Started my front speaker replacement project today with the passenger door -- figured it was best to get this door done before working on the driver door with the issues of the mirror switch.

The speaker replacement was simple, including making my adaptor plate for my tweeters that are going in the upper speaker location.

What is giving me fits is that the "operating rod" (item number 5 at this page http://www.realoem.com/bmw/showparts...79&hg=41&fg=40)
as shown in the diagram below:


has come loose.

Thus when I do the door lock button lock / unlock / lock the door lock button does not go up and down.

It looks like its just a matter of keep playing with it until it connects with whatever hole it goes into, but it sure is a pain.

I think what happened is I had the door unlocked (operating rod in the up position), so when I yanked the door panel off, it pulled this rod out of its hole.

But looking at the exploded diagram, item 6 is a clip, and this may be what actually held the rod in place. Again, it would make sense that pulling the panel away would put pressure on the rod which might pull it out of the clip.

Anyway, I really don't want to take the door apart (the inner panel) to see if I can get access to reattach this if I don't have too.

So my questions are:

1) Any ideas on fixing this?
2) If you took your door apart as part of a dynamat project, does anyone know if there is a clip that holds this rod on?

 

Sorry to hear about this. Since I'm going to be pulling the door panels soon, I would like to prevent this from happening. If I just locked the door so that the button an the end of item 5 is in the down position, would that prevent this from happening?

 

I'm sure this is the root cause of my problem, but I still would be very careful when pulling off the "C" shape of the door panel. However, since you start at the bottom and work your way around to the top and the area near the door lock button, with the lock button in the bottom position, you certainly will minimize any unintended consequences.

Barring any great ideas that come here as replies, I'm reading up on what it takes to remove the "inner" door panel. It's kind of ugly because you end up having to reach up the door to get to three blind screws. See https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...nels-07-a.html step 10. I'm doing this now but I'm doing this between rain showers -- so I think the passenger doors going to be apart (but closed) for a couple of days. I wonder if I can take off the window molding aluminum part there if I can leave the panel attached ...

Definitely a bummer of a day thus far.

 

It just pops into a plastic ring on the lock mechanism.

Get a flashlight and look up inside the door, you will see it. Take the end of the lock rod pop it back in.



The button isn't meant to be used to lock or unlock the door, so its not really a vital part. Its merely meant as an indicator of you locks position.

 

I think it's easy on the R53 to just look up inside the door. The R56 door panel is in two pieces. A "C" shaped piece which is easy to get off and gives you access to the speakers.

There is a second larger door trim piece that needs to be removed to get access to the rest of the internal door -- see this picture:



I'll go back out with the flashlight, but seeing where it snaps in with out taking this inner panel off I think is problematic.

 

Doesn't look like too much work, just pull the whole inner panel off and get a better look at it.

 

LOL, read this thread and you will see it's about a two hour process to get the inner door panel off. I'm at step 8 now. https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...nels-07-a.html

 

Looks like a 15 minute job to me.

 

Too bad you aren't in Southern California because I would happily pay you $80 / hour (i.e. $20) for this 15 minute task

 

Bring it out to Ohio, I will work on anyones car for $100/hr.

Fly me in and i'll do it for $75/hr, cause I get to enjoy some sun in December.

 

The accounts I've seen describe the procedure as fairly complicated. The official BMW instructions even involves removing the door window glass.

 

Just because its complex, it doesn't mean its time consuming.


I can do a power window regulator in a GM 4 door in about 20 minutes, including removing the window and drilling out the rivets that hold it to the door.

I'm sure there's a way to get it done quickly, it just might take a few tries to get it down pat.

 

Perhaps my wife is correct -- she tells me to just put the old speakers back (nothing was done to the car's harnesses or speakers) and let the dealer fix it -> "it just stopped working".

I am very seriously considering this as I can not believe how ridiculously complex it is to take a door panel off.

I'm going to at least wait to Monday to make a decision on what to do. I've got a fiber optic camera I can use at work that may give a good enough view to be able to get the end to plug back in.

From other threads I found this picture showing an R53 rod:



Item #3 is where the rod has to go into the clip. I found one thread where a guy doing a door handle replacement had the green clip pop out on him as he was putting back together, he said it took him an extra hour to disassemble again and get it back together again.

Then there is this picture:



And this picture shows the R56 rod. It is different in terms of bends, but the green clip is the same part # per the exploded parts list at the realoem site.

And finally, the official BMW instructions of pulling the glass makes more sense because I'm sure that's how the car is put together rather than sticking your hand up behind a door panel to remove the screws of the aluminum plate into the door panel.

