Door handle carrier further problem

E53Steve · Post by **E53Steve** » Sun Nov 24, 2013 1:08 am

Hi Guys,

Well thanks to this great forum I found the fault with my door handle earlier in the week, got a new carrier from Fleabay (possibly Febi) had a bit of bother getting the lock mechanism screw in (drivers door) but got there eventually, tried door from outside/ inside and all worked fine, put everything back together and everything fine. Then locked doors, unlocked doors but drivers door would not open, just by chance I got it unlocked and opened from the inside but this was after several attempts. So stripped trim off again but by then it was too dark to see, I don't have a garage, it seems like the unlock is sticking a bit, I had torch and everything looked ok. After reading a lot of people have had to change the carriers but has nobody came across this problem? With the door trim off just now am I ok to drive it (airbag is still connected and bolted back in place for moment) Just reluctant to put trim all back on in case I can't open from inside or outside again.

Any help appreciated :-[

ITBarbie · Post by **ITBarbie** » Sun Nov 24, 2013 7:43 am

Hi

I got mine from eBay and had exactly the same problem. First time it was because I didn't hook the cable on properly and second time was a case of taking off that screw on the handle and just reseating it.

I left my door card off but connected everything back up and my sodding airbag light came on. I purchased a coding tool from eBay and gutted and it still says a fault. So really that's my only word of warning make sure all the wires are connected so you don't get your light up.

E53Steve · Post by **E53Steve** » Sun Nov 24, 2013 10:43 am

Well stripped everything and moved door carrier towards the front of the car approx. 1mm and everything now ok, but I do have a small gap of 1mm between lock and handle (as I did yesterday with new carrier) locks/unlocks fine just now, a little cautious at the moment, looks very much like the pattern part isn't quite perfect, but hopefullly it will get me through the winter, working at near 0deg isn't much fun outside with frosty feet!
Thanks for the How To, it certainly helped, special thanks to ITBarbie for the extra help.

ITBarbie · Post by **ITBarbie** » Sun Nov 24, 2013 5:47 pm

Did you have any issues with the airbag light? I took the fuse out and didn't start the car until the job was done and wires connected back to the air bag but it still came on. I used the 1.4.0 tool and cleared type fault from the SRS but it's still showing. Gonna have to go back in and see if pins bent etc to connector. Just wanted to know if you encountered any difficulty?

Raj · Post by **Raj** » Sun Nov 24, 2013 9:25 pm

Penny, sounds like the connector isn't seated correctly hence still showing up the fault as the resistance will still be out.

storminmike · Post by **storminmike** » Mon Nov 25, 2013 8:23 pm

[quote="E53Steve"]
Hi Guys,

Well thanks to this great forum I found the fault with my door handle earlier in the week, got a new carrier from Fleabay (possibly Febi) had a bit of bother getting the lock mechanism screw in (drivers door) but got there eventually, tried door from outside/ inside and all worked fine, put everything back together and everything fine. Then locked doors, unlocked doors but drivers door would not open, just by chance I got it unlocked and opened from the inside but this was after several attempts. So stripped trim off again but by then it was too dark to see, I don't have a garage, it seems like the unlock is sticking a bit, I had torch and everything looked ok. After reading a lot of people have had to change the carriers but has nobody came across this problem? With the door trim off just now am I ok to drive it (airbag is still connected and bolted back in place for moment) Just reluctant to put trim all back on in case I can't open from inside or outside again.

Any help appreciated :-[
[/quote]

I had this.....are you saying that the buttons or remote operation or doors and/or windows are affected?

If so I'm not sure what's going on as mine played up something rotten after having it apart for the carrier. I did think I'd snagged the wires but inspection found nothing

What I never did was remove that battery or fuses but that might have been a red herring. I resorted to swapping the one from the wifes car over suspecting somehow the switch had gone west. Weirdly it fixed may car and the supposedly duff one worked to on hers with neither switches at fault.

Conclusion....gawd knows....upset elctronics...poor contacts...

E53Steve · Post by **E53Steve** » Mon Nov 25, 2013 11:11 pm

ITBarbie, No airbag light for me!

The only electrical components I disconnected was the pathway light (underside of door trim) and the 3 connectors to the mirror/window switches.
Stormin Mike, I think the problem was the lock was sticking as it wasn't lined up right and maybe just 1mm out of line as I too had another look think a cable had come off but nothing, although to put a spanner in the works my drivers window worked independently as did the central locking for a small scary time. but I disconnected the 3 connectors to the mirror/window switches and reconnected and all worked fine. and as a little bonus my passenger mirror now moves down when I reverse which never used to do, my guess for you could possibly be a dodgy connection in there somewhere. I did notice this must be connected to the central locking somehow.

