HELP!!! rear door lock stuck

[JHZR2]

I have a 91 318i 4dr. For no apparent reason, the rear driver's side door lock is stuck in the down (locked) position. All other locks (and the deadbolts too) work 100% I cannot physically get it to budge upwards.

I have reset the locking systems, unplugged the locking system fuse and unplugged the battery completely, reset the locks a number of times, etc. I then proceeded to go buy a slimjim, and attempt to unlock the rear door that way, no luck.

I pull as hard as I can, but I cant get the lock to come up. I dont want to break anything, or ruin the bar by pulling on it with vicegrips.

I cannot get the door apart from the inside, because the door is closed.

Any ideas/suggestions? I am stuck, and Im goingto have to rip apart my door trim, or cut it with a saw if I cant get it any other way. I really dont want to have to do that...

Thanks,

JMH

[Luda30]

I helped a friend fix his problem which is the exact problem you are having. The actuator in the door is seized. You are going to have find a way to access the inner part of the door and unplug the actuator to open the door and realease it out of the lock postion. Yes it is possible to do as i have had to do it on my friends 325ES. You do have enough room to pop off enough of the door panel to stuck your hand in there and feel for the plug and yank it. Problem fixed and door is open now go out and buy a new acutator and install it. its a 5-10 minute fix and life will be good again.

Goodluck!

Edit, this is for a rear door hmm something i am not familiar with i have one of these myself but havent messed with the rear door yet but should not be any different. You will probably need to removed the bottom seat cushion very easy to do, simply get a grasp of underneath the seat toward the edge underneath it and yank up hard and it should pop up repeat on other side. After it is out of the car you can set that aside and you might jsut have enough room to play around and unlock the door with it closed.

[JHZR2]

thanks!!!

What exactly am I looking for to unplug? Where on the door would I want to stick my hand? I suppose its right near the lock mechanism, etc, which is at the rear of the door, by where it attaches to the chassis?

Is there a characteristic feel to whatever Im looking to unplug?

I don't thik youre refering to unplugging the electric connections, right? I disconnected the battery and it didnt help any. Its more of a mechanical something that I need to unplug, right?

Thanks again,

JMH

[Luda30]

Here is a picture of inside of a 2 door E30.

You see that little red thing in the picture, the one with wires coming out of it. That is what you will need to find inside your door and then feel down to the wires and actually i was wrong you will need to REMOVE it (the actuator). it will require i think a 7 MM socket/wrench and there should be two bolts holding it in . you can see it from the outside of the door frame. All will make sense once you have the door panel peeled up slightly or removed totally off the door. In the picture ontop of the red actuator you can see a white peice and a hook. you will want to seperate the hook and the white peice from each other.

[JHZR2]

hey thats great, much more useful than the bentley pics... I sure hope that I can find/access it when I try. If Im that unlucky, Ill probably have to destroy the inner door to gain access inside, or else grab the little lock knob bar with some vice grips and pull as hard as I can. I dont think the latter will work though, because it is not a 'direct drive' from the actuator to the knob.

Id hate to have to cut my door panel and then buy a junkyard one though...

Wish me luck!

Thanks again very much for your help!

JMH