See here:
http://motoringfile.com/2005/02/04/f..._door_handles/

I know it says "And the best part? All this excitement is covered even if you’re out of the warranty period." My experience has been that this is not true.

When I say that my door handles froze up, I mean that the part of the handle on the outside that you squeeze will move to let the door open, then it will remain "squeezed in" and the door will not latch closed.

This happened to me just before Thanksgiving. I went to two different dealerships, and neither would do the work for free - I'm out of warranty because of mileage. One did take the door handle parts apart and re-lube them - and charged me something like $150 for that.

Today, the handles are frozen up again. I've left a voicemail with my usual dealership to see if there is anything that can be done without me paying $400-500 dollars for the new door handles.

At least this time I've managed to avoid being stuck inside the car and having to crawl out through the windows.

Has anyone been able to get these new door handles while out of warranty?

 

I know it sounds kinda lame, but during our last ice storm I put a 1" wide strip of masking tape on the door handle, attached to the upper part of the chrome handle, spanning and protecting the inner release section. It was barely visible, the door still worked as normal, and the tape kept any blowing ice out of the mechanism completely. Granted, we only have a few ice events a year and when they are due to arrive we definitely know it...it's big news around here!

 

Print them this and show them
http://usminiclub.com/Forums/viewtopic/t=162.html

 

The service departments know about that service bulletin. They know that I know about that service bulletin. The problem is, it says the work is covered under the car's warranty. If you're not under warranty anymore, it's not covered and will cost around $500. At least, that's the story I've gotten so far.

 

My door handles froze for the first time in 3 years one month ago... and my MCS is also out of warranty...

Bad news is that dealer can't do anything about it since I'm out of warranty too. I guess we'll have to live with it.

 

A few weeks ago, Lucy's handles were both frozen shut after a day of heavy rain and then a hard freeze. I had never experienced or even heard of this problem before, because until a couple of months ago, Lucy and I lived in milder climes (Hawaii for a year, then southern England for a year. We are now in the Midwest). I did my research here on NAM, found out that frozen door handles are a common problem, and called the nearest official MINI service department (which is a couple hours drive from my location). They claim that the service bulletin (mentioned in a previous post on this thread, the usminiclub.com link) doesn't exist! The serial number for the bulletin is M510204, issued in Jan 2005.

The BMW mechanic in my town had no problem finding this same service bulletin! (He is not affiliated with BMW, he is just a qualified BMW mechanic). He's the one who provided me with the serial number for the bulletin.

So why is the BMW mechanic able to find the service bulletin, and not the certified service shop?

According to the service manager, MINI might have withdrawn the service bulletin because replacing the old door handles with a new make of door handles might not solve the problem. He is still making phone calls and researching the issue.

Lucy's warranty expires in June, and I would really like to get this problem taken care of before then.

Does anyone know anything else about the mysterious disappearing service bulletin? Or have any further clarification on the frozen door handle issue?

 

I had my door handles replaced under warranty a few weeks ago. I had only a minor run-in with the freezing once (a couple squeezes and it broke free), but I made sure to 'take advantage' of the TSB before my warranty ran out.

 

Well, if this work was done only a few weeks ago, that means the TSB was at that time still findable (I assume). Sure wish I knew what's going on with that TSB.

 

I've got a set on order at our local dealer. We were schedule to change them last year at this time, but got side tracked when we picked up my wife's 05 and never did it Of course since it's been more then 30 days, the parts got sent back So we wait again.

BTW, my car is way beyond the warranty period, currently sitting at ~ 93,700 miles and so far my dealer hasn't said anything about me paying for them.

Good luck with your dealer.

 

I searched and found that the door handles freezing in winter is common.
Geez, I thought considering this car was designed and built in a climate colder and wetter than Arizona, that something as simple as working door latches would be a given. Good thing I was at home; got into the car, but the door wouldn't stay closed! Used a blow-dryer:

 

Kurt, after seeing all the beautiful pics you post it is tough to believe that it snows there. Sorry this happened to you. I guess it is a good thing that you had enough cord to reach to where the car was parked.

 

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...=1#post1913134

 

Most of the time it's nice weather. I relish the "bad" because we need the moisture.
Wondering if I should keep the blow-dryer and extension cord in the car.

 

im having the same problem, im gonna see if i can getnew handles tomorrow , im going to mini.

 

My fix, since I didn't want to spend the $500 for new handles, was to use a few pieces of electrical tape to make a "roof" over the door handle gap. That seemed to keep water from getting into the door handle mechanism.

 

OK, once again, I will answer this age old MINI problem

Although there can be an issue with the grease on the cables inside the doors, the problem most folks run into is snow/ice getting in behind the levers on the outside door handles, (my Tech. back up in Winnipeg was the first Tech to make this discovery,my 03 was one of the first to get 04 hadles installed). The pre 04s were real bad for this, 04 and onwards have stronger springs to overcome the problem. You can deal with this as Kurt did by melting the snow/ice with heat or a lock de-icer, or pick it out with a small screw driver or an awl. To prevent it from happening, clean the snow that is on the handle before you open the door, so no snow gets stuck in behind the lever. If the lever can not go all the way back, the inner workings of the latching cycle can not happen, and the latch will "think" it is still in the open part of the cycle, door will still close, but will not release/open.

If I recall correctly, MINI does winter testing in Finland. Guess they did not encounter this till late testing of 03s

Mark

 

Clear tubing also works. Use 1 1/2 tubing about 3 inches long, slit it alongs it's length and slip it over the handle to form a boot.

Mark