Silver
New member
Hi all
1996 E36 328i cabriolet, my baby - 140,000 kilometres.
Have looked after her well. She is parked in a garage.
Over the past year or so my driver side doorknob has been acting strangely.
When I lock the car with my remote, the passenger door locks (and its knob goes down), but the driver side knob doesn't. The alarm is armed but the driver door remains unlocked. I have to manually lock it with the key after that.
Also strange behaviour from inside. After driving, if my doors are locked and I take the key out of the ignition and want to get out my car, I usually pull the door handle twice and it unlocks the door. Now it doesn't. It's very stiff. I actually have to first press the unlock button on the remote while inside the car, then I can open the door with one handle pull.
This was an intermittent problem for a few months. It would come and go. Now it seems to be permanent.
Another observation - when I start driving I usually push the knob down with my elbow to lock the doors. Since this problem started I notice that the knob is a little bit stiffer than normal. Same thing if I lock and unlock it from outside manually with the key. It all works but it is as if the knob is a bit stiffer than normal.
At my last BMW dealer service, I mentioned this issue and they said it may be a big job and if I didn't mind using the key, then I should rather just leave it. They didn't appear to be very interested in trying to help. After 10 years or so there, I am starting to get the feeling they don't like me and my old car ;-)
Am wondering what this could be and whether anyone could advise me of someone good to take my car to that could help to fix it without charging the earth. Am in Johannesburg.
PS - I did try searching for this issue first, but I only found things relating to central locking.
1996 E36 328i cabriolet, my baby - 140,000 kilometres.
Have looked after her well. She is parked in a garage.
Over the past year or so my driver side doorknob has been acting strangely.
When I lock the car with my remote, the passenger door locks (and its knob goes down), but the driver side knob doesn't. The alarm is armed but the driver door remains unlocked. I have to manually lock it with the key after that.
Also strange behaviour from inside. After driving, if my doors are locked and I take the key out of the ignition and want to get out my car, I usually pull the door handle twice and it unlocks the door. Now it doesn't. It's very stiff. I actually have to first press the unlock button on the remote while inside the car, then I can open the door with one handle pull.
This was an intermittent problem for a few months. It would come and go. Now it seems to be permanent.
Another observation - when I start driving I usually push the knob down with my elbow to lock the doors. Since this problem started I notice that the knob is a little bit stiffer than normal. Same thing if I lock and unlock it from outside manually with the key. It all works but it is as if the knob is a bit stiffer than normal.
At my last BMW dealer service, I mentioned this issue and they said it may be a big job and if I didn't mind using the key, then I should rather just leave it. They didn't appear to be very interested in trying to help. After 10 years or so there, I am starting to get the feeling they don't like me and my old car ;-)
Am wondering what this could be and whether anyone could advise me of someone good to take my car to that could help to fix it without charging the earth. Am in Johannesburg.
PS - I did try searching for this issue first, but I only found things relating to central locking.
