'92 cabrio door lock "buttons" won't go down/doors wont lock

[parkerbink]

Central locking clicks/actuators make noise, trunk & gas door locks (from trunk)

They were working, no clue what happened or when.

I searched and sis not find this issue.

[MR E30 325is]

I had this issue with this most recent E30 of mine.

In my case, my inner door stuff was gunked up and after using some silicone based lube and manually pulling and pushing the door lock on each door up and down several times I was able to solve the issue.

It was basically free (I had lube laying around) and only time invested was removing and reinstalling door cards, which isn't too bad. I'd start here.

[parkerbink]

Did yours happen to both doors out of nowhere at the same time?

Just seems odd it's both doors. Also, I am wrong, gas door stays unlocked also.

[spare]

I just redid the central locking on my 92 vert and took quite a bit to.diagnose all the issues.

First thing is to take off the driver door card and see if you can move the actuator by hand. If you can't move the actuator by hand disconnect the electrical connection or pull the fuse to cut the electrical. See if you can move the actuator by hand.

Sent from my Pixel XL using Tapatalk

[spare]

If you want to try something prior to taking off the door card. Pull the fuse for the central locking system or disconnect the battery. When my cental locking controller failed it would send a constant 12v to the door locks which froze them in an unlock state. As soon as I cut power the doors would lock and unlock manually.

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[parkerbink]

Thanks, When I got the car, I had no central lock function. Turned out the "fuse" (metal tab soldered inside the brain) had let go, I put it back together, all well.

The system was working fine until today. I pulled fuse 27 which did not solve the issue (mechanism stopped working) put it back everything acts like it's working, door locks do not lock, buttons cannot be pushed with or without fuse 27 installed.

[parkerbink]

Looks like the panel has never been off.
There is a little box the rod attached to the button goes into. I don't see how to get it apart. Off to wade through the Bentey.

[parkerbink]

The lock cylinders have always been stuck. I can sort of turn them after spraying WD40 into them. Is it possible they just became so stuck now the lock lever won't move? I ordered both cylinders, goodbye another 1xx.xx

[parkerbink]

Pulled the lock cylinder, door lock "button" still stuck.

After more WD40, lock moves freely.

[ELVA164]

It sounds like you're way past this, but I've confused myself before by locking/unlocking the trunk and not returning the key to the vertical position. If the key slot is horizontal on the trunk cylinder, it may be keeping the doors from being able to move.

[jeffnhiscars]

Thanks, When I got the car, I had no central lock function. Turned out the "fuse" (metal tab soldered inside the brain) had let go, I put it back together, all well..

soo...when I redid the "little fuse thingy" I did not use low temp solder which is exactly what that is since its a thermal fuse. The result was that it didn't blow when it should have and it baked every actuator on the car and the lock control unit.

Just sayin'

As for the lock cylinder, theres a ball in there that carves a groove in the outer sleeve so the whole thing gimps when you use the lock. The new cylinder kits replaced the ball with a barrel that seems to be better

PS... you are not supposed to disconnect the CLU without 1st disconnecting the battery and vice versa

[parkerbink]

I have been using the trunk to lock & unlock the car so I was trying to lock it when I became aware of the issue.

I did not add solder, just heated up what was there so it reattached, I hear the control unit clicking & the solenoids solenoiding.


Danke

I have played with it a bit since removing the lock, it seems something has shifted that is not allowing the lock mechanism to move.

It's 114 ambient & closer to 118 in the garage, I can only be out there so long.