My MINI passenger door was decommissioned by a cowardly dastardly hit-and-run parking lot weasel.


The door handle (heck, I thought it was metal but it's plastic) was destroyed. I understand the mechanism not working from outside, but the door can't be opened from inside either, so something must have sprung loose inside the door.
Hmm, I'm wondering when/if the Bentley manual for '05's is due. One thread says apparently it's not going to happen. Not enough differences. I guess a completely different transmission doesn't count. Another thread says Wait For The '05-'06 version. Probably saying the same thing.

 

Sorry, that sucks.
How could that bastard have hit you... ya couldn't have given a smaller target.

 

Oh man......what a bummer....ouch.......I can feel it all the way here in Ohio.

 

Har har har!
I just saw something that said a Smart was a foot shorter, but the hit was dead center so that wouldn't have helped.
I'm ticked off that the door won't open so I can barely use the car -- wife won't crawl in through the window. Doggone it. And I'm expecting a 700-mile round trip in the next couple of weeks; I don't think it can be fixed by then.

 

Thanks. I bought it in Mentor in April. Nice drive from there to Montana, but there's a lot of flat in between.

 

It's quite likely that the cable that opens the door came loose. I (and several other people I believe) had that happen for no good reason, but I could definitely see that happening and as such you can't open the door from the inside. Problem is that to fix it, you have to take off the door panel which is kinda hard to do if you can't open the door at all which with the crushed outside handle, isn't surprising. Good luck

 

Haha, when you live in Mentor for a while, you learn to find all the twisties in the area very quickly, hehe

 

I haven't removed a door handle from a mini, so I don't know exactly what the mechanism is like behind it....

But could you go ahead and break or cut it off the rest of the way? This might give you access to the piece of linkage that the outside door handle uses....and might let you get the door open.

a thought.

Diagram here indicates it might be possible (at least for my '03)
http://www.realoem.com/bmw/showparts...13&hg=41&fg=40

 

Jeez, that's no good. Was there some improved fastening system for the cable when it was fixed?
Well, I can't very well break anything (I don't think) and the door's going to be replaced anyhow. I guess I could just cut through the door! omg)
Now I'm thinkin'. Now I'm in trouble.
Thanks much.

 

There is no linkage in a MINI door, all cable operated. So with the outside handle smucked, I would guess the cables are either pinched, or slack.

Sorry to see this happened

 

Had the same thing happen, tech said our cable actually snapped... It's all better now though...

Normally this would be a warranty repair, but with some jerk hitting your car there You're probably going to need to try and have your insurance cover it...

 

With a name like "JohnDough"...you must have insurance?
Let the pros fix it!

(sorry about the accident ...hit and runs suck!

 

With this much dough I don't need insurance...
Actually it's not "Mr. Dough," it's just Eddie, with a $500 deductible to try to control the premium.
The pros will fix it, but I have a near-future trip coming up (to see the soon-to-emerge first grandchild). I'd rather do 700 miles in the MINI than in my Taurus. So I'm seriously thinking about cutting into the door to see what's what.
I don't need to be able to open it from the outside, just from the inside. If I can reconnect a cable to make a temporary fix, then convince the wife that duct tape (to cover the hole) looks good on a MINI, I'll be in business.

 

Try taking the inside door panel off, maybe you can just pull on the cable.

 

That would be kind of sporty, for sure. I'll take a look at it. Usually when I've taken off door panels the door's been open, but maybe it's doable with the door closed.

 

Not going to work. The doorpanel sits behind the dash.

 

Right

 

This morning, I explained my approach to opening the door (cut a nice big hole in it) to my loving wife.
The idea brought her to the brink of tears.
But I think it has to happen.
I don't have a manual, but the on-line parts list appears to show 2 cables to the latch, one from the outside handle (destroyed) and one from the inside handle (must have detached?).
The answer: get out the cutter.
Seems like a job for When the Wife's Away.

 

Heres a photo I just found in another thread, shows the cables pretty well.

 

Thanks for the pic, Lot15.
It appears that if I cut into the door the spousal repercussions will be overly severe, so I'll have to wait for the body shop to do it. In the meantime, it looks more and more like there's a trip to Idaho in the Taurus coming soon.

 

Update, sort of.
I went by the body shop to see what it would take to remove the inner panel. He grabbed the outside door handle and pulled. The handle came apart. Enough was attached to the cable to be able to pull. The door opened.
So now there's a rubber band on the outside door handle sort of holding what's left of the parts together. Door opens from inside and, if necessary, outside.
Kind of happy ending. Wife isn't entirely confident that she'll be able to get back out once she gets in.
Road trip tomorrow!

 

OK, fixed, all better, everything fits and all of it works and none of it rattles. Good as new.
Well, of course it's not really good as new, but good enough for the next 20 years, I think.


The estimator was surprised that the price for parts was as low as it was. Fine with me.

Tomorrow morning may provide my first MINI snow-driving experience. Oh Boy!

 

nice to hear everything is good now.

 

Guess that nothing should suprise me anymore. Some bast*rd plowed into the side of my wife's Lexus RX300 last week and drove off. She was in a restaurant at the time. An older couple actually saw the bast*rd drive off and waited until my wife came out of the restaurant - they said they waited ~30 minutes! They said they didn't know who owned the car, but felt bad the bast*rd left.

Now we get to pay the $500 deductable because some bast*rd...

Oh, never mind...

Glad you got yours fixed, JohnDough. It looks as good as new.

 

Sorry to hear you got it too. One of the body shops I went to had 2 more of the same thing (hit & run) the same day.
The $500 deductible sounds familiar. Same as mine. After all, the other person's insurance is going to pay, right?
Would have been nice if the old folks had got the license plate...
Well, once in a lifetime, and from now on I park in places where door dings are likely but body-slams aren't.