3-Series (E36)Chat relating to the BMW 3-Series from 1992-1999. Autodoodad
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okay so heres the deal, get to my girlfriends house lock the car... dont know why usually dont know one is around her house. so we watch oceans 11 and i come out to take her to take care of some animals and notice i cant unlock my car from the drivers side... the key will go in but it just wont turn, either way. so i go over and i unlock from my girlfriends side. she gets in i then try to lock it again, and then drivers and passenger side wont lock it. i then go to the trunk and the whole car locks, but the trunk wont unlock it, as usual neither of the doors will either. shes freaking out becuase she cant pull the locks up either to unlock it, i get the trunk to unlock but the rest of the car wont, so i have her open up the backseat and i pass her the keys through the backseat (where it opens) and she turns on the car and the doors unlock... we then open the sunrof to try it again... same thing happens where only the trunk locks it and then try to unlock and only the trunk will unlock. both drivers and passenger side, the key wont even turn... i say screw it and we go take care of the animals (i am PIST AND WORRIED BY NOW) as we are driving i lock and unlock the car with the inside knobs... we get back to her house and i leave her in the car to try it one more time... and what do you know it locks and unlocks... key turns fine. so heres my question.... WHY! haha i know the locking system has to due with power. like if you battery is disconnected you ahve to lock one door at a time... my power isnt always steady, (like when i move my power seats back and forth i can feel the car draining ofpower and my headlights dim, same with when i push up on two window switches when they are already up... so could it be power related... and ican get ready for an electrical faliure... or could it be because of the cold? which sounds weird... it was 30degrees all day today... this is worrying me any help would be awesome!
oh yeah im sketch about going out and trying to lock and unlock it right now incase i cant get it back open.. but i think in an hour or so im going to go try.. wish me luck haha
One question... how old is your battery.. and or when was it last changed?...
Sounds like a weak battery... and when it is running.. the dimming of the lights.. seems like a shot alternator.. this would take a few more trouble shooting ideas and solutions to exactly say either or is bad.. but check them.
yeah i figured it was my alternator.. ive had 2 of them go out, and looks like this might be my 3rd... ill have to go get it tested. i might as wel get my battery tested too!! seems like its weak!! its cold outside too which can make the battery suck even more too! so pray i dont get locked out! haha
but whats weird about the electrial stuff... is i should still be able to turn my key in the lock.. just all my doors shouldnt unlock at once if it was that... i would have to do them one at a time
Same thing happened to mine a few weeks ago. The double lock mechanism wouldn't engage and I couldnt unlock my driver door. After 5 min. I tried it and all was fine again. It has done it a few times since but not in a while. I was thinking it had to be the door lock actuator..
well its 19 degrees right now, and i talked to a local bmw place, and they said to go out into my garage and put a blow dryer to the key and lock because my problem might lie within a frozen lock... says it happens to even the e46s around here with how cold and moist it is
so put the car in the garage, took a hair dryer to the key and locks, and waa bam car unlocks... im thinking water got in my locks yesterday as iwas washing my car, and with it being 30 or below all day yesterday (yes iwashed my car in 30 degree weather haha) anyways it was 17 all last night, and yeah water freezes so thats what happened!! the solution.... BLOW DRYER
2 weeks ago it go down to around -10 here and my whole car froze solid. Doors were stuck, although not the locks, but when i finally got the door open it would not shut. After a while I got the door to finally shut then started driving and car started over heating. I guess my water pump froze up or a hose froze. Pulled over and after 15 minutes whatever was frozen fixed itself and the temp gauge went back to normal. Started driving again and the fan blower would not work on 1-2-3, only on speed 4. All is well now but it's apparent my car does not like the cold at all
I had the same issue, where I couldn't unlock the driver door & the key would not turn. I found out that the passenger door was not closing tight. It was 0 - 10 degrees most of the week. It seams the grease would harden in the latch mechanism (not the lock).
Anyway when I shut the door, it would latch but not hold tight so the interior lamps & stuff would not shut off. When I would lock the driver door like normal & the passenger door was not shut tight, it would cause the drivers door to malfunction. I couldn't even get in & start the engine & use the lock button on the counsel. Even the door handle & the lock button itself would not move.
I had to keep pushing on the passenger door until the catch finally pulled the door tight & then I could only unlock the whole car via the passenger side. After that the drivers door would start working again. I put new grease on the door latch & the temp has been in the 20's so it hasn't happened again yet.
Maybe not your issue, but the locks seam to be quirky if something in the sequence is out of order.
yeah my passenger door wouldnt close either it was crazy! turns out it was all becuase of the cold! and the problem has now gone away!! Very happy about that one!
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