ITBarbie · Post by **ITBarbie** » Tue Nov 26, 2013 9:20 pm

Thanks guys nothing affected except the flipping light for airbag. Car doesn't need an MOT until April so will get round to looking at it. Defiantly think it's the connecter not seated correctly or something bent whilst playing with it. I'm a bit heavy handed

Still I got the coding tool now I can play with

more things to fret about with all those error codes. Lol

storminmike · Post by **storminmike** » Tue Nov 26, 2013 9:55 pm

[quote="E53Steve"]
ITBarbie, No airbag light for me!

The only electrical components I disconnected was the pathway light (underside of door trim) and the 3 connectors to the mirror/window switches.
Stormin Mike, I think the problem was the lock was sticking as it wasn't lined up right and maybe just 1mm out of line as I too had another look think a cable had come off but nothing, although to put a spanner in the works my drivers window worked independently as did the central locking for a small scary time. but I disconnected the 3 connectors to the mirror/window switches and reconnected and all worked fine. and as a little bonus my passenger mirror now moves down when I reverse which never used to do, my guess for you could possibly be a dodgy connection in there somewhere. I did notice this must be connected to the central locking somehow.
[/quote]

This is whant happened to me and perhaps how it sorted itself out....maybe the order in which they were connected played a part. It was weird how the locking and windows were affected and would not respond properly to the key fob. Works fine now, that window switch is more than a window switch as it appears to affect the locking too

The airbag was left HOT in my case

ITBarbie · Post by **ITBarbie** » Tue Nov 26, 2013 10:03 pm

Yep hopefully with a little fiddling it will work ad don't fancy trip to the stealers!

nujon · Post by **nujon** » Tue Nov 26, 2013 10:40 pm

I bought an after market carrier - false economy! The straight-line dimension between the handle location centre and the screw location for the lock barrel is 2mm greater on the A/M compared to OEM - meaning its bloody difficult to line up the barrel screw - and even then you are left with an excessive gap between the handle and the lock barrel trim. Anyway, will have to do, not doin it again!. Re. the airbag light, you must either disconnect the battery or leave the airbag connected (tie it up to avoid stress on the harness) - if you pull the fuse only with the battery connected and unplug the airbag, loss of airbag ground is still detected and will throw the airbag light. AFAIK you need NCS to reset - 1.4.0 will clear the fault log but not reset - the light will just come back.

ITBarbie · Post by **ITBarbie** » Wed Nov 27, 2013 7:07 pm

Ok you've got me NCS? I've got the 1.4.0 and yes I reset and it said it rested the SRS. When you reset you see it flicker on dash and then it stays lit, like before and still shows an error.

Do I need a plan b yet, other than taking the card off again and reseating ?

nujon · Post by **nujon** » Thu Nov 28, 2013 12:25 am

'NCS' is the in-house BMW coding software that is used to write to all the bus modules on the vehicle - including the airbags control module. NCS is not intuitive to use!

A good BMW Indy will have NCS (or generic equivalent) and should reset the airbag light for ~ £25-£30 (provided of course there is no standing fault revealed by 'INPA' = the BMW diagnostics software that accompanies NCS.)

ITBarbie · Post by **ITBarbie** » Thu Nov 28, 2013 7:05 am

Ok thanks but why do the sellers of the other tool specifically advertise that this tool will reset the SRS light?

http://bit.ly/1hk7tUQ

Just confused as was told it would the job and it was the only reason I got it.

nujon · Post by **nujon** » Thu Nov 28, 2013 9:15 pm

[quote="ITBarbie"]
Ok thanks but why do the sellers of the other tool specifically advertise that this tool will reset the SRS light?

http://bit.ly/1hk7tUQ

Just confused as was told it would the job and it was the only reason I got it.
[/quote]

1.4.0 is OK for reading 'high-level' fault logs and clearing them (if the underlying fault condition remains, the fault will of course simply re-log!) - and is also useful for selecting factory pre-programmed options (e.g. auto door locking) -but that's about it IMHO. Suspect that loss of the airbag ground 'sets a flag' in the control module that 1.4.0 is too superficial to clear - hence the need to drill-down with INPA to tell you what exactly is throwing the airbag light.

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