Hi all,

The keyless door lock button on driver’s side door handle decided to stop working a couple of days ago.

Still unlocks when pulling handle but doesn’t lock when pressing button. Passenger side works perfectly. All other unlock/lock functions work fine manually and with remote key buttons.

Scanned on VCDS:

00485 - Drivers outside door handle central locking button (E369)
007 - short to ground

Am I looking at replacing the door handle or has anyone had any success repairing this fault?

Having looked online, it looks like some people are just selling the outer casing - does this mean I can buy a replacement handle in any colour and just swap over my casing to avoid repainting?

Thanks

 

Mine came unpainted. Should be easy to find someone who could colour match it.

A

 

Disconnected and reconnected all the plugs to the drivers side door control module 3 days ago. Seems to have started working again and has been fine since. The error code has stopped immediately re-appearing once cleared on VCDS.

Will keep an eye on it, hopefully it's resolved. If it stops working again, will just replace the handle.

Thanks again for your support!

 

Glad to see yours has come back to life. Mines been dead since a bought the car a couple of months ago. I finally got round to sorting it this week.

None of the keyless functions of the drivers door handle were working; no keyless lock or unlock. Passenger side worked fine. Coming from 25 years of BMW ownership, I’m well versed in door handle problems, but usually they’re down to broken wires. No such luck here. I found that when I removed the chrome trim strip, I could separate the two halves of the painted plastic handle ‘shell’, so I could source a handle of any colour and swap the internals.

I found one for £30 on eBay. Unfortunately, this too had a broken lock button. Seeing as it was so cheap, I decided to tear it down to see if it’d be possible to repair my original one… it wasn’t! The inner black plastic handle is hollow and contains circuitry for the lock button, the unlock touch sensor, and the KESSY antenna. It’s all set into tamper-proof epoxy, no chance of getting to the circuitry or the mechanical button without destroying it.

I headed back to ebay to find another handle. I was keen to avoid a drivers side one, because this would have the most use and therefore the highest chance of being broken again. I found a drivers side rear door handle from a dark blue Flying Spur (same part as used on GT front door) for £70 and fitted it into my original shell. Works perfectly. Total PITA to fit to the car though.

 

Well done - glad to hear you managed to get yours working again. Mine is still working (touch wood!) but have committed to swapping it out if it ever stops working again.

Thanks also for the informative post. Great to have confirmation that the shell can be swapped from any colour and that they aren’t serviceable. Also didn’t know the flying spur rear handles could be sourced as replacement so that’s good to know as gives greater option when sourcing a spare.

I also recall when I searched earlier that the handles had two part numbers: 3W0837885B and 3W0837205B. Did you find them to be interchangeable or did you end up getting a like for like swap?