My sisters car has a broken lock actuator in the rear left door and I have the lock actuator to replace it and the door panel apart, but it is in the damnest position. I see it is held in with two hex nuts but its almost impossible to get to them and I can't find the right size to get them out. Does anybody have advice on replacing these things? once it's in I obviously plug it in and connect the hook and its done, but i can't get it out! Any help?
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ok after playing around inside the door for about an hour and a half, I finally got the two screws undone. When I got the screws undone I got the actuator off and couldn't wait to put the new one on and be done with it. But i found the guy had sent me the wrong one!;)
to clarify, he sent me a 183 red top, red bottom. this is for the passenger side correct?
He said he sent me a 184. 184 is for the rear doors and it should be red top and white bottom. Correct?
If anybody has an actuator for the rear passenger door that works, please PM me and I'll buy it from you. -
Not to post the automated "Buy a Bentley manual" remark, but the Bentley maunal very clearly outlines all of that.
Red top/red bottom is passenger's side, however both rear doors are red top/white bottom (both doors!) It seems like the guy was misinformed and thought each passenger doors has the same actuator and each driver's doors had the same actuator, he was obviously mistaken.
Best of luck.- Trey
E90 325i/6 (ZSP, ZPP, ZCW)
E36 325i sedan
E30 325i sedan
Volvo 945TComment
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Ok thank you very much. I actually have the bentley manuel, I'm an idiot for not thinking to look to it. The guy is an idiot who sent me the wrong one.Originally posted by TDE30 View Post
But is there any easy way to remove the actuator? I just undid the two hex nuts that hold the actuator down but it was a BITCH to get at from in the door. isn't there an easy way? I looked in the bentley about that and it says to remove two bolts that I don't even see on the door. any advice?
also, another question. Why are these actuators different? I know the colors should be white on bottom and red on top for the rear doors, but why is the actual hook a different shape? The actuator on bottom is from my sisters 91 325i i don't know what the top one is from but why are their hooks different? does it matter?
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Production date 3/1991 and later use actuator part# 51 26 1 394 368. Good luck finding a used one.
1991 325ic and 1991 318isComment
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It's a bit hard to determine if either one of those would just slot right in, obviously the bottom one in the picture is for the RR/LR door (remember, rears have the same actuator) and the top one if for the RF door, this may explain why they look different (because they control different doors.) I highly doubt they are interchangeable, and I wouldn't even bother trying to make them work. Try punching in the PN on ETK and seeing what it tells you, I'm guessing one is a late model (bottom) and one is any early model (top).Originally posted by Japandrew73 View Post
As for it being difficult to remove the actuator, rofl, just be glad you don't have a four-door where it's even more difficult to work inside the door. Once the two screws are undone, it's just a matter of removing the wire from the back of the actuator and presto it should fall right out. HOWEVER, I do NOT recommmend doing any of this until you have received the correct actuator from that guy.
Luckily, that's just for both rear doors on a 3/91 and 4/91 318i four-door. I really wouldn't even bother buying a used actuator either, this is one of PITA jobs that you don't want to do again in another two or three years, it's safe just to fork over the $90-ish and buy a new one and avoid the future potential headache(s).Originally posted by Stevie30 View Post- Trey
E90 325i/6 (ZSP, ZPP, ZCW)
E36 325i sedan
E30 325i sedan
Volvo 945TComment
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As for it being difficult to remove the actuator, rofl, just be glad you don't have a four-door where it's even more difficult to work inside the door. Once the two screws are undone, it's just a matter of removing the wire from the back of the actuator and presto it should fall right out. HOWEVER, I do NOT recommmend doing any of this until you have received the correct actuator from that guy.
hah actually this isn't for my car it's for my sisters and hers IS a 4-door. It's a bitch. I found it's best to have an "L" shaped Allen wrench size 7/64 but even with that it's a bit hard.
I looked at the part number written on her old inoperable actuator and it says:
51 26 1 385 116
that part number doesn't even come up valid in the parts catalog at all! It's pretty odd. The one that guy sent me is red on top and bottom and has the part number:
51 26 1 373 183
When that part number is plugged in it says it's for the driver's front door.
The guy who sent me it claims he sent me the 51 26 1 373 184 and that that part number is for the rear doors, and looking at the same diagram, that is correct. From 09/1984 to 03/1991 it needs 51 26 1 373 184. I haven't checked the production month of my sisters car but I assume it must be 04/1991 or later.
I tried to look up the parts diagrams for a car built 04/1991 but realoem or bmwfans doesn't even have a diagram for an e30 built that late!
Any help? This is getting really frustrating and confusing. Luckily she doesn't use this car as a daily driver because she doesn't have her license yet, so the door can remain dissembled but i really want to finish the project and be done with it! It's times like this i'm glad I don't have central locking...Comment
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51 26 1 385 116 appears to have been superceded by 51 26 1 394 368, at least according to the search on bavauto. So the 184 won't fit anyway, even when you do get it.
I agree that there don't seem to be any 4 door 325 produced after 1/91 according to the sites, and that part didn't change til later.
Are you sure of the production date and that it started life as a 325? How about that the door is original and not off of a 318 after an accident, just swapped over complete? Look for the VIN sticker on the door and see if it matches the chassis VIN. Pull the last 7 of the VIN and plug it in to bmwfans and see what it says. It might actually find the right part then. I'd also check the other back door to see what actuator is in there. I'm grasping at straws here trying to figure out why it's not the 184 that it looks like it should be.Comment
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Wow. What a douche. the seller told us it was a 91 325i but when plugging the VIN into realoem it turns out it was built in Oct. of 90. So it really should be using the 184 actuator for the rear door. I think I'll try to fit the 184 in right now and see what happens.Last edited by Japandrew73; 04-30-2009, 04:16 PM.Comment
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10/90 is considered a '91 model year. It should be using the 184, but looks like it wasn't in at least 1 door. I'd still see if that door was replaced.Comment
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^Good to know. I checked the door and it matches the dash and hood VIN. Don't know why it had that weird actuator.
Either way I improvised and surprised myself!
So I needed to use a drill-bit slightly bigger than the hole the actuator uses to latch onto the lock mechanism and so I drilled it large enough to fit on.
Then I plugged in the wire and tested the lock. Goes up and down just the way it's supposed to.
If I take the actuator and latch it on, the only problem is fitment. It fits there, but the original mounting points where the hex screw goes on don't line up and there is nowhere to screw it in. so in this spot in the door, it just happens the actuator sticks out there. That gave me an idea. I drilled into that spot using the same drill-bit size as the screw and there was my mounting point.
Before I screw the screw it I found I had to plug it in before I screw it in because the back of the screw blocks entrance of the plug, but when the plug is in first, there is room behind the plug for the screw to go.
So here is where it mounted finally
And now it works flawlessly! :) I was pretty surprised I made it work. Central locking seemed like such a daunting task until I really had a go at it. Thanks for all the inputs and help guys.Comment
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Good job!
Now, I'd try the 183 in the other door anyway. I think the only real difference is that the 184 only accepts a signal to lock/unlock, and the 183 can send the signal as well (since it's on a keyed door)Comment
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Yep! turned out the 183 actuator works fine for rear passenger also. You just need to do the modifications I showed pictures of a couple of posts up. thanks for the help everyone. My sister now has fully functional central locking:DOriginally posted by hoyabmw View PostComment
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