Stuck door latch?

[coriolis]

Hi

I recently purchased a lovely 2003 3.0 Z4 which I absolutely love.
However at the moment it's more of a love/hate relationship!
I had problems with the drivers door not opening from inside or out, which by way of searching this forum, I managed to fix after finding the problem was the plastic clip that the cable locates into was broken.
At that time, i was able to open the door "slim jim" style with a long metal ruler, by either nudging the plastic fitting on the bottom of the cable, or pushing the release lever that the cable operates.
I then cable tied the cable to the clip, to secure it.

All was well for a couple of weeks.

Today though, the door won't open again, and no matter how much i push the lever with my trusty ruler, the door wont budge.

With my limited knowledge, I suspect this leaves the latch mechanism itself at fault? I saw a post about the latch needing lubricating, but when I last had problems, it was fine, and it got a squirt of grease anyway.

So my first problem is how on earth do I get the door open to diagnose/fix it ?!

I don't even know if it is possible to get the door card off with the door closed as it looks like the dash fouls it at the front. And even if I can remove it, would the seat have to come out to get proper access to the door?

If anyone can shed some light on this, I would be so very gratefull!

Thanks in advance.

 

[bcworkz]

My best guess is that by removing the seat, the panel can be released enough that it can be forced out by breaking the clips that are inaccessible due to the dash. I could not guarantee the panel would not be damaged in the process though.

I heard someone was able to get the door open by just loosening the panel after removing the seat and reaching in through the small gap, but I can't imagine how that is possible.