The driver's door on my R56 is stuck shut. We even took the door panel off from the inside and pulled the cable, still with no prevail. My assumption is the latch is stuck and won't allow the the door to release. Anyone have any suggestions?

Thanks,
Luke

 

Luke - does it make any noise when you hit the unlock/lock button on the key and at the switch? How does the bowden cable look? Is it detached or stretched?

This article can show you how it looks: http://www.pelicanparts.com/techarti...eplacement.htm.

 

Thank you for the response. The lock still moves up and down in the door as you press unlock/lock from the remote or the switch in the car. The cable is certainly stretched. We have actually gotten to the the lever to release the door off the latch. When we move the lever, nothing happens. Any suggestions?

 

If the cable is stretched, that sounds like it could be your issue, especially if everything else seems to be working. That article I posted above shows you how to detach the cable. Figure #8 shows you a close up. You'll want to inspect it and replace it if it's stretched. #9 on the diagram below is the cable in question.

Here it is if needed: http://www.pelicanparts.com/cgi-bin/...on=51212754525

 

It seems stretched cables seems to be a pretty common thing. I see what you mean about figure 8. Figure 6 shows to take the latch off the car, but I cannot get the door open to do that. Even though the cable is stretched, do you think we would be able to release the door by pulling on the same lever the cable is connected to?

 

Yes, unfortunately I have seen this more than a few times. Since it's stretched pulling the handle wont do anything. So you'll need to pull on a section of the cable to release the handle. Kind of like figure #7 in the article, where his hand is on the cable. Pull there and then pull at the completely other end by where the door latch is. See if that might release the door.

 

The issue is pulling on the cable does nothing. You can feel the handle move a tiny bit when the cable is pulled. #4 in the diagram moves freely up and down, but does not release the door.

 

#4 is the bowden cable bracket. Hm, so it does sound like the lock mechanism might be bad as the electronic actuator may have failed. Basically when you lock the doors the latch is disconnected mechanically and if the actuator wont re-enage it then the door wont open from either handle. I've seen this happen on a lot of BMW's also. It sounds like you have the door panel off, which is part of the fight so that's one step forward. You might try removing the seal on the body so the door now has some "slack," sometimes you get lucky and the rotary latch releases, other times not. You'll want to try and get the door released so that you can further diagnose the true root of the issue here before throwing parts at it. I'm wondering if you might just be able to work in the area with the door closed since you have the panel off.

 

I appreciate all your help here. Should I need any parts, you will be my first call. Again, Thank you!

 

Hi I am having the same issue but the passenger door is shut and the panels are all still on the door. Can you advise how I can get the door open. Central locking is only deactivating the alarm. I am using the key to get into the drivers side. The passenger door does not open from either handle. I managed to pull the top panel of the door away to ro get to the arm of the lock, I have pull the arm up but it springs straight back. Any advice would be great

 

Did you get door open and how if you did