Help & Advice needed Drivers door wont open

D

danrowlands27

Member
Hi all need some advice from BMW Z4 E85 owners.

Fairly recently taken on the Z4 03 plate following a bereavement in the family.

Its been sat in the garage for some time after I initially had some real fun driving this car.

Cutting the long story short I have had a recent problem where I cannot open the drivers door - I am no means a car expert ive spent hours researching the potential issue and come to the conclusion that that it may be the Bowden cable or Lock Actuator. I am preempting quite a cost to get these fixed in the garage. So have been looking at buying second hand parts to keep the cost down (taking a gamble) even though these may not be the issue.

Has anyone had similar issues or any ideas of how much this potentially cost me. I havent got the skill set or knowledge to even try fixing this myself?

Additionally although I would like to keep the car due to sentimental reasons but also because I love the car - I may need to re-think and would like to get a true valuation of the car. Where is best to do this? I have compared sites such as Ebay and autotrader . Its a 03 plate with 80,000 on the clock. I was offered £1000 but feel that is a rip off and declined.

Appreciate this is long winded but any advice on both or one of the queries would be much appreciated.

Thank you.
 
Welcome to the forum Dan and sorry to hear of your bereavement.

I've read about door handle issues but not experienced them (yet?) but does the interior handle open the door? Just wondering if this might help with diagnosis.

If you give an indication of where you are someone might be able to suggest a garage you could use that will be familiar with Z4 problems and sensibly priced.

£1,000 doesn't sound enough for an 80K mile Z4 whatever the model, but if it's from a trader it's probably low because at the moment they'd rather sell some stock as opposed to buy any!

If you give some details of the model and any options it has someone should be able to give you an indication of value if you were selling privately, or just have a look for a similar car in the classifieds on here. :thumbsup:
 
Thank you Mr Tidy - It wont open at all from the inside of outside. The lock works in terms of movement using the key and central locking but the actual opening and closing of the door isnt working at the moment.

You are 100% right and didnt sound right. Appreciate the help will take a look at the forum to judge the value and if there are similar ones on the forum. I am not sure in regards to the repair chance it and buy some second hand spare parts to cut costs as we all know a trip to the garage can be costly. Appreciate the welcome and advice.
 
I had the same problem on the passengers side of mine when I purchased it, it would just open if you almost forced the door handle up. I replaced the Bowden Cable and lock mechanism which cost about £35 in parts (new cable and second hand lock) and works fine now, only took an hour to strip and refit.

Lots of information on the internet on how to remove the lock, it isn't a difficult job.
 
https://z4-forum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=76531

Might have the answer you need? Seems it may just be a dirty mechanism that gets stuck.
 
danrowlands27 said:
Hi all need some advice from BMW Z4 E85 owners.

Fairly recently taken on the Z4 03 plate following a bereavement in the family.

Its been sat in the garage for some time after I initially had some real fun driving this car.

Cutting the long story short I have had a recent problem where I cannot open the drivers door - I am no means a car expert ive spent hours researching the potential issue and come to the conclusion that that it may be the Bowden cable or Lock Actuator. I am preempting quite a cost to get these fixed in the garage. So have been looking at buying second hand parts to keep the cost down (taking a gamble) even though these may not be the issue.

Has anyone had similar issues or any ideas of how much this potentially cost me. I havent got the skill set or knowledge to even try fixing this myself?

Additionally although I would like to keep the car due to sentimental reasons but also because I love the car - I may need to re-think and would like to get a true valuation of the car. Where is best to do this? I have compared sites such as Ebay and autotrader . Its a 03 plate with 80,000 on the clock. I was offered £1000 but feel that is a rip off and declined.

Appreciate this is long winded but any advice on both or one of the queries would be much appreciated.

Thank you.
Click to expand...

Sorry to hear about the bereavement mate.

I've been battling with the locking mechanism not working in my Z4 which I got recently too. From what I can gather though your locking mechanism works (i.e the central locking will pop the pin on the inside so you should be able to open the door, but the handle itself is not working, correct?).
I've spent a lot of hours researching this and there's a few things I've found. Bearing in mind I am a new owner myself an in no way a Zed expert and most of what I've learned has come from this forum.
Anyways,

As mentioned, it might simply be grime or gunk in the mechanism. Should you get the door open, clean it out with a form of degreaser and remove any bits that are visible. Of course, this goes on the assumption that you can get it open.

I've also found that if you leave the car in the sun and try to open it, the parts can expand and stop it from opening. Not great for a convertible. When I first experienced this issue, I would go out in the midday to try and work on the car and fix the issue and never could. One day after reading that, I went out later in the evening and it opened. Very odd.

