Hi all,

First time posting here. The passenger door on my mini cooper s has been stuck shut for months now. There were times when it wouldn't open, and then some days it was fine (all summer months). I should've tried fixing it before it got worse, but I didn't. When I lock or unlock the door, it will stutter and never seem to fully unlock. I decided to take the passenger seat out and was able to get the door panel off (yes, even with the door stuck shut). Unfortunately, unlike the 1st generation, there are only two, half-dollar-sized holes to peek through to get to the actuator. I can roll the window down and pry it open about an inch to look down there with a flashlight. Any further than that and I'll probably warp the window guide. I can see the door actuator, I tried pulling on the interior handle cable, but that didn't do the trick. So i tried pushing on the exterior door latch from the inside and that didn't seem to work either. I'm thinking the exterior door latch trick won't work because the door thinks it's still locked. I'm all out of ideas before taking it to an import shop or, even worse, the dealer. Every time i go to the dealer it seems to be $800 or more and I'm not made of money. Has anyone had this happen to them on the 2nd gen models? How did you go about fixing it? How much did it cost? The 1st gen models have such a big opening to work with, but not this model. Any help or insight would be greatly appreciated! Thanks for your time.

 

Lift up a little on the door handle as you try to unlock it, it might be hung up on just a little of the door lock. If that does not work, you will have to try to get the inside door panel off and get into that latch to pop it open. 51212752596

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...is-pulled.html

 

Yeah I've tried that. I thought maybe the latch was a little rusty too and that's why it won't fully unlock. I've given it a few good kicks too. I have the door panel off, but there is not a whole lot of room to get in there to mess with stuff. just a little circle at the bottom of the door and at the top of the door (where the locking rod goes through). How do you get the door to manually unlock from inside the door panel? I know it connects to the green piece in this picture, but is there somewhere else on this part i can force it to unlock with?:

 

See that green clip, near there is the connection to the pull cable, and then the little eyelet at the top (that looks like an old soda can pop top remover). One or the other of those. Use a coat hanger and hook the eyelet first and move it down. Then while doing that lift up and giggle the main door. It might just be hung up internally.

 

Thanks I'll give that a shot. Hopefully that will at least allow me to get it open so I can replace what I need to easier. Right now the inside door handle cable came unhooked next to that green clip, so the only option i have is that eyelet at the top. That is a difficult piece to get to because of the window being in the way. Question, that green clip, it looks like it moves to the left (relative to the picture above). Maybe I have to pull that and that eyelet at the top at the same time ? . . .
I'll try a few things without hopefully breaking it more!

 

Welcome.
Yes, try the eyelet first as its the easiest and then let me know. I hope it's not internally jammed.

 

Okay I have a picture of what i'm working with here. The pink square is the panel i would LOVE to be able to remove. Do you know how to remove this panel? it seems like it's sealed with an adhesive where the green box is. i don't know if i should force that adhesive off or not. if i can get this big area off, i think i can get in there to work on it much easier. Am i missing something simple to remove this?

 

I'm taking it to a shop tomorrow that deals with imports. I'll let you guys know how that goes. Maybe I can get some specifics out of them and get back to you in case anyone else has this problem.

 

Just saw your post, let me know what they find.

This is how the door panel is removed.

http://www.realoem.com/bmw/enUS/show...diagId=51_6177

Door panels removal :

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...or-panels.html

 

Yeah there are some key parts I can't get too unless the door is open so I just took it to the shop. Threw in the towel. Raised the white flag.

 

Any update?

 

They were able to get the door open. I'll find out more when I stop in. They said "it wasn't pretty, but we got it open"

 

Ok, thanks. I hope nothing was broken.