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Roof Wiring Fault

Discuss problems you have had or are having with your Z4
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MACK
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Roof Wiring Fault

Post by MACK » Wed Sep 13, 2017 10:25 am

Mike (OP) having spent a fair amount of time in Suffolk over the years you really do live in a lovely bit of the country, buts it's a bit of a nightmare to get anywhere else. With no motorways etc. Considering where you are I would be tempted to take it to Durham Dave who has done a good few roof motors on here, just use the search function and key words "Durham fave roof motor" and his threads should show up. In reality he might not be any nearer time wise but at least you would avoid the traffic hell hole of Birmingham and the M6 especially through Cheshire at the moment (average speed cams/roadworks). That said I've done Manchester to Thetford in a little over two hours at the right time of day and St Helens is about another half an hour on top of that so Mike's ( Ducklakeview) is doable in similar time to Durham, but get the traffic wrong.......

OP can you elaborate on what is actually wrong with yours. You say it's a wiring loom fault, some of us have had broken wires in the loom that are relatively easy to fix but you do need to drop the roof lining to access. So far this thread seems to be treating your issue as if you have the "normal" roof motor failure but I suspect yours might be something else going off what you initially wrote.
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Spitfire01
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Roof Wiring Fault

Post by Spitfire01 » Wed Sep 13, 2017 11:52 am

Hi Mack, I hope that you're well?! Thanks for the reply...it's appreciated! I'll certainly take your advice on board re the distances/routes etc...quite right, I'm in the quiter part of the country bit it's great for those country 'back roads'!!

I'm afraid that I'm a total novice with regards to the technicalities of cars so I'll try to offer some sort of explaination: you're quite right, I don't think it's the roof motor that's the issue although I've now discovered through the forum that relocating the motor is a common mod which I'll certainly be looking into! The issue is I believe a wiring run on the nearside. The guy had manually retracted the roof and maybe removed a rubber seal that exposed a bunch of wires that were wrapped in electrical tape from a previous 'repair'....from memory, the location was approx 10cm forward from the rear most point of the roof? I'm guessing it might run along the passenger side of the roof and into the centre panel above your head in the cabin ie where you'd manually wind the roof from...there's also a knackered part in there too...it's the part that changes the directional force when manually winding in one direction it transfers the energy to rotate in the opposite direction...if that makes sense?

Sorry...as I've said, the technicalities are not my strong suit....

Kind regards

Mike

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MACK
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Roof Wiring Fault

Post by MACK » Wed Sep 13, 2017 12:40 pm

Spitfire01 wrote: Wed Sep 13, 2017 11:52 am Hi Mack, I hope that you're well?! Thanks for the reply...it's appreciated! I'll certainly take your advice on board re the distances/routes etc...quite right, I'm in the quiter part of the country bit it's great for those country 'back roads'!!

I'm afraid that I'm a total novice with regards to the technicalities of cars so I'll try to offer some sort of explaination: you're quite right, I don't think it's the roof motor that's the issue although I've now discovered through the forum that relocating the motor is a common mod which I'll certainly be looking into! The issue is I believe a wiring run on the nearside. The guy had manually retracted the roof and maybe removed a rubber seal that exposed a bunch of wires that were wrapped in electrical tape from a previous 'repair'....from memory, the location was approx 10cm forward from the rear most point of the roof? I'm guessing it might run along the passenger side of the roof and into the centre panel above your head in the cabin ie where you'd manually wind the roof from...there's also a knackered part in there too...it's the part that changes the directional force when manually winding in one direction it transfers the energy to rotate in the opposite direction...if that makes sense?

Sorry...as I've said, the technicalities are not my strong suit....

