Moviela

I opened the glove box to toss in a fuel receipt and the lever came off in my hand!

The lever is die cast zinc and is swaged onto a plastic operator at four points. The diameter of the posts is .125" for three of them, and .089 for the fourth. The top of the posts were swaged to .142 and .092". Trouble is the holes molded in the plastic are .140 and .090". This is not enough annular ring for the post not to pull out through the plastic. Machinery handbook suggests .006 minimum for a .125 diameter post.

I called the dealer parts guy, and he wanted $110. for the latch!

I determined to repair mine with a rivet swaging tool and an arbor press. It took 1 minute after I took the assembly out of the car and removed the hinge pin.

I looked all over for a screw, a hidden hole, or even an arrow to point me in the direction.

It's fairly easy. There is no screw holding it. Pull the actuator out all the way. Look where your finger points when normally opening the door. There is a hole at the top. Put a quarter inch pin or wooden stick in the hole to hold the actuator out. Then use a 4mm flat screw driver to push hard on a tab. That moves a barb back from the assembly.

Now pull the assembly straight out from the door. There are four cam surfaces it rides on. I put the key in the cylinder and turned it halfway so I could pull. Once it is out, you need to remove the hinge pin. Look carefully at the pin. One end is cut square, the other has a chamfer on the end. Use a 3/32" pin punch to drive out the hinge pin from this end. The other end of the pin is knurled to hold it in the assembly.

Push the lever back on the actuator through the four holes. Then use a press to squeeze the posts a little wider. If you strike a blow with a hammer you run the risk of breaking the post. Reassemble the hinge pin by inserting the chamfered end first, through the actuator and into the hole on the other side. Use a press or tap lightly for the last 1/8th inch so the knurling grabs the plastic.

The assembly simply snaps back into the door with a click.

If you do need a new latch assembly, you can move the existing lock cylinder to the new assembly so you can still use your existing key. You need to remove the hinge pin to remove it. There are four plastic tabs that hold it in place.

BMWBig6

Good to know! So how can we prevent this from happening to us too (should we reinforce something)? Or just open the glove box less frequently?