BMW E46 Key Lock Cylinder Repair DIY 

My lock cylinder just broke this week, and I thought I was screwed. Turns out, you even have a video on this. I've been watching your channel for a while now, dude, and I owe the fact that my E46 is still running to you. You're a legend, thank you!

Everytime I feel like giving up on my car you always inspire me to keep it. I really wish you had over a million views for the hard work and lessons you teach us. We’re all grateful for you buddy, thank you !

I finally ordered the replacement kit and for the first time in about 6 months I can once again lock my car. Your DIYs are so detailed and well lit - I know we all appreciate you!

This worked like a charm! The mechanic quoted me $300 to replace, thanks to you I fixed it for $8.99!!!!

That was not nearly as difficult as I imagined it would be. Thank you for posting this. You are a godsend to the E46 community.

Just watched this for my '01 330ci. My door jam is slightly different but I think yours is a sedan. Lock assembly was identical. I will say two things about this repair. 1) This man is VERY INFORMATIVE. I have watched several of his videos on the upkeep on my 330. 2) That spring inside the lock cylinder, is the spawn of satan. No seriously. Try not to get mad during this repair. Took me 3 IPAs and a lot of patience and cussing up a storm. He makes the spring part look easy. IT'S NOT. PERIOD.

I didn't even know there was a repair kit without this video. Bought the kit and fixed the door in about 30 minutes. Thanks for the help!!!

MAN. it took me two weeks to get this fixed. the first time i got a bad batch of parts, had to wait an extra week but finally was able to figure it out. my car did randomly pull all the windows down when i inserted the key, but now works like normal. thanks so much! great tutorial!

50's kid I thank you for taking the time to help us out. It was tough at first but persistence prevailed. I suggest to anyone doing this to first make sure everything fits correctly. That ball point pen makes all the difference. Good luck everyone don't let it frustrate you.

5 years on and your videos are still a reference. Had my E46 for 14 years and think it's time for preventative maintenance on the lock!

Best bmw diy/guide channel on yt!

I just put the replacement parts in the door and everything works, even the key fob. I was just turning the key back and forth once I had it back in the door and didn’t realize all my windows went down and the sunroof opened. Just like the key is suppose to do. Can’t believe it was all caused by a little broken piece in the door lock cylinder. Thank you 50sKid, I watch all your video’s for help on my car.

Just rebuilt my lock now. So thankfull for this video. Got the spring done in 2 minutes. Handy if you have two people. After the spring is compressed (used ballpoint pen), and you have the keyway shaft held in against the compressed spring, if you can get a friend to hold that assembly down , its much easier for you to turn the keyway shaft and get the keyway holder in.

felt my lock break today and immediately looked up "50s kid e46 lock", knew you'd have something on this. You're the god of e46 owners.

Just wanted to say thank you for this in depth video. This is the best key lock repair video with the best video/audio quality and camera work. I hate it when people cut away to do steps off camera and resume. I have a 2001 X5 so it's not exactly the same but good enough. This no doubt saved me a chunk of money. Cost about $10 to fix this. And another $15 to replace a dead VL2020 key fob battery from other videos on YT too. FWIW, I used J-B Weld cold steel epoxy and that did the trick perfectly. I put in the time to cut the weld points on the battery with an x-acto to be on the safe side. Thanks again!

Done. 10 minutes out and in. You have provided very useful content for many of my accomplishments on these vehicles, and for that I would like to thank you for your time, effort and consideration when documenting your experience. Let the world bless you with peace.

Thanks for this amazing video. I almost broke into tears after my key turned without resistance. I thougt another big bill is coming towards me... But thanks to your video i could repair it for like 8$. Thanks :)

YES! Finally fixed it and within 20 minutes too so I won't have to worry about it again! Thanks man you are a huge help and I appreciate your dedication in helping all of the e46 community keeping these wonderful cars on the road :)

Can't thank you enough for the pen trick on the spring. What a pain till I watched this.

