1995 318i door locks, fan motor

My 1995 318i has power door locks, but the driver's door lock is really
frustrating: when sitting inside with the doors closed, it functions
perfectly....push down, and the other three door locks come down and all
doors are locked...pull up, and all door locks come up, and all doors are
unlocked. The trouble is when I try to unlock/lock the doors from the
outside turning the key in the driver's door ( all works fine using the key
in the front passenger's door, by the way)....turn the key either way, and
nothing happens, and I can't leave the vehicle because the damn door won't
lock, and the other doors won't lock.
Now for the heater fan motor: it is loud, and seems to rattle. Is there an
easy way to access the blower motor,without pulling the dash apart, so I
can see if the fan blades are knocking against the housing? I'd also like to
replace the fan motor selector dial...it seems to operate intermitantly, and
with winter near upon us, I know it'll fail on me just when I'll need it.

Thanks

The access to the heater fan motor is not through the dash. There is an
access panel just in front of the windshield wipers in the engine
compartment. It should only take a few minutes to get the fan motor out.
If your fan sounds like it has a playing card stuck in it then probably one
of the tension rings on the squirrel cage has cracked. These can be
repaired by wrapping a few turns of fiberglass thread around the the broken
ring and superglueing it in place. Such extreme measures are sometimes
required by the cost of spares which in this case is just over $300.


"RZ" wrote in message

> My 1995 318i has power door locks, but the driver's door lock is really
> frustrating: when sitting inside with the doors closed, it functions
> perfectly....push down, and the other three door locks come down and all
> doors are locked...pull up, and all door locks come up, and all doors are
> unlocked. The trouble is when I try to unlock/lock the doors from the
> outside turning the key in the driver's door ( all works fine using the
> key in the front passenger's door, by the way)....turn the key either way,
> and nothing happens, and I can't leave the vehicle because the damn door
> won't lock, and the other doors won't lock.
> Now for the heater fan motor: it is loud, and seems to rattle. Is there an
> easy way to access the blower motor,without pulling the dash apart, so I
> can see if the fan blades are knocking against the housing? I'd also like
> to replace the fan motor selector dial...it seems to operate
> intermitantly, and with winter near upon us, I know it'll fail on me just
> when I'll need it.
>
> Thanks
>