E30 Central Locking Issue

Hi,

I picked up my "brand new" E30 last week and i seem to be having a slight issue with it.

Yesterday evening i parked her up in Killarney and locked the doors with the key, as normal. When i came back about an hour later i tried to unlock the car with the key but the lock on the driver's door seems to be stuck (solid)! I tried to unlock the car using the boot lock (normally all doors unlock when you unlock the boot), but only one door unlocked (the rear left door). I tried unlocking the other doors by lifting the button, but they're stuck as well.

Does anyone have any ideas regarding this issue?

Thanks

 

Sounds like the drivers door is deadlocked...and then (as is quite common, apparantly) the lock has seized in the deadlocked position...

I was warned not to deadlock the drivers door fro exactly that reason!

You will have to remove the interior trim of the drivers door and then try to release the mechanism from the inside....Perhaps you can get to the centarl locking relay (front drivers kick well panel behind the speaker) and actuate it from there...

If the slot in the door lock is horizontal, it's
deadlocked. But it's not all doom and gloom so don't
panic. Firstly you need to remove the driver's seat -
four 17mm and a 17mm for the seat belt. This
makes working in here 10000 times easier. Now
remove the driver's door trim - two Phillips screws for
the armrest at the bottom and another hidden behind
the mirror switch, the top lock knob and the plastic
surround for the interior door pull which slides
sideways and out with a flat blade screwdriver. It's
also a good idea to pull the rubber door seal out
before popping the door trim off. Use a flat blade to
start the door trim off in a corner, pull and you'll hear
the clips popping. They should be reusable if you're
careful.

With the door trim and the inner plastic cover off you'll
be able to shine a torch up into the door lock area
and see what's what. Get an assistant to carefully
waggle the key in the lock and you'll see the lever for
the deadlock. All that's happened is it's dried up and
seized. With some WD40 followed by spray grease
(and some excercise) it will free up and you can pop
the lock up with a screwdriver. Sometimes they get
so stiff the lock goes straight to deadlock - I had an
old E28 that did this recently and some WD40 cured
it instantly.

If you can get the door open - pull the door trim off
and give it a good dose of WD40. It's just corroded
and needs some lube. I expect the problem is in the
actual latch unit bolted to the door. Unlike E34/E32
nightmares, the E30 isn't too horrible for taking latch
units out if needs be.

Neither did i  

Was chatting to a few guys here in Cork yesterday that drive E30s as well and apparently the gards don't like E30s on UK plates here so i'd better reregister asap...  VRT is a pain in the *rse though