50sKid.... YOU ARE THE MAN! I have utilized 3 of your of videos and all were extremely helpful. You have saved me hundreds of $$ and enjoyed doing these repairs myself. Your videos are so much more precise and explanatory than others covering the same topic. Thanks so much for posting these instructional videos!

I want to thank you for this video and the link. I went to a BMW dealership it was going to cost almost $200 for the part and $200 for labor. I am not mechanically inclined but looking at your video makes me think I can do it

Took me about 40 minutes to do this with a $6 repair kit from eBay. You saved me $120. Thanks again!

lol I swear, you pop up on like every repair I've made on my E46. Thank you for the effort!

50s kid, the man with the masta plan. Thank you for all your work, this helped big time.

Thanks for this video I fixed my lock with it. Sometimes when I locked the car remotely it would unlock right after and all the windows would roll down . I noticed I couldnt lock the car manually with the key so before replacing the lock actuator I tried this and it's working so far

Once again Jason, you done it.!!!!! Thank you for helping us less fortunate with mechanicals habitat. You are a incredible BMW professional mechanic. God Blessed you.

Yeah this guy does dealership quality work and his videos are by far the best on utube for an e46. Just wish he had a how to do e46 m3 crankshaft rod bearing replacement video.

You are a lifesaver. Instructions were spot-on and I saved a lot of money. Thank you so much for your video and other videos you do. I also replaced my brakes with your help. And I adjusted my parking brake. Thank you again!!!!!

7 years after, you saved my lock on an E81 1 series! :D Tks, mate!

Dude. Thank you again. Always go to your videos for detailed instructions. Keep saving us from the stealership. Live 50’s kid!!!!

This channel is such a tremendous resource for the e46 community. Exactly the video I needed. Thanks!

Thank you man!!!!! I saved over 100$ thanks to you . That is cost of workshop hour here in Norway. Very helpful video, I just did it and it works again.Thank you.

This saved me ! Thank you. With 10$ and 30 min my door lock was fixed just like that and ready to go👌🏻🤘🏻

You star !! This is EXACTLY what I need to do to my E60 530i. I've just collected it from the garage, where they were meant to fix this but they didn't. They change the mechanism inside the door but failed to identify the door barrel spindle failure. I'll do it myself and then tell them how crap they were.

same car same problem. with your link, I bought it and fixed it in 5 minutes. Thanks

I broke my lock yesterday by foolishly forcing it when it was iced up and thanks to you doing this video I have now repaired it and it is as good as new. Best regards from the UK and Happy New Year! :-)

Kid I believe you can work on anything . Such a master mind!

Sir I can't thank you enough for this informative step by step video. I was able to finish my project in 30 min. Well done. Cheers.

Using the pen was a 300iq move. My E46 Coupe was unlocked the last 2 years until today. Thanks so much for this video.

Not all heroes wear capes!! Although you might look good in one!! Thanks for all you do!

Fiddled with the spring for an hour before I gave up and looked for a DIY. Using a pen… genius! Of course… thank you!

Great video! You are not a pro, and that's the key feature of your video. Your steps are exactly those, which someone who does this for the first time would do. Helped me a lot, thx!

Thanks for the tutorial. Took me 10 minutes to fix the drivers side door lock with an aftermarket kit.

Thanks for this video. I have watched a few others but you are the only one who explained the proper orientation of the parts, in particular the inner LHD/RHD specific piece that breaks. At least when your old parts flew out you had the new ones waiting. Something that isn't fun is dropping an ID44 transponder chip on gravel. Ask me how I know!

Спасибо!!! Объяснил лучше всех русскоязычных блогеров вместе взятых!

Hello Jason. I tackled the lock issue you instructed on my 323 wagon. It took about 30 minutes. Thank you.

UGH lol such a helpful video. I thought I had fixed it then I tried it out in the CSR door and i broke the piece that breaks in the lock lol oh well. I took apart the working lock in my E46 part car and took apart the lock in my actual daily driven e46 that was broken and put it together and it worked until I put it in the door and that dang piece snapped lol. It was weird I had a few problems. Where the key sits in kept sliding out, and the part where one side of the LHD/RHD piece is bigger/taller than the other, mine were the same size lmao. I just put the side you were talking about where you said too but they were the same size. Oh well. I'm going to buy the parts kit and try it again I just wanted to try to save some money lol! Thanks 50s kid!!!!!!!

