'03 MC, Driver and Passenger side went out somewhere between 80k-90k, maybe earlier - I only documented when my wife and I finally replaced them (97.5k)

My wife actually became quite an expert at replacing these things

Her arms could get in the door much more easily than mine!

 

Did you have to replace both actuators???

 

Yup, both of 'em.

 

Thanks! If you and your wife replaced them yourselves; how long did it take?

 

Hard to say exactly how long. We first tried spraying some graphite lubricant on the old ones, but that didn't work so we put everything back together and waited for the actuators to come in the mail. I think I was replacing the rear rotors and pads while my wife was working on the doors the first time around. We were probably working for 2-4 hours?

Once we had the actuators, everything went a lot faster since we had taken everything apart once before. I think the trickiest part is getting the cable for the door handle re-attached to the actuator.

 

I second that, having done both this year as well.
I found a good trick for the inner door cable.
Put the outer door handle cable on first, and wedge something (like a screwdriver handle) into the outer door handle to keep it open,
(or have someone hold it like they're opening the door - I didn't have a helper, though),
then you can flip over the little hook on the actuator that the inner door cable goes on
and you can re-attach it more easily.

 

My 03 MCS had the same problem. Neither door lock operated with the remote or the switch on the console. Only the hatch operated. Took it to the used car dealer I bought it from and it sat for 1 week. After nagging them daily for 4 days, they finally took it to a local MINI dealer, where the problem was diagnosed and repaired the same day. I can't believe the used car dealer expected me to drive around with "manual door locks" in an otherwise mint condition car. Yes, they paid for the repairs.

 

Good to hear they at least took care of it eventually, but crazy it took that much pestering. Did you get a better deal on the car because of it? I sure hope so.

Only way to open the passenger door "manually" is to get in the driver's door and open from the inside! If the cable comes off in addition (happened to mine! - cable came off passenger door and actuator was bad! ), its a real challenge to repair. Was able to do it though.

 

Get a better deal?? LOL! They wanted to give me $$$ off the price of the car, and let me fix it myself. They reduced the price by $1000. I didn't bother haggling anymore, I just wouldn't take delivery unless the door lock issue was resolved. I didn't look for a stellar deal either, I basically paid KBB retail for the car. I'm fine with that. Just wanted a solid, properly running used MINI. If I like this one, I'll look for a "MINI-Next" pre-owned from a MINI dealer, or buy a new one. I'll see. $38k for a '11 JCW MCS?? YIkes, isnt' that (bite my tongue) 135i money??? LOL

 

hello guys i could really use your help right now... i have a 03 mini cooper s and as i went to unlock the door with the remote control it just wont unlock.. i tried putting the key in the door put it wont unlock also... i am stuck outside of my car... the car locks with the remote but it doesnt unlock at all..i dont see or hear the door unlocking whatever i do.. my car is stuck there and i cannot even call my insurance to pick it up..HELP!!!

 

If the tailgate opens you can climb from there :-)

 

I AGREE....

If the hatch (tailgate) opens, you can climb in that way and unlock the doors manually.... Good luck!!

 

He may still not be able to open it if the door handle cable has fallen off as well. There's also a "joint" on the actuator that, if broken, would cause him to still not be able to open the door from either side.

I had to deal with a similar situation with my passenger door. Couldn't open it from either side. Managed to get the door cover off and open it manually from within the door in order to put a new actuator in. It was certainly not easy though......but the sound of those new actuators locking and unlocking...worth it all.

 

guys thanks a lot for your responses ..m y hatch wont open either.. i still dont know what i ll do .. and the really annoying thing is that my car is outside of a bar i went yesterday... any more help would be appreciated... merry christmas to all of you

 

Wow, that opens up a completely different failure possibility. The rear hatch doesn't really mechanically lock like the doors. When "locked", the rear hatch simply ignores it when you press on the open switch.

While it will not help you get in, can you open the fuel door?

If you press and hold the "open" button on the keyfob, will the windows and sunroof open?

 

It does make it seem electrical...but, he would still be able to open the driver's door by turning the key - that's purely mechanical. I guess he might have two problems in one.

At any rate...Merry Christmas! Hope you get it sorted out some way or another.

 

hi guys..
happy new year... sorry it took me so long to answer but i am in the army and i was waiting till i got out... i unlocked my car after 2 days ... the solution to the mystery it was that 2 problems occured at the same time.. the first was that the unlocking button on the remote control was broken and the second was that the wire that connects all the doors and the lock was broken also.. so i opened the remote control and fixed it and i unlocked my car.. now all i have to do is take my car and fix the wire... thanks for your time

 

I have a 2005 and my cable did the same thing. Its not the cable thats the problem its the rotary latch assembly (the part that the cable snaps into). BMW had redesigned that part some time after 2005 putting a cover plate over the orange/blue boden cable guide. My old man is a retired design engineer for Ford and he said that before the redesign that could be considered a major safety design flaw and there should have been a recall to fix the problem permenently. Those parts should last the life of the car! Weekend Warrior.

 

04, 58K, Drivers door just went out.

 

Been driving around with my drivers side lock not working for some time...
habit of rolling the window down, reaching out to unlock the door.
Really got screwed when the battery died and I couldn't unlock from inside cause the window wouldn't roll down....very scary

I have tried to reattach the cable into the actuator but i haven't been successful...do the newly designed 2005 actuators work on the older cars?
I haven't figured out how to remove the actuator, I"m sure thats what i need to do...

 

03 MCS, went out around 75k. Maybe completely unrelated, but we have also had issues with the windows going down.

 

Have you tried banging on the door just above the speaker? You have to bang near where the power window motor is. This has always fixed the window problem for me. Its apparently a common fix on most BMW automatic window motors. It might sound funny, but actually works.

 

I have not tried that but I sure will now. Many thanks if it ends up working, lol.

 

I had to put the pully back in the slot on the drivers side twice, 107000 miles

 

I wonder if my problem is the same one you are talking about here. I have an '06 MCS with 77,000 miles. One of my remotes wasn't working at all so I re-initialized it and it worked fine, but about 2 hours later, neither remote would open the doors. I can only lock or unlock the doors (both doors) manually. I tried to run through the initialization procedure again but it requires that the doors be locked to begin and when I put the key in the ignition, the doors unlock automatically. Never had this to happen before. I can't keep them locked to begin the initialization process. Too weird. Any suggestions?