Help!! Passenger Door not opening inside or outside

[esscameron]

Hello all,

I've been fighting this passenger door for the last few weeks and have read every forum possible and watched every video I can find and it seems that nobody else has the same problem.

So I have a 2011 e92 m3, and one day a few weeks ago the passenger door suddenly refused to open from either handle. The locking mechanism works perfectly, it'll go open and down fine it just won't open and I have no clue why.

I managed to get the door card off completely even with the door being closed, it was a pain in the ass but I did it without breaking any clips seemingly. With the panel off I'm still stuck where to go from here to get the door open, called BMW and they said they may have to cut into the door which I definitely don't want to do but am running out of options.

In every video I've watched where the door was double locked, the car was an e90 not an e92 and it looks like the inside layout of the door is slightly different from the coupe.

Also went to FCP Euro to look for a new door lock actuator and I found 2 things:
1. The 08-09 door lock actuator won't fit the 2011
2. FCP only has the driver-side actuator and not the passenger.

Completely stumped. I refuse to take it to the dealer and let BMW charge me a ridiculous amount of money for this. Any and all help would be very much appreciated.

[irokwrx]

Mine is a double latch and an e92. how far are you from bowie? Is the handle flopping around? Does it have resistance?

[esscameron]

Originally Posted by irokwrx

Mine is a double latch and an e92. how far are you from bowie? Is the handle flopping around? Does it have resistance?

Not far at all, maybe like 20 minutes. It had some resistance, the cable was still attached but the panel and everything is off the door now, I just don’t know how to open it. I push down on the latch but it won’t release the door, no clue why or what’s stopping

[Richbot]

My driver's side does this occasionally (actuator doesn't engage to allow the inside or outside door handles to operate the latch) and it's always a fuse. Maybe the E92 has a different arrangement but I'd be surprised if it operates with the fob, but won't allow it to open, but hey worth a look, maybe it has a heftier mechanism that needs a separate fuse for the actuation of the lock itself as opposed to the plunger thingie on the door

[esscameron]

Originally Posted by Richbot

My driver's side does this occasionally (actuator doesn't engage to allow the inside or outside door handles to operate the latch) and it's always a fuse. Maybe the E92 has a different arrangement but I'd be surprised if it operates with the fob, but won't allow it to open, but hey worth a look, maybe it has a heftier mechanism that needs a separate fuse for the actuation of the lock itself as opposed to the plunger thingie on the door

Yeah that’s what confused me, I wouldn’t think it would be the fuse If it’ll lock and unlock fine with the fobb

[DJiGGs]

if you roll the window down completely are you able to pull the cord(not sure what it's called) to open the door?

When I was wrapping my car, I had the door handle removed ( forgot what happened, but I couldnt open the door from the inside, would pull the latch but nothing happened) so I rolled down the window and had to pull on the cord/wire then can be reached with a coat hanger when the window is all the way down.


not sure if that helps your situation.

[esscameron]

Originally Posted by DJiGGs

if you roll the window down completely are you able to pull the cord(not sure what it's called) to open the door?

When I was wrapping my car, I had the door handle removed ( forgot what happened, but I couldnt open the door from the inside, would pull the latch but nothing happened) so I rolled down the window and had to pull on the cord/wire then can be reached with a coat hanger when the window is all the way down.


not sure if that helps your situation.

Nope. the interior panel is completely off, so I'm able to manually push down on the lever that the cable was attached to, but still won't open. tried to reach my hand through the door and push down on the actuator spring itself, still won't open.

[esscameron]

Update: finally was able to get the door open, reached my hand through the door enough times to mess with the spring and it finally broke free, the actuator seems to be functioning properly as of now. Have done a few tests closes and everything’s working as it should so I guess I don’t need to order a new actuator.

Thanks for the responses

[DRLane]

Originally Posted by esscameron

Update: finally was able to get the door open, reached my hand through the door enough times to mess with the spring and it finally broke free, the actuator seems to be functioning properly as of now. Have done a few tests closes and everything’s working as it should so I guess I don’t need to order a new actuator.

Thanks for the responses

I’d replace those parts. Think of the agony you’ve gone through. Now is the time before it happens again. 2 cents…

[esscameron]

Originally Posted by DRLane

I’d replace those parts. Think of the agony you’ve gone through. Now is the time before it happens again. 2 cents…

Yeah already ordered, typed that in the heat of the moment lol, did a few tests closes and it was good for about 5 before it didn’t open it again but I figured out how to get it open from the inside. Actuator should be here Friday so should be all good then

[egebhardt]

Good thread...
What is this, 'reached my hand through the door enough times to mess with the spring and it finally broke free'?
If you had a picture, that would be nice. A little more m3post forum work and you could save the next person some pain. Thanks.

[esscameron]

Originally Posted by egebhardt

Good thread...
What is this, 'reached my hand through the door enough times to mess with the spring and it finally broke free'?
If you had a picture, that would be nice. A little more m3post forum work and you could save the next some pain. Thanks.

My first time lol. There’s a spring in the door lock actuator that releases the door, I pushed the spring all the way up in its original position as it was stuck down. Which was why the door wouldnt open.

Pushed the spring up then back down again and the door was free finally. Problems all fixed now, that was a pain