Driver's door will not fully open

Has anyone had an issue with their driver's door in which the door opens until until the initial point of resistance, and then does not carry on opening fully? It is almost as if the door hits an obstruction and then bounces back to the closed position. I am referring to the front driver's door. I have looked at the area near the hinges but haven't seen anything unusual. I will bring it in to be checked out, but if this is a user-fixable situation I'd prefer to deal with it without a dealer visit. Thanks.

I just experienced the driver's door not fully opening. A gust of wind pulled the door out of my hand and hyper-extended it beyond its normal range of motion. I pulled it back and now it will open only half open. BMW dealer told me the hinges on inner aluminum door frame are bent. Cost to repair -- $3000! I hope you can resolve your situation. I'm claiming that the weak hinges are to blame and refuse to pay for this.

Dennis

dennisburns said:

I just experienced the driver's door not fully opening. A gust of wind pulled the door out of my hand and hyper-extended it beyond its normal range of motion. I pulled it back and now it will open only half open. BMW dealer told me the hinges on inner aluminum door frame are bent. Cost to repair -- $3000! I hope you can resolve your situation. I'm claiming that the weak hinges are to blame and refuse to pay for this.

Dennis

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I assume your car is still under warranty. IMO, this should be a warranty issue. Are you a member of BMWCCA ?
They have an ombudsman that maybe can help with this if your dealer balks.

Yes - I am the OP and the dealer fixed this under warranty at no charge to me because the door hinge failed. It was a clear warranty issue and it was a lot less than 3K to fix (according to the price sheet that I saw).

Was that the actual door hinges fail or the limiter only (which is known to fail since E34 models)? I would imagine if the actual hinge has bent the door will be out of whack and possibly not even closing anymore.

It was the limiter.

rj3series said:

It was the limiter.

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Thanks for confirming this.