Loud driver's door

[jrw1621]

In just the past few days my driver's side door has gotten very loud when opening or closing. The noise is not the hinge but rather the indented rod that makes for the door stop-points (I am not sure what this is called.)
I suspect that this is a common problem but I am not sure how to fix it or research it since I am not sure what it is called.
My guess is that the rod rolls on rollers and that maybe this roller has jumped the track or bad bearing.
Is this fixable?
Any insight?

Thanks.

[Vivek]

That's the door brake. I have no clue how to fix it. Maybe get some grease up there or something...never heard of this problem before though.

[jlevie]

Lubricate the door brake.

[Bearmw]

Could also be broken where the check strap attaches to the body hidden in behind where the hood release handle is. I hope that's not the case because it's not an easy fix.

[acolella76]

Mine did the same thing, twice.

What happened the first time is that one of the bolts holding the door brake to the door came loose, so after tightening the noise went away.

The second time, I wasn't so lucky and the door brake itself had actually broken at the mount where it mounts to the door. So I just went to a junkyard and got a new one.. no more noise.

[long tall eta]

door brake from pelican parts 40 bucks and you should get a new pin also another 6 bucks. need to get that job done, if you dont that noise you hear will be putting stress on the door jam sheet metal and cracks will develope.. not a bad job, you need to pull the door card off so you might want to pick up some clips as they are brittle from age and some are bound to brake. having a mirror to see inside the door is helpful too.

http://www.bimmerfest.com/forums/showthread.php?t=439087

hope this link copied ok. it's a diy for the door brake
hope it helps

[jrw1621]

Long Tall,
Great find. Thanks so much.

From what i think I see with a similar mirror on a stick is that the rod has come out of the roller track or the roller no longer rolls freely.
In the next day or two i will pull the door card and see what I can find. It is tight quarters and not an easy place to work.

[long tall eta]

Long Tall,
Great find. Thanks so much.

From what i think I see with a similar mirror on a stick is that the rod has come out of the roller track or the roller no longer rolls freely.
In the next day or two i will pull the door card and see what I can find. It is tight quarters and not an easy place to work.

it is tight but i have partial amputations on both thumbs and right forfinger and got it done no problem. you should be able to hook it up w/o much difficulty. just don't keep opening the door till the metal flexes, only enough to squeeze in and out till you get the thing fixed. stress fractures in the door jam are nasty.

[Bearmw]

I would love to see some pics of a door jam stress fracture repair (weld).

[jrw1621]

Update:
A break in the weather and a break in the schedule so today I pulled the part.
Much to my surprise, it had broken in ways I had no guessed.
The lower ear completely broken off. The top ear half way broken through.
A lack of grease was not the issue and I had wiped a lot of it away before taking these photos.




Thanks again to all who provided good insight.

[long tall eta]

geter back together yet?

[jrw1621]

All back together correctly and now operating with no door brake for the interim. Parts ordered along with a few door trim clips as advised, thank you.
The pin is still good so i skipped ordering that.