1st Gen R53 Cooper S Most liked posts in thread: My 2005 R53 Daily Driver build thread

For the last two weeks I've had a strange issue. Now that the window is fixed thanks to a percussive maintenance operation, I am having unlocking issues, driver side door only.

I'm not sure if I have a clear pattern, so this is likely not a result of my reprogramming of what the remote does. The programming is set to unlock all doors on one button push, and if pushed again, it turns out comfort entry (roll down driver side window on handle push).

However, what happens most of the time is that following a single button push, the door button things pop up, I hear the relays, I can open passenger door and hatch, but the driver side door handle does nothing. I push unlock again, nothing. I lock, unlock, half the time it works, other times I have to repeat lock unlock one or two more times before the driver side door handle shows some mechanical resistance and will engage to open the door. But, sometimes it works immediately, especially if I don't open the hatch first. It also works immediately when using the key in the lock and not the remote, although I have tested that only once.

Do I have something stuck in the door? Programming is set to never auto-lock the door, so when I am at a store, open the hatch, load up and then close the hatch, push my cart off and come back, the car should never be self-locked again. It isn't (passenger side and hatch always open), but the driver side door will always be inoperable in those cases. It has been a while since I was last able to just get into the car that way.

Rip open the door panel and start spraying some sort of cleaner/lubricant into the door lock mechanism? It all seems to be responding fine, just not enough to be able to open the door on first try.

 

oh, and I see condensation/water side the headlights. Maybe a leftover of my ambitious polishing, or just a matter of having had the housings opened up for a while when messing with the LED high beams. Best method to dry out? Open both covers and use a mild hair blow dryer?

Are the HID headlights usually a bit bouncy when you run over crappy road pavement seams? I feel mine are much bouncier than they used to be, possibly a result of all that LED weight on the rear. Not liking that. Or maybe I did partially unhook the adjustable reflector part when I pushed the LEDs on and it now is attached only to one axis and can rock up and down when I hit a bump? Both lights are doing it so this is likely normal and I am just overly sensitized to it since I messed with the LEDs for quite some time.

 

I put Boeshield T9 on everything in the fall. Lasts a long time with the little driving I do.

 

The daily driver is back on the road. Took it to Road America this weekend, so the first gas since October 14 had to get in the tank. Runs like a champ, but it wouldn't be a Mini if there were no problems.

Door unlocking driver side is "sluggish" - it will never push the button up on the first transmitter press, sometimes not on the second fob press, or it'll rise just a little but hte door handle still does nothing, and generally on the third try with the opener, I can open the driver door. So to unlock the driver door, I now have to unlock - lock -unlock - lock - unlock.

It did that last year already, and I forgot if I ever fixed it. I had the door card off to check on the window lifter that I fixed with a good hit on it, and I think I sprayed some lubricant into all the door lock mechanism parts. Clearly, that didn't fix it.

So what do I need to replace to completely go new on the door unlocking mechanism? The cable is that thing was tight and everything is clean. Just whatever activates the mechanism seems to be real wimpy and only gets the job done once it gets a little exercise.