Worst case scenario, you need to remove the door card and see if you can reach the mechanism yourself. It's a pain but you can try open the door from within the door skin itself. You just need to feel around for it.

Can you confirm that your door locks and unlocks?

As for the valuation, that's definitely low. If you're selling it for £1000 I'd take it off you for that price. You're definitely looking more at 2-2.5k. Assuming the overall condition is okay. We can go by mileage but that doesn't tell us the condition of the bodywork or interior so that's a very vague estimate.
 
Strangely enough I just lost my wife.

I went to pick something up for her the other day, and the bloomin driver's side door wouldn't open. In the end I gave it a big pull and that did the job. As Dr Zed mentioned, I'm pretty sure it was the heat!

Sounds daft but maybe make sure it's not just seized up.
 
Dr. Zed said:
Sorry to hear about the bereavement mate.

I've been battling with the locking mechanism not working in my Z4 which I got recently too. From what I can gather though your locking mechanism works (i.e the central locking will pop the pin on the inside so you should be able to open the door, but the handle itself is not working, correct?).
I've spent a lot of hours researching this and there's a few things I've found. Bearing in mind I am a new owner myself an in no way a Zed expert and most of what I've learned has come from this forum.
Anyways,

As mentioned, it might simply be grime or gunk in the mechanism. Should you get the door open, clean it out with a form of degreaser and remove any bits that are visible. Of course, this goes on the assumption that you can get it open.

I've also found that if you leave the car in the sun and try to open it, the parts can expand and stop it from opening. Not great for a convertible. When I first experienced this issue, I would go out in the midday to try and work on the car and fix the issue and never could. One day after reading that, I went out later in the evening and it opened. Very odd.

Worst case scenario, you need to remove the door card and see if you can reach the mechanism yourself. It's a pain but you can try open the door from within the door skin itself. You just need to feel around for it.

Can you confirm that your door locks and unlocks?

As for the valuation, that's definitely low. If you're selling it for £1000 I'd take it off you for that price. You're definitely looking more at 2-2.5k. Assuming the overall condition is okay. We can go by mileage but that doesn't tell us the condition of the bodywork or interior so that's a very vague estimate.
Click to expand...
- Thank you Dr Zed - I am tempted to have a play around with it myself with lockdown easing and My Mot coming up soon I am keen to get this sorted. Both doors are ok to lock via central locking and also via the key. But when actually trying to open the door the doesnt seem to be much "pull" if that makes sense.Its been sat in the garage and also now the car park outside my property for some time so with the recent weather it may have been affected by the sunlight. In terms of the valuation thanks for some re-assurance I did think the quote was taking the mick but this was from a car dealership whilst have an informal conversation. If I was to sell I had my mind on a similar price as quoted.
 
steve_naive said:
Strangely enough I just lost my wife.

I went to pick something up for her the other day, and the bloomin driver's side door wouldn't open. In the end I gave it a big pull and that did the job. As Dr Zed mentioned, I'm pretty sure it was the heat!



Sounds daft but maybe make sure it's not just seized up.
Click to expand...
Sorry to hear that also Steve - I have tried yanking it with all my might and tried putting my knee against the lock but no budge. From what you and the rest of the guys have posted does seem it may be gunk stuck in the mechanism. Which would make sense as its been idle for some time. I need to try and get in there dont I to check. Ill try going on youtube and use the link that Ivan has sent to give it a go. Whats the worse that can happen ? I cant get the door back on and I go to a garage right? Ha.
 
There is apparently a trick that might help. Try pulling the exterior door handle up on the far right side of the handle. I've never had this work personally but while looking for solutions this was mentioned a few times. Apparently this is where the mechanism actually attaches to the handle so its the best fulcrum point so to speak.
 
Problem resolved. Bowden cable and lock was buggered. Had to get it sorted at a friends garage a lot of money later its sorted. I can now get into the car fully :) thanks for all the advice :)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

enuff_zed
Help needed - advice on bleeding ABS with INPA
Replies
4
Views
317
enuff_zed
enuff_zed
O
Help - Advice needed
Replies
1
Views
131
enuff_zed
enuff_zed
D
Help & Advice needed Starter Motor issue
Replies
9
Views
766
steveanders0n
S
R
Thinking Of New Tyres, Advice & Help Needed
2 3
Replies
48
Views
4K
buzyg
buzyg
G
Suspension help/advice needed please
Replies
1
Views
287
vester86
V
Back
Top Bottom