the inner door handle cable but what they should have replaced was the outer door handle cable.

Anyway on to the how to, sorry no pics.

First issue is to remove the door card with the door shut.

1. Open the window to fully down and the put roof down.
2. Remove the little plastic thing that says AIRBAG on the door card
3. Remove the Torx screw inside the hole left by step 2
4. Remove the round plastic cover in the door opening handle recess
5. Remove the Torx screw behind it.
6. Remove the door pulling handle trim
7. Remove the Torx screws behind it (one at the top, one at the bottom)
8. Remove the passenger side air vent from the dash by opening the cupholder and removing the screw behind it and then remove the screw from the top left of the airvent. Once the screws are out a bit of wiggling and firm pulling will get it out. (The screws may have plastic covers on them just flick them off with a small screwdriver).
9. Remove the Tweeter speaker from the door by prising it off (its just clipped in) with a plastic trim removal tool (do not use metal as you will damage the door) and disconnect it.
10. Move the seat so its as low and as far back as you can get it adjust seat angle to expose as much of the door card as possible.
11. Try and insert a couple of trim removal tools under the bottom of the door card and grab the storage part of the door card then give a series of sharp tugs towards you but don't go mad enough to break it, hopefully you will release the bottom clips from the door (if not keep trying) :headbang:
12. The side clips are next and done by the same method as the bottom (angled trim removers are a bonus here) :headbang:
13. Once you have released as much of the lower and side as possible stand at the outside of the passenger door and insert a trim removal tool about 100mm to the left of the lock button at the top of the door card and with considerable force move the door card away from the door and off its clip, continue along the top until all 5 clips are released. The door card should now be free except for the area behind the dash.
14. Now the difficult bit :rofl: there are 3 press clips on the door card that you cannot release because they are in the bit behind the dash and you must break them off. Push the door card away from the door as much as possible and lift up and down while pulling the door card backwards away from the dash (be as violent as you think you need or dare) once these break then the door card will come off very easily.
15. Disconnect the inner door handle cable from the lock (its just hooked on) and store the door card safely.

Getting the door open

1. Put the window up fully
2. Lock and unlock the car using the key fob (IMPORTANT)
3. Peel away the foam soundproofing material from the bottom half of the door and up the side where the lock is
4. Disconnect the wiring plug from the lock
5. At this point we can try and reset the lock as it because of the outer door handle cable that it wont open.
If you lie across the car so that you have your face on the passenger seat and the handbrake digging into your chest you can get an arm into the door at the bottom, feel for the cable which will be in between the outer door skin and the lock, once you have it you can feel the lever above the rubber bit of the cable, pull this lever all the way down and then force it all the way up (what happens is that the lever does not fully return because of the cable and as such the lock itself is in a state of limbo so it won't open no matter what).
If you are very lucky the door will open with the outside handle now - if not repeat previous instructions until you are thoroughly knobbed off or it opens or go to step 6.
6. If after repeated attempts there is still no joy do the pulling of the lever down then pushing up one more time but do not then touch the outside handle.
7. If you look at the door where the lock is you will see a single Torx screw
8. Get yourself a hammer
9. Now get hold of the outer door handle and lift it as much as you can (Do NOT let it go or you will have to stick your arm in the door again and do the lever up down thing) now lean over into the car with the hammer and start tapping the head of the Torx screw we identified in step 7 (reasonable repeated tapping is required but don't batter it as you will damage the door)
10. Hopefully your door will now be open so you can then replace the outer door handle cable and I would advise a new actuator at the same time (at the time of writing one of the BMW main dealers is doing actuators for £50 on Ebay, the cable is about £12

Disclaimer:
I take no responsibility for any damage you cause to your car by following this guide this is purely my method for doing this.

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sk93
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Re: How I opened a stuck door

Post by sk93 » Fri Jul 03, 2015 10:30 am

awesome second post! and great story! :thumbsup:
:zzzz:

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Grumpyowl
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Re: How I opened a stuck door

Post by Grumpyowl » Fri Jul 03, 2015 1:03 pm

sk93 wrote:awesome second post! and great story! :thumbsup:
+1 :thumbsup:

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