Intermittent door locks and clutch pedal bearing

[Andy U]

Hey All,

Thought I'd give this forum a boost. I'm coming over from the R1100S forum which has been awesome.

I have a '98 four door 328 and am almost up on the warranty so will take it in but am wondering if other people are seeing recurring problems in this area.

The power door locks don't always go up and down on certain doors. This occurs when using the remote, front outside keyhole, or the inside central console button. This is intermittant on one or the other rear doors and was "fixed" one time after a year of ownership. Well the left rear is occasionally doing it again...usually I notice when I come back to my car and see the lock knob still up! Anyway, it's intermittant enough that I don't think it will do it for the dealer in a timely manner so I may be stuck with a long term problem. Any comments?

The clutch pedal bearing also seems to be going out for the second time. Replaced the first time after about 2 years ownership. Essentially manifests as a creaking noise during clutch actuation. I thought a little lube up there would help but the dealer said it was the bearing and replaced it. ~1.5 years later (~12k miles)and it's doing it again. I will have it repaired under warranty before my time is up in May. Anybody else having recurring problems in this area?

Yes, I'm very low mileage on this car due to the motorcycle!

Andy

[Wayne 962]

I haven't had this problem with either of my E36s, but I do have a problem with the alarm locking the doors, then right away opening them again, as if it thinks the doors are open. Another click of the remote, and they lock again.

I'm assuming that you only have one or two locks that get stuck? Is it dependent upon temperature, or if the car is somewhat warm? It certainly does sound like a lock linkage problem - you might want to have the dealer lube inside the door. Does it happen with one lock or two locks at the same time?

I haven't heard of the clutch pedal bearings going out on these cars. I have a slight creak in my 325i gas pedal, but I think it's the cable that's beginning to wear or something along those lines.

Definitely take it in for warranty, but watch those guys like a hawk. BMW warranty repair isn't as always as good as you might think. My buddy has gotten screwed over by BMW not being able to find a problem, then taking their sweet time until the warranty ran out!

-Wayne

[///Mink]

Both common problems - the lock actuators are notoriously unreliable on the E36's - Part is about $55 and takes an hour or so to intall. Sometimes lubing the latch mechanism helps, but don't count on it.

Sqeaky clutch pedals are caused by bad bushings. Some aftermarket vendors make delrin bu**** to fix it.

Tom
'98 M3

[Andy U]

Thanks Tom!

To answer the earlier post I don't think the door lock issue is temperature dependent...just temperment dependent.

I guess I may have to someday figure out how to do the lock mechanism change but that's not bad at $55.

As for the clutch pedal bushing, can you point me in the direction of the aftermarket part? I have a feeling this will be recurring as well.

Thanks again...great reply!
Andy

[Wayne 962]

Sounds like a good technical article for the site! (the lock change). I'm also planning one for the pedal cluster bearings/bushings...

-Wayne

[///Mink]

Yep, intermittent failure is the way the lock actuators go. I have a writeup somewhere that I did about the install. I'll look for it if you're interested.

As for the delrin bushings, Ron Stygar comes to mind. You can email him at ronstygar@aol.com or visit unofficialbmw.com and check out his page there for info and lots of other tech tips.

Tom

[Andy U]

Dang...this board is shaping up to be every bit as good as the R1100S site...look out!

Yes, I'd be interested in the lock swap and bushing replacement info.

Thanks,
Andy

[Wayne 962]

Me too!

-Wayne

[bsaffin]

Did anyone ever find out anything more about the lock actuators replacment?

...Bruce

[///Mink]

I wrote this up a long time ago:

http://www.geocities.com/e36rulz/E36LockActuator.html

[bsaffin]

Thanks Tom!

...Bruce