So i wake up to get to work this morning, and its so cold i couldnt get my doors to unlock (key only) When i finally did get them to unlock, i couldnt get them to latch shut when i was ready to go...Any one have some prevenative maintenance ideas? Spray wd40 somewhere or something to prevent this?!

That happened to my doors today too.

I had no problems even at 6:25AM, but some WD40 couldn't hurt.

The locks should be heated... I think you need to put the key in and turn to one side to activate the heating element.

I do no have heated locks. If i do, wow...haha this is my first bmw so i dunno. But it was so frozen i could only get the key in the hole, after jamming it in!

Shouldnt have washed last night at 8pm
haha

uhhh...that's why everything is frozen. Don't wash your car at night when it's going to be cold. You do have heated locks. Do as spyrot1 said

To activate the heated locks, turn the key to unlock and just hold it there, they should activate and heat up.

er, uh...fellas...the directions I read above is not the way to initate the heated lock cylinder. It sort of is the way to roll up the windows and close the sunroof except to do that you turn the key in the direction to lock the doors. :)

To initiate the door lock heater...you pull up and hold the handle for 5 seconds then let go of the handle. The lock will heat up for about 20-40 seconds (I forget the interval)...then you can repeat this procedure 2 more times within a few minutes if the locks are still frozen. You can only use the lock heaters 3 times within a few minutes then you have to wait like 30 minutes before it will work again. I believe info is in the owners manual.

If anyone doesn't know...your sideveiw mirrors and windshield washer jets are also heated. If your mirrors aren't warm (when you touch them) it means that the heating element has burnt out. Mine were and I just replaced them a few weeks ago. Other than them not heating up...there was no way to tell because they still reflected as if nothing was wrong.

BTW, the 1993-95 mirrors are VERY easy to replace...the mirror just pops out, you disconnect the wires...then pop it back in. The older e34s have to insert a screw driver up thru the bottom and turn to release the mirror.

(here's what it looks like behind the mirror)
http://www.bimmerboard.com/members/q/original/E34%20Heated%20Mirror%20Wiring.jpg

Ahh... and at 10am in cali, its 60 degrees!

Yes having heated locks that required the key to be inserted to activate would be kind of... well dumb.

Yep.. we hit 88' on monday.. hard to beleive.

On my e23 the heated lock went out once and the door handle came hot to the touch... was like ouch. :( I did have a frozen lock once though i just forced the key in i think.

Since we are on the topic of heated items...did the E34 ever come with a heated steering wheel?

FLi

i just lubed my hinges and latches a few weeks ago. i used lithium grease instead of wd. wd. it was 19F this morning and i have no problems.

I washed my car too yesterday, and living in a cold climate I always wipe down the door jams, and then lock and unlock my car 4 or 5 times.

Never had a problem after doing that

Ahh... and at 10am in cali, its 60 degrees!
+1

Did all e34's come with heated locks and mirrors? Or, was it just latter models?

Just the ones that ended up in warm climates. :)

well you could always do the tried and tested morning wizz on your locks, although does tend to make your neighbours edgy to see someone urinating on there own car in a cloud of steam