Glove box issue

[altec204]

The glove box on my 1990 325IS is jammed shut by the latch.. i have completely unbolted the hinge from the dash, so the glove box is just hanging by the lock, i have tried many things and it seems like the latch locked its self. and since i bought the car 2 years ago i don't have the key for the glove box.. any help would be great

[Rrrockhound]

Ah yes, the infamous broken glovebox latch. You have 2 choices. The lock latches to a metal plate above the glovebox, right next to the fuel injection brain. With the hinge at the back of the box undone, it's possible by working from behind the box to reach that metal plate and unbolt it. But you'll be on your back feeling around blind, so if you're not already familiar with that area, you probably won't know where to reach. (I'm familiar because I've gone through this 2 or 3 times.)

The other option is just break the latch. This is what I did the first time. It takes a lot of prying with a screwdriver and pliers, but you can break the latch and handle out without doing any damage to the glovebox or lock cylinder. I hate giving you that advice, but I don't know any other way in there.

At least replacement latches are cheap on eBay. Just don't buy a used one, or you'll end up going through this whole exercise again (and getting very expert at it). Never store anything important in the glovebox.

[altec204]

would it be possible to post some pictures? or even a bit more info on how to unbolt the latch on the fuel brain? any info would be awesome

[Si e30]

bro, on your foot rest after your feet on the front wall, I think there is 2 nut with 10 mm size, you may take the nut out and try to reach the latches from below

[A930Rocket]

Stick a screwdriver in the lock and twist it with a pair of pliars. It'll give it up quickly.

[Rrrockhound]

I don't know how much they'll help, but I'll try posting some pics in a day or two.

[Rrrockhound]

OK, as promised:

If you don't want to destroy the existing lock, you'll have to undo the back hinge of the glovebox where it mounts to the firewall. The first pic is a view of the nuts at the back of the glovebox, what your toes would see if they could see. There are 3 in all and the picture shows 2 of them, partially hidden by sagging soundproofing material:




After you have the back hinge undone, the glovebox will be hanging by the lock.
Reach around from the back side and take out the junk you have in the glovebox to get it out of your way. If all you wanted to do was retrieve something from the box and you don't care about fixing the broken latch, you can quit here and just reattach the back hinge and let the next owner worry about it. But if you want to fix the latch, you have to dismantle everything, which is a little like taking an engine apart without opening the hood. From this point, you're probably going to have to lie halfway on your back in the footwell in order to reach around the back of the box to do things.

Next thing to do is undo the two fabric straps that the lid hangs from. There is one on the left and one on the right. You won't be able to see them with the lid still latched, but this is what they look like:

They're held in by plastic pins where they attach to the glovebox. Reaching around the back side of the box, just push the pins out and don't lose them. You might also be able to reach the pins by working from the sides of the box.




Next, there's a plastic trim tray at the top of the glovebox area that has to come out. It's held in by screws and 2 plastic plugs. First, working from behind, remove the plastic plugs by twisting them 90 degrees. Again, you might be able to reach them from the sides, which would make it easier:
Right side:


Left side:




Then, remove the screws from the front of the box (at the arrows in the pic below-there are 4 in total, I think). Hopefully, the glovebox lid has dropped down enough that you can get a screwdriver in there:




This pic shows the metal plate the latch locks into:

For this pic I took the glovebox apart from the front to make it clearer. You won't be able to see this much of it. The red arrow points to the latch plate. Just for reference, the green arrow points towards the fuel injection brain (ECU). Note also the black screw above the latch plate (there should be 2 but I lost one.)




The latch plate is held in place by 2 large sheet metal screws you have to loosen. 10 mm heads, I think. They are shown in close-up here:





The tough part will be trying to find those screws since you can't see them. I think I used a 10mm socket on a ratchet.

Once you have the screws removed, the latch plate still won't be free, because of the little black sheet metal screws attaching it to the dash (as in the pic with the red and green arrows). But at that point it the glovebox should be loose enough that you can easily remove those black screws.

From here, go shopping and find yourself a replacement latch:

BMW E30 Dashboard & Steering Column - Page 1 (Scroll to the bottom of the page.)

Get a new one; don't take a chance on a used one from eBay. The latch's inner workings are cheap potmetal and will be close to breaking on a used one. Whether you get one that locks or not won't matter, because it's not the keylock portion of the latch that breaks. I haven't actually tried the brand Pelican sells, but I can tell you that a genuine BMW part is definitely breakage-prone.

It should be obvious that once you have everything apart and you're ready to start putting it back together, you reinstall the glovebox lid last, so you don't have to keep reaching around the back of it. A helpful tip: before you put it all back together, test-fit the replacement latch first. I bought one that for some reason wouldn't unlock when I closed the lid and I had to take it all apart the hard way again.

And one last helpful tip: Never slam the glovebox to close it!