I have an '85 735, which I cannot get into. The central locking system was triggering randomly for about two days, and then it just went on lockdown. At first I could open the driver door manually with the key, but as of last night, I couldn't get in to the driver door either. The lock cylinder will not turn to the 30-degrees-left-of-vertical trigger position. The good news is, my car is difficult to break into. Bad news, neither can I.
So, does anyone know how to get into an e32 735 when the power locks are completely non-operational?

Thanks

oh dear. :( do you still have charge in the battery? have you tried the boot / passenger door locks?

the trunk cylinder works, and the passenger door is on lockdown. battery's charged too. I read on another post where someone had a bad trunk actuator to disconnect it, but that does nothing either.

The "trick" to opening the door lock without power is to lift the handle at the same time you turn the key. You may have to turn the key several times to "pump up" the lock. Anyway, hold the handle up and turn the key. It WILL open.

the trunk cylinder works, and the passenger door is on lockdown. battery's charged too. I read on another post where someone had a bad trunk actuator to disconnect it, but that does nothing either.

it sounds like the door are deadlocked.

The "trick" to opening the door lock without power is to lift the handle at the same time you turn the key. You may have to turn the key several times to "pump up" the lock. Anyway, hold the handle up and turn the key. It WILL open.

I have run into the same problem and what liberty is suggesting is what worked for me. Note what was said about maybe having to turn the key several times. I think it took about 8 or 9 before my door would unlock, but it finally did.

Karl --

Did you ever get your door open?

I had problems on my former '89 735 caused by a broken plate inside the driver's door on which locking hardware was mounted. Had to either reinforce it (which I did) or replace it (expensive, which I did not).

I ended up taping over the whole window and forcibly removing it with a 3/4" socket wrench. I already had the driver door panel off when it siezed up, so I was able to see what was going on inside. The latch mechanism was jammed, and all it took to open up was to push the plate with the sideways U-shaped cutout to the outside. Now I just need to figure out how to open the other three doors without damaging them.

By the way, pumping the lock still didn't work after about 60 tries. On both front doors. Hence why I did things the messy way.

The latch mechanism was jammed, and all it took to open up was to push the plate with the sideways U-shaped cutout to the outside. Now I just need to figure out how to open the other three doors without damaging them.

instead of being jammed, could it be deadlocked?