Door stuck shut, can't open from the inside or out

[Thoglan]

Had several issues with the car recently and this one just happened and my tolerance for issues is running very low lol.

Went out today in the car and closed the door and locked it. On return, unlocked the car and the door handle would not release. I had to open the passenger door and climb into the drivers side to get into the car and drive away. Fortunately I already had the door card off so I can see the door lock actuator, the cables are all connected and nothings broken, the door simply won't unlatch. I've tried everything. Both doors still lock and unlock, and you can unlock the car by pulling the cable but it won't unlatch the door and unlock it. I think the lock actuator has completely failed and locked up.

I'm pretty close to cutting a hole in the door in order to get the actuator out and unlatched.

[Thoglan]

Quick google suggests it is stuck in the double lock position and has to be destroyed, welp.

https://www.e46fanatics.com/threads/bmw-double-lock-deadbolt-explained-and-how-to-unlock-it.1001764/

[Thoglan]

Update: I was able to get the door open by grabbing the lever on the actuator and jiggling it around while pressing on the door from the inside. Presumably though my actuator is dead, so now I'm gonna order a new one.

[Obioban]

First time I've ever heard of that!

[Cubieman]

Had a 323i do that on the passenger side, getting the door card off with the door closed was not fun, wouldn't have to want to do that on an M3, luckily you already had it off.

The actuator went bad in that one of the many little levers broke and wouldn't engage properly to unlock.

[Thoglan]

Had a 323i do that on the passenger side, getting the door card off with the door closed was not fun, wouldn't have to want to do that on an M3, luckily you already had it off.

The actuator went bad in that one of the many little levers broke and wouldn't engage properly to unlock.

Yep real lucky the card was already off. Still it look me a good few hours of pulling on the levers and wiggling the door around before it just popped open like nothing was wrong. I removed the latch so it doesn't happen in the meantime and will take the actuator out when I get the chance to have a look. The interior release is a purely mechanical system so I have no idea why it would have stopped working like that without something breaking. It also wasn't the deadbolt being engaged like I thought initially since you can physically get your hand on the deadbolt in the actuator and mine was not engaged.

[sapote]

The interior release is a purely mechanical system so I have no idea why it would have stopped working like that without something breaking

A "trigger" got sticky, and so I would clean the whole actuator in solven maybe it will work again. That "trigger" thing normally transfers the inside unlock lever motion to move the actuator, but the "trigger" is not in the right place now to do this.

[Thoglan]

A "trigger" got sticky, and so I would clean the whole actuator in solven maybe it will work again. That "trigger" thing normally transfers the inside unlock lever motion to move the actuator, but the "trigger" is not in the right place now to do this.

Yep this is my current feeling. The latch must have just got bound up somewhere. I actually have a spare one that is broken that I was using to try and figure out where it might have got stuck in the mechanism. I'll take it out. try and clean out what I can and see what happens.