How To Guide Remove Z3 door handles (and surround)

spurs fan in a coupe

Zorg Guru (V)
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As title - been a while since I did a write up.

I know there is a how to guide on here for removing the cover/surround. But here is one for the whole door handle - the one you pull up from the outside to unlatch the door of a Z3.

Note - Door does not have to be removed from car for this to work - I just had these doors from a breaking project.

2nd Note - Be cautious removing door card and unplugging wires if you have side airbags.

Phase 1 would be remove door cards, I haven't documented this part, sorry.

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This is what the inside of the door handle looks like, the goldy (pitted) coloured 'slider plate' mentioned later can be seen here - about 6 inches long running horizontally just below the door handle hinge (slightly U shaped).

You can also see the handle's connection to the door actuator on the left of the picture which needs a jiggle later (on passengers side - drivers side has a linkage too).

The plastic plug that is in step 1 can also be seen on the left for reference.


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1st - Remove the water tight plug on outer edge of door

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2nd - With the plug removed you can (just about) see the edge of a slider plate that locks the clips holding on the door handle surround. These are removed with a flat screwdriver hit with palm of hand or hammer (gently).

Little retaining clips and the (now moved) goldy pitted slider plate can be seen here. With one plastic tab now clearly released from slider.

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3rd - A combination of gentle persuasion of the 4 fragile plastic clips from inside the door and from the outside sees the cover pop upwards and off. To leave the exterior looking like this.

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4th - From inside of the door - with a flat screwdriver gently lift upwards and push sideways the locking gadget (small square item straddling a pin in middle of this picture) holding a retaining pin (loose in picture above).

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5th - Use a pair of long nose pliers to twist off the nut holding the barrel to the door.

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6th - The only things holding it on now is
- The stud linked to the door actuator by a push fit - needs a jiggle - you can see the large cavity it has for this purpose
- The electrical connector for central locking - not shown, a black cir-clip needs to be removed from the yellow connector before it with pull apart.
- A skinny gold linkage - the white retaining clip needs to be prised off sideways with a flat screwdriver then it just falls off

These need to be gentle prised open in predictable ways.

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7th - Done - Box of bits to prove it

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Other pictures of removed handles

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Jack Ratt

Zorg Expert (I)
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British Zeds
The West Country
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Dec 3, 2013
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2.8i AUTO and 2.8i MANUAL
Nice detailed report Andy
 

handsomejackuk

Zorg Guru (III)
Australian Zeds
The M44 Massive
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Aug 8, 2016
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t
thanks for this good to know how its done... i really want to replace my gaskets as they look grotty, but at the same time would be good to add chrome handles..
 

Mario

Zorg Legend
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Jun 18, 2014
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Great guide I wish I had that when I did mine, it was a bit of a pain to get the small pin onto the white thing on refitting the replacement handles as you need to do it almost blind while you hold the handle from outside.

There is also a fix that people might want to do if your key lock is spinning and making no purchase when you put the key in that's a common fault on these types of locks, there is a plate on the bottom of the lock that falls down that needs to be put back in.
 

the Nefyn cat

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Oct 19, 2014
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Actually in Nefyn. My, that took a while.
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2.2i Sport
Great guide I wish I had that when I did mine, it was a bit of a pain to get the small pin onto the white thing on refitting the replacement handles as you need to do it almost blind while you hold the handle from outside.

There is also a fix that people might want to do if your key lock is spinning and making no purchase when you put the key in that's a common fault on these types of locks, there is a plate on the bottom of the lock that falls down that needs to be put back in.
So that's what's happened to mine. More fiddling to do.:rolleyes:
 
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