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Door / Window Problems

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yg54sg

Active member
It has been on my todo list to strip the drivers door down to stop me looking like a car thief in the heat of the summer trying to get into it. The original problem is when the door is very hot it is hard to get into it, I assume after reading various threads it is likely to be the cable that has stretched, with the extra heat in the summer it stretches that tiny but more to make it difficult to get in.

Now I have an additional problem, the window has has stopped working after the freezing conditions we had a few weeks back. My guess is that since the Z4 drops and brings back up the window an inch when you get in and out, it has tried to do this when the drivers door has been completely iced up putting stress on the old parts.

I used the guide here to strip the door down: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Djgcv-VpCW8 great guide! They seem to have used tons of the sticky stuff on mine so i ended up ripping the foam, i know how important that foam is on the Z4 to keep the water out so will buy another from dealer. I managed to find what I think is causing the issue, appears the cable has snapped going into the regulator:

I have seen these cable kits of ebay for about £60 but like my old E36 that kept having window problems I think it better to replace the lot while I have access to everything once I did that on the E36 no more problems... .

Its amazing how the 1995 E36 compact and this 2004 Z4 have had similar weak points over the years of ownership.... windscreen wiper mechanisms both went, window mechanism while very different have both gone too (a fail for BMW since I guess this new design should have been more reliable) cooling system's both blew up due to cracked plastic parts. :headbang:

Since I have the door opened up i figure I will do the mods to dampen the sound of the doors when closing and add the CJ LED mod to under the inside door handle. The puddle lights are also tempting but I assume I need to bring in a feed from the floor lighting to get those to light up prior to getting in the car.

My questions are:

1) In terms of the outer handle wont work when hot issue is it possible to access the the cable for the outer door handle and change it without removing the outer door handle? From reading the forum a specialist pain in the ass tool is required to remove the actual outer door handle.

2) Does anyone have any preference to the type of sound deadening material for the door? http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/DYNAMAT-SOUND-DEADNING-XTREME-Extreme-1-SHEET-18-x32-/181099830161?pt=UK_Sound_Vision_Other&hash=item2a2a641b91 will a couple of sheets of that do the trick? Any special adhesive anyone has used to stop it coming off over time with condensation?

3) Is it possible to grab power from the backlighting LED's in the window switch to feed the single LED behind the grab handle? Sorry being lazy here I know i should get my multimeter out. Just wondered if the voltage was a few volts for the LED's or 12v so bmw put the resistors in the switch housing. i am guessing the later in which case i'll source some Orange LED and resistors.

4) Anything I should be aware of when changing out the entire mechanism? From reading other threads this is about 110 quid from sopers.

Thanks in advance!

Pics of the window regulator damage:
IMG_5411.JPG


IMG_5409.JPG
 
You're supposed to use a special tool to remove the outer handle according to the TIS. In reality, a properly sized screwdriver should do the job. There's a post about this in the forum some where. One small detail I totally missed is for removing the little plastic plug covering the release mechanism. Do not pry under the outer edge of the plug! The rim stays in place, only the centre portion pops out.

For available power in the doors, study the WDS. Can be viewed at http://www.bmw-planet.com/diagrams/release/en/e85/index.htm

Can't be much help answering your other questions, sorry.
 
haha good point andysat, Im talking about the 2 or 3 days a year the door fails to open :rofl:

parts have arrived from Sopers, whole new mechanism 51337198910 £110 it would seem a weak point on this car are the bowden cables. it appears that the bowden cable for the window mechanism has rusted and snapped, the bowden cable for the outer door handle has stretchedpart no 51217036784 and while i think about it every time i go under the bonnet I have to pull/push the release cable several times before the bottom will snap shut most likely another bowden cable issue (but prob recfified with some grease for now).

I have been driving the car around with the door stripped out while i get it sorted, so no side airbag, doorcard, switches, handles etc , interestingly i went through the hand car wash and watched how the water drains within the door. On the passenger side I have always had a bit of a leak in heavy rain which is common on here where the water comes out into the footwell bottom of the door.