Kind regards

Mike
It does sound like the loom fault some of us have had. The cure is to replace the effected section of wires or replace that particular wiring loom with a new one from BMW but the part is over £100 alone if memory serves. The plastic casing become brittle over time and the action of putting the roof up and down kinks them and causes the wires to sever. It's a fairly easy fix to repair the effected section with new wires and is easily doable yourself. However if it's not something you feel comfortable doing it's well with the capability of a decent garage and certainly an auto electrician should be able to do it.
Mine was kinked in a few place so I just replaced about 2 meters of length on all the cables with fresh more pliable wires to hopefully prevent any reoccurrence. Basically I replaced all the wires that are in the sections of the roof that fold. It's possible someone's done a bit of a bodge job with yours and only repaired one wire in one spot and another ones gone this time or the same wire has failed in a different location etc. I suppose its even posdible the previous repair itself is failing. Still whatever it is it should be easy for someone to do if its been correctly diagnosed. the tricky bit is to lower the roof lining and reposition the roof a few times to access the loom in different locations and that's not too hard, certainly easier than a roof motor relocation anyway. On that subject once you get over your initial problem I would still advise getting the actual main motor moved by one of the resident experts as well. I had Mike (Ducklakeview) do mine as he's just down the road from me but all of the "motor movers" on here have good reps so it comes down to what's easiest for you really.
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Roof Wiring Fault

Post by Ducklakeview » Wed Sep 13, 2017 1:35 pm

That section of the loom operates the matching motor at the front. I've seen a couple with shorts in that area. Easily repairable though.

Mike

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Roof Wiring Fault

Post by MACK » Wed Sep 13, 2017 6:17 pm

Ducklakeview wrote: Wed Sep 13, 2017 1:35 pm That section of the loom operates the matching motor at the front. I've seen a couple with shorts in that area. Easily repairable though.

Mike
Does seem to be quite rare this particular fault but as the cars continue to age it's stands to reason this fault going to become more and more prevalent. Especially in the cars that are used all year round with the roofs up and down a lot.
Silver 05 3.0i SE
Mods inc - F/L Xenons Clear Ind Rear Lights M Sport Seats & Wheel Eibach/B4 3.64 DIFF (SOLD)

White E89 20i M Sport
Mods inc- B12 kit, M3 Arms, 18" Zito 935's with PS4's, Decat & Remap, Switchable Exhaust Flap (SOLD)

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Roof Wiring Fault

Post by Ducklakeview » Tue Oct 10, 2017 1:39 pm

Ok,

So Mike has just left mine after about 3 1/2 hours which included relocating his (recently replaced) roof motor. The bulk of the time was spent tracing and rectifying the problem with the wiring.

Turns out whoever had previously "fixed" it had simply chopped out a section of the loom running to the latching motor and replaced with cable. Poor quality crimps and inflexible wire meant that this then failed due to the bending during roof operation. The ironic thing is, had they checked properly, they would have found that it was only a single wire that had broken in the original loom! They had also completely mangled one of the latch operating rods, which was now twisted so much it had faken out! Looks like they used a drill with a 4mm bit on to operate it and went too far. I managed to get it back into shape so that it works fine though.

I easily located the broken wire with my cable sniffer. So I reinstated the original loom with a repair to the section that had failed using new, flexible rubber sheathed cable. All joints soldered and sealed in self amalgamating tape.

Job done and another happy Zed owner with the wind in his hair for the 5hr journey home.

Incidentally, I do like that Hellrot Red! Not seen one before.

Mike
Last edited by Ducklakeview on Tue Oct 10, 2017 2:29 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Spitfire01
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Roof Wiring Fault

Post by Spitfire01 » Tue Oct 10, 2017 2:18 pm

All/Mike...firstly, can't thank Mike enough for his work today! Can gladly give both him and his work the full thumbs up! Excellent, excellent, excellent!

If anyone out there has any roof faults whatsoever, I'd be very surprised if he can't solve them!!

In addition, now that the roof motor has been relocated, I can drive home in a relaxed frame of mind knowing that if it starts to rain, I no longer have the terrorist of the motor housing slowly filling up :D :D

Thanks Mike/Ducklakeview

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Roof Wiring Fault

Post by FFEJJONES » Sat Oct 14, 2017 6:40 am

Hi Mike
I've just sent you an email about my roof . If you can give me a call that would be much appreciated
Regards& thanks
Jeff
077973464644

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Roof Wiring Fault

Post by Ducklakeview » Sat Oct 14, 2017 7:18 am

FFEJJONES wrote: Sat Oct 14, 2017 6:40 am Hi Mike
I've just sent you an email about my roof . If you can give me a call that would be much appreciated
Regards& thanks
Jeff
077973464644
Will do later.

Mike

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