Rear Seat Middle Armrest Problems (archive)

The rear middle armrest on my 1993 740i would not close all the way, leaving it about 2 inches from sitting flush with the seats. I decided to have a look yesterday and ended up taking it out completely. After tucking the ski bag in nice and inspecting how this thing works, I basically saw that it has 2 pins that go into slots. So after trying to get it into these slots for about 30 minutes, I thought I had it in although it seems a little loose. So I tried to close it and it stopped even further from flush. Arrgh!! I ended up buried in the trunk in the ski hole with a flahlight to see what was stopping this thing from closing. Eventually I determined that there was a strip of metal on the back of the armrest that shot pop into a slot for full closure. I believe these were not lined up. Getting a bit agravated, I forced it closed and it popped in. Trouble now is that I can not open it. I have tried as much force as I want to as I can feel the hardware assembly bending toward me. I also can't get it out by working with the bottom.

SO I don't know what better, having a rear armrest that opened, but would be incomfortable for a middle passenger to sit against, or one that sits flush, but isn't functional.

Is this a common problem on E32's??

Thanks,

Joe

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