Baron's BMW: Rant the Second

August 05, 2006

Categories: Rants & Ramblings

I've had my current car from new, a decade ago. In that time, about the only persistent problem it's had has been a loose driver's door trim and interior handle. It went into the supplying dealer, Baron's of Hindhead, on (to my count) seven separate occasions for them to fix it. No change, ever – it always came back as bad as when it went on. After the final time, when they'd replaced a failed central locking actuator, the driver's window started sticking halfway up and reversing back down. It's been like that for several years and I just haven't quite gotten around to doing anything about it. Until now.

While cleaning my car last week – strange but true: I do try to make sure it's done at least once a year, whether it needs it or not – I decided that Something Must Be Done. So I carefully dismantled the inner door panel and removed it from the car (actually a five minute job once I'd read up on the procedure), to find:

1. One of the two screws holding the interior door handle on was AWOL – it wasn't lurking in the door, so appeared to have been fitted thusly;
2. One of the two screws that hold the door trim to the door itself was missing, under identical circumstances to the door handle screw;
3. The connector for the central locking actuator had not been fitted into its clip on the inside of the door - it was that on which the window was catching.

Total fix time and materials: 5 minutes and two self-tappers. Against seven times in Baron's, not to mention their causal role in the window problem. At this point I rest my case, merely wishing that I'd started doing my own maintenance years ago.

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