Upon watching the water drip inside the door it would appear its a design defect, water runs down the motor mechanism/bar and drips off which would not be a problem except underneath the motor the door edge curves inwards (the only part of the door that does) on a newly sealed foam door the water drips right onto this area, it must build up on top of the glue eventually degrading the stickly glue like substance. This is confirmed because all around the door the glue is very very sticky except for this one area where it is black but not sticky at all. In other words the seal between the foam insulation and metal has failed and it lets in water. Not sure what I will do as a solution but may apply more glue in this area if nothing else. Ideally I will put something on the back of the foam to channel the water away from the seam. Will post a pic of it if anyone interested.
 
thank bcworkz, found the thread here for the door handle, very useful! - http://www.z4-forum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=28&t=10075
 
all sorted and back in operation..... best mod of the year has to be the dynamat in the doors not only opening and closing them sounds better but it makes the car feel 5x more expensive getting in and out. All the noises have changed when opening the door even the sound when letting go of the door handle. I have put some wiring through for orange LED inside door handle mod, just waiting for them to arrive. Tapped the connection from the 12v going to LED in the window switches, kept it all orange so it looks stock although white was tempting.
 
What were bmw thinking not putting insulation on the doors! The weight difference is less than a can of beer !
 
yg54sg said:
What were bmw thinking not putting insulation on the doors! The weight difference is less than a can of beer !
Click to expand...
I imagine their rationale is something along the lines of they were going for the raw no frills track monster feel. Right, with heated seats, mirrors, and screen wash jets. But they can charge extra for those. Insulation costs them money. Cheap bass astards. :headbang:

If it's not too much trouble, I would be interested in photos illustrating how water travels down through the door. I would think this would be great information for anyone suffering from wet floors.
 
here you go bcworkz, to summarise - failed glue causes this problem... the rest of the door the water drops where it should.... inside.

door_wet.jpg
 
if anyone wants to fix the sticky door handle problem where it doesn't open the door when the car is hot, here are the intructions.

1. Strip down the door using this method: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BC1nHKRc-Gw
2. Carefully remove membrane (i ended up ripping it so new one required)
3. put your arm inside the door and feel about in the below pic for item 2 below, give it a shap tug it will unclip out of its holder
4. If you follow the cable up from the arrow 2 you will see it goes into a foam sleeve, unclip this foam sleeve from the plastic holder
5. poke the cable out the door where you can see it in the sunshine
6. pull the rubber boot back as far as you can and push the end of the cable out of the plastic holder marked 2.
7 What you will see if a metal end on the end of the cable (like a bike brake cable from when you were a kid) lol
8 this is where I improvised, all you need to do is make this end piece bigger so that when it goes back in its plastic sleeve it makes the cable a tiny bit shorter, what I did was go to B&Q and buy a tiny pack of washers , I cut the washers with a pair of wire cutters then added some to the end of the cable before the stopper.
9 put the cable back into position as in the pics and the door works perfect! All it needs is 3mm or 4mm or washers or you could even use something like electrical wire to pack the plastic a bit

The proper way of course is to get another cable however I didnt pre order this and had the door in bits. If you unloop item 1 the whole cable comes out , I inspected this cable and it appears in perfect condition. Clearly it just stretched over time a couple of millimeters causing this issue.

2 weeks on and the door works perfectly!

Also added sound deadening .... the car is better than it was when new on the drivers door! Just need to do passenger door now. I might do a long video and load of youtube it it helps forum members? i will be fixing the water leak issue, adding sound deadening, adding the interior pull handle light mod, adding the washers to the existing door pull cable (likely just 1 as passenger door has not yet got that issue) and greasing up the regulator and adding some silicone sealant to where water gets into the regulator cable end.


cabledoor.jpg
 
Thank you so much for posting, I don't know about anyone else, but I find this sort of forensic failure analysis fascinating, especially when it ends with cheap DIY fixes! :thumbsup:

I personally hate youtube how-to videos, but others seem to love them. I really much prefer a well captioned series of still images. I can then jump about at my own speed without having to fight the youtube scrub bar.
 
Just want to say thanks for this post. The drivers exterior handle needed a really hard pull to get it to open. Just followed these instructions and used the wire from 2.5mm electrical cable stripped down to make 2 coils. Attached them to the pull cable as instructed. Door now works perfectly. Many thanks :thumbsup:
 
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