Removing Door Handle

limenuke · 11-08-2011, 03:17 AM

I've been trying to remove a door handle from a door skin I bought but I'm having a ton of trouble with it. The door off an unknown year E36 but I do know that it does NOT have a bolt accessible from the outside for the rear window channel. I'm having a real hard time doing two things:
1) Getting the handle into the door because the window's metal rails are sort of blocking the path.
2) Getting the lock and the door handle to come apart. The hooked metal arm that connects the two looks to be highly inaccessible. I've no idea how they even assembled it. I am referring to step 9 in:
http://bimmerinfo.com/diy/e36_door_handle_removal.htm

I've also looked at

http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum...d.php?t=709257

but it didn't help.

Any words of advice? I really need this stupid handle out of here.

Willycool · 11-09-2011, 12:48 PM

Removing the door handle is a PITA!!!!
I was unable to do it alone and had the help of an expert....
You will need to remove the window regulator and x bracing track. This will allow you to tilt the glass fordward so that you can get to the door handle.
It will still take some time to get the door handle assembly free.
Putting everything back together is a BITCH!

Allow 5 to 6 hours for this job....

limenuke · 11-09-2011, 01:25 PM

Yeah, once I removed the window, it was easy. I bought a separate door just to transfer everything into so it wasn't that bad. The next part is getting everything out of my current door and hooking it into the new door...not looking forward to it.

limenuke · 11-12-2011, 01:03 AM

So my passenger door has a spinning lock cylinder and my driver side door makes a clinking noise when I revert my key from "locking" position to "neutral" position (so I can pull the key out. The clink sounded like something striking the end of a flexible flat piece of metal. Clingggg

The clinking recently stopped and I think I lost spring retention which causes the key cylinder to naturally want to return to the neutral position.

Any ideas on how to fix this? For the passenger side, I think I need an identical lock ( I know some E36s have different locks) with the a T shpaed piece of metal and whatnot at the top. I know it fell out since I found it in my door but I think I've lost other pieces.

For the driver side, I'm pretty clueless as to how to deal with this. I hate that my key cylinders are getting ****ed up because I do not want to sink any more money into this goddamn car.

Update: I've decided the 6+ hours of labour + 2 hours of travel time to retrieve my materials + 60+ dollars in getting two new locks is not worth it when I can purchase a Viper electrical locking system for about 50-60 bucks on eBay. Is it hard fitting a keyless entry into a 1997 E36 or is it plug and play?