Thanks you so much!!! Def wouldn't have been able to fix it without this vid I love how you didn't cut anything out its pure video

Thanks for the awesome video. It took me a while but with trial and error I finally fixed my door lock. Can’t thank you enough!

Thank you for the excellent instruction. This is the second time I've had to do this repair on my '03, and I had forgotten the steps. The trick of using the ballpoint pen for the spring was easy and very helpful. I had a second pair of hands and eyes which I recommend. It was harder than expected to get the cylinder out of the door -- we ended up levering the assembly out from inside the door (using the 4mm allen wrench) near the retention bolt.

Third time your videos help me, dude. Thank you very much. Greetings from Brasil

Great help. Follow this and you can’t go wrong! Spring is a bugger but the pen did the trick👍

That part to use a ballpoint pen for the spring was genius! 😄 It worked better than pliers ,, thanks !

Wish I watch this video before I took off my door panel lol. Would of saved me some daylight.

Absolutely brilliant- thank you- saved me $100's. i used the end of my hex set of keys- they have a perfect hole in the end to secure the spring with.

I know this video was 3 years ago but it helped me greatly in May 2019. Thanks for the video!

Thank you for this, your video is invaluable and saved me probably a couple hundred bucks for the price of only 10 dollars and few wrinkles from frustration ...but it works now and life is good again haha

TANKS! YOU ARE SO SO GOOD AND A FANTASTIC HUMAN TO EXPLAIN TO THE POINT.

Really helpful video, thanks. Fixed my broken lock for less than £4, hate to think how much BMW would have charged!

Just fixed mine this evening while following your tutorial, thank you :)

You definitely made that look easy. Been fighting with the spring for over an hour now.

Let me tell you my story surrounding this fix. I have done it twice now. When I bought my car in January 2019, this fix needed to be done. My key was dead and did not work even with a new battery so I was limited to manually locking and unlocking it. I did it but could not get the spring all the way to the correct position. This will make you so extremely angry. It seems so simple but it is HARD. Now two days ago (November 2019), I locked my car and when I went to unlock it, the cylinder spun freely without any reaction. I called AAA and they got me in. I ordered the part as I assumed this was the issue but it was going to take two days to come. The next day, I was just planning on leaving my car unlocked and I did that but when I shut my back door, all my doors locked. So I had to call AAA AGAIN. The tow truck drivers greet me by name at this point. At this point, I just leave the window open enough so I can stick my hand in and unlock it just in case (even though it's below 0 here in Minnesota). I finally got the part today and got to putting back the dreaded spring. After 20 minutes of trying, I GOT IT. This was one of the happiest moments of my life. Great video as always. I am shelling out the $300 for a new electronic key so I don't have to deal with this every couple months.

First off, your videos have saved me so much money and I don’t even know where to begin to thank you. Would a broken lock mechanism affect the window operation? I rolled my window up (330i) from the outside using the key, the lock broke and now my window is stuck even with the electric controls on the inside of the vehicle. I bought a new window regulator and I’m prepared to replace that if this lock fix doesn’t solve the problem. Has anyone else had this problem? Cheers.

Both my e46's have had this issue! This is a really great tutorial - I got the 2nd bit in the wrong way round so the spring was not under tension. I got my 2nd kit of amazon and it did come with the roll pin and spring.

Awesome tutorial, I was able to fix this myself (female). Went to 2 key shops they claimed i needed to get a new door lock and have my key reprogrammed. With a cost of $250 plus.

Was able to do it on my own with a repair kit. All thanks to your Video!

Instead of a biro to stretch the spring over the post, which shattered when I tried, I found a small tamperproof Torx screwdriver (the hollow sort) worked a treat.