 

What a nightmare!
I already bought the speakers for the front, but this sure makes me nervous.

Good luck Charlie!

 

Just put the lock down, and go slow when you get to the top in terms of pulling the panel off.

I'm pretty sure I'm going to just take the inner panel off myself next weekend. I'm going to see if I can't get a friend to help for moral support and just take the glass out as opposed to the instructions that reach up and undo bolts without taking the window out.

I tried for about a half hour today to get the rod back in just by feel -- but I think I may have even pulled the clip out the rod snaps into.

I also read in the other speaker replacement thread that someone did the driver side this weekend without taking the mirror switch off the upper speaker cover -- and to think that was my only concern going into the speaker replacement task.

 

On the drivers side, I don't think you can push the lock button down while the door is open (but you can on the passenger side).

It is an interlock to help prevent accidentally locking your keys in, and some other car manufacturers do this as well.

 

I'm pretty sure you can manually push the button down.

 

You can if the door is closed. I think not when it is open (drivers side only).

 

Just had the driver's side door panel off to add a little more Dynamat behind the 6" speaker. Didn't lock the door and didn't have any trouble with the "operating rod", but wow, that would be difficult to get at. I hope it works out well for you.

 

Well, after buying the shop manual so I would have the official "take the inner panel off" instructions, I fiddled with it again today for about 20 minutes in a last ditch effort to get the **** back in before doing the door disassembly, and in an amazing post Christmas gift I was able to somehow get it back into the clip (at least I hope its in the clip -- since it was put back in "blindly" I have no real way of knowing if it's in the clip). In any event, the rod seems to be in place, goes up and down with the power locks, and my door panel is back on after being off for two weeks.

Now to order new 6 x 9 speakers and tear apart the rear of the car ...

 

"Now to order new 6 x 9 speakers and tear apart the rear of the car ..."

You will like the results. Pleasure awaits.

Get an old sheet on which to pile all the removed items. Get 2-3 zip-lock bags to separate the pop-up pins by car segment, as they are not all the same size. After you remove the boot piece that fits along the base of the hatch, I suggest doing the surgery one side at a time...removing & replacing, before doing he other side. If you've done it correctly once, the 2nd side is a piece of cake. Get very familiar with the plastic that inserts around the seatbelt adjuster, as it has some release features that are not simply a matter of forcing the thing out.

As odd as it seems, I found this (Google translated) Dutch description of what to do very helpful.


http://tinyurl.com/7r5pgg

You do not have to remove the posts that hold the rear seat in place.

Compared to the front speakers, the rears have much more slack with which to work, which was very welcome. I used baffles and am happy with the results, though others have bad experiences with them as it is possible that if you do not attach the screws firmly enough, the extra squishiness at the point of contact can reduce the sound vibrations that actually make it to your ears.

If you are tall, be prepared for many uncomfortable angles. Stretch out before attempting the job.

 

Ohmigod I ran into the same issue last night at 1AM! Stupid driver door lock wouldn't go down when I removed my door panel and as a result, the lock rod popped out. I followed the instructions on how to remove the interior door panel but came to a dead end when I had to locate the three "hidden" screws up top! LUCKILY, the door panel was able to be pulled out enough from the bottom where I can look up from the floor to see a green little **** mentioned in the above post! I had my GF put the lock rod through the hole and I simply guided it in within a second! Success!

 

I'm glad you got the lock rod back in! At least I'm not the only one who had it pop out on them...

Should mine come lose, it sounds like if I kept pulling on the bottom of the inner panel (which I did not do because I did not want to pull that one washer out of the styrofoam at the bottom of the door) I might have been able to see up into the door to get the rod back in place -- but it was raining the day it popped out so the ground was wet and did not lend itself to laying on the ground and looking up ...

Anyway, I ordered back 6 x 9 speakers, so my next project will be gutting the back. I went with Polk MMC690 speakers on clearance from Crutchfield. I was going to go with Polk MM691 speakers, but decided on the MMC690 based on both price and the fact that they are 4 ohm speakers vs the other speakers which were 2.7 ohm and may have been an issue with the stock head unit. I'll see how these speakers sound and then decide if I need to add an amp.

 

bumping this old thread...


took out myspeakers on my r53.. lock fell out. put the green thing back in the hole because that fell out, and put the lock back on. but now when i unlock the door the pipe falls out of the green thing.. whats wrong?

 

You might get better help in the R53 forum.

This whole thread dealt with my R56.

Good luck, because it is a pain when you go to improve or work on something and break something else.