E30 Door Locks

[thechef]

Hope I'm in the right section with this ?

I have an E30 318is, only had it a few months, and only really just started using it regularly a few weeks ago :D, anyhow, yesterday when I tried to unlock it, manually with the key, (no remote locking on these - not mine anyway) the key will only turn to straight up / down position and wont turn/click further to the right, to unlock ? ! tried the passenger side but that hardly turns at all, this could be because the passenger door lock has hardly ever been used, therfore may be sticking due to lack of use ? ! I eventually managed to fiddle about with the key in the drivers door and managed to get the car unlocked, when I got home, I WD 40'd the visable mechanism of both locks, and locked & unlocked both doors a few times, and all seemed well, BUT :o this morning, it unlocked no probs, but when I got to my usual parking place near my work, I locked it - no probs, thought I'd try unlocking, but it is sticking again !!

Why is this ? is it due to lubricant / locks needing cleaned, wear & tear, or could it be the keys ? (I have two keys, and same problem with both) or something else ? !

[Guest Mister Dabsy]

WD40 is a repellent so it would work fine as a fluid at first, but when it dries thats it !! I would change them but another alternative is to slightly grease them internally... Problem is your key would then get a coating each time and ruin your freshly ironed trooosers :(

[Guest DazH]

Hi,

the E30 door card is stopidly easy to remove. When you have 5 mins, yank the drivers side off and see if there is anything restricting the push rods that control the locking. It may very well have nothing to do with the key and the mech is jammed. Kind of like... if you force the locking pin near the window down with your hand and try to use the key to unlock the door, they are physically connected.

The locks on my E28s are terrible in cold weather. about 50% of the time, the central locking won't unlock the passenger door when it's cold. Get those door cards off and use Silicon based lube. As Dabs says, WD40 will just ware off.... Silicon will stick


Daz

[thechef]

Thanks for the usefull replies - Dazh and dabsy, strangely enough since I posted this last week the lock - or the drivers side anyway, has worked fine ! but I shall remove the door cards maybe next w/e, I have some silicon spray anyway, and I'll have a look at the push rods.