I just fixed mine in less than 10 minutes. Thanks a lot.

Fixed my lock using this today and helped a lot. Brilliant. Cheers.

You saved my life thanks 🤙🏽 everything was clear and easy with this tutorial

Did it first time just now this moment,like 10minutes ago,and all went well!!! Great tutorial,simple and detailed good! Tnx

Fantastic helpful videos makes owning these great cars all that much better. I've learned so much. My door unlocks and locks again, thank you.

Great video. You must be careful not to remove the lock cylinder. This happened to me and the time of repair was extended by half an hour. :)

You've mastered these cars.

Greetings from Germany for your great Video , Keep on 💪🏼✌🏼

Excellent guide! Sharp, well-focused video - and yes, you did make it look too easy. :) I had to trim down the new replacement part that breaks on the OEM hardware - the wings on the stepped side were about 1mm too tall on my replacement - if I'd have figured that out sooner, I would have been done much faster!

Thank You, helped a lot! I've been leaving car unlocked for 1.5 years aprox:))

This vid is the BEST ONE ON RU-vid!!! Thanks guy!

Thanks! This was an easy fix. The center hole in the replacement parts from amazon was a little too small and it had some ruff edges but in used a small file to enlarge the hole. 😀

Thank You for this video and you helped me fix my door lock

I've used several of your videos over the last couple of years and they're always great. Thanks for sharing them. One point of confusion for me in the lock cylinder video was the screw holding the cylinder in the door. I think the video said you just needed to loosen, but the screw needs to disengage from the cylinder to release it I believe. Even after it is out it doesn't fall into the door because the door frame is holding it.

Same issue started last night. Car wont lock with manual key. 50's kid to the rescue as always !!!!

Hey man I love your videos, I bought a 2003 M3 but the trunk lid came with a different key just by chance did you ever fix or changed the key combination on the cylinder to make it work with the same key

50s KID YOU ROCK!

Thanks for showing e46 love

You should mention that a broken tumbler can lead to the micro switch being out of sorts and tripping up the EWS, leading to intermittent no crank. I believe it's called a "double lock" fault.

Thank you man very informative video

Thank you for including the inner door mechanism aligned, you confirmed my conclusion on centering it between lock and unlock. One problem is my lock Cylinder fell out and became disoriented, and so far I locked myself out, and will climb through the trunk with the alarm sounding. Any suggestions on proper direction for the Cylinder?Thank you! Great video!

You have saved my life and my wallet many time good sir!

Got mine fixed. Thank you for the clear instructions.

Thank you for this great video... Maybe you can help with my problem. My E46 key won't turn at all, so I can't remove the lock from the car. I guess the tumblers are worn. Any advice, please?

Thank you brother!!! A video easy to understand and in good quality! Thanks from Germany

Today I did this. and I thought you may be a guardian of old bmw kkk. I really appreciate you. And may you know korea, I'm korean. maybe pretty rare Korean do these diy of old bmw. so you are really important source of car repair. when spring comes, I will replace ccv. then I may need your help. of course I already saw you video of it.

Just ordered the repair kit for my E53. Been driving around for more than a year with the broken lock cylinder and I'm starting to worry about the day when my battery decides to die and I'm left with no easy way in. Hopefully the kit ships fast enough!

Just an FYI, might be a good idea to put the lock pin in before the trying it out, because I didn’t put the lock pin in, to try and avoid a step and luckily only the spring and small components stayed on the lock cylinder, but all other components ejected into the door. Good thing the kit comes with spares 😂. Appreciate the vid

vielen Dank...erster versuch...sofort funktioniert...thank you,very much

Well, actually - best youtuber ever.

Thank you sir, I used the spring from the kit it seemed to have a bit less tension, perhaps stop it from braking too quick

Great vid, straight to the point and informative! Unlike many others who make the title about one thing and then keep rambling about something else 😂

Thanks, Fixed my son's car myself for $9.00 whereas BMW specialist wanted to replace GM5. Don't know if those guys are incompetent or dishonest or have no internet access.