Re: <E30> central locking final success report

[bolhuijo@xxxxxxxxxxxx]

On Tue, 8 Sep 1998, Christopher Pawlowicz wrote:

> usually the springs are weakened in the key cylinder and it takes more than
> that to activate the lock motor.
> 
> for more E30/E28 central lock info check my faq (available everywhere!)
> including
> 
> ftp://ftp.doe.carleton.ca/pub/chrisp/bmw/central.lock.faq
> ftp://ftp.doe.carleton.ca/pub/chrisp/bmw/central.lock.pdf

 Wow, cool.  Just as the FAQ suggested, my drivers door lock cylinder
needed replacement.  The locking arm was bent and gouged from earlier
abuse, preventing smooth operation.
 I bought a new one from a dealer for $35 (with CCA discount) and
noted that the instructions really are in German, and a red label
warns, "This product is intended for installation by authorized BMW
workshops only.  It is not permitted to sell it to final consumers."
Whatever, I'm sure they knew that if I screwed it up real bad, then
I'd have to take it to them to get it fixed.
 It's a fun puzzle to figure out, as the instructions don't help, and
the exploded view diagram is only marginally helpful.  The best way is
to carefully dissect the old unit if you get stuck putting the new one
together.  By my count, there are 33 separate pieces to assemble into
a part only a few centimeters long.  But don't let that frighten you,
because once you're done, you'll know exactly how your lock works with
both master keys and valet keys.
 They give you a small tube of grease to use during assembly, but it's
the same lousy grease that they use in the wiper motors (and who knows
where else) that are renowned for lousy operation when the grease gets
old and hardens.  Since I was doing it myself, I used my favorite
synthetic grease that won't turn nasty on me later.  (The same grease
that I used to repack an E28 wiper motor that now works great)
 Also, according to my calculations based on how many lock cylinder
doohickies they give you, there are just over 391,000 possible key
combinations for door keys that will double lock, and just 16,308
ignition key combinations.  How many BMWs are there that take this
style of key?

- --
  John Bolhuis    | These are no ordinary monkeys --
 bolhuijo         | these are mean, spiteful, butt-biting
  @domain.elided   | monkeys with an obvious mission: conquest.
                                        -tabloid.net

------------------------------