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Boot soft close failure-Fixed

9designs
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Boot soft close failure-Fixed

Post by 9designs » Sat Feb 20, 2021 8:56 pm

Mine was the same, fixed it today......all three wires on the passenger side severed, dropped the whole unit out and took it to the bench and soldered them together, heat shrink. all sorted.

Great find... cheers :thumbsup:
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Boot soft close failure-Fixed

Post by avidlemus » Mon Mar 29, 2021 8:22 am

So I got a similar problem on my 2011 Z4, where the soft close just started continuously cycling and going up and down trying to close the trunk!. This was going on whenever I would try to drive the car and at random when I parked the car. I took the trunk locking assembly off and everything look fine.. but stripped the protecting tubing and the exact same two wires in this picture similar lengths were clean cut!.

Repaired them, and reassembled it - and everything is fine! Whoever figured this out - THANK-YOU!

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Boot soft close failure-Fixed

Post by flybobbie » Mon Mar 29, 2021 10:49 am

Your welcome, that's what the forums for, to help each other out and save ££££$$$$$

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Boot soft close failure-Fixed

Post by Amg01 » Fri Apr 09, 2021 7:46 pm

Mines has failed again for the second time, right at the bottom of the small unit, concerned I may not be able to solder the wire to the unit. If not, is there anywhere you can get replacements?
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Boot soft close failure-Fixed

Post by step_change » Fri Oct 08, 2021 12:41 pm

I now have this issue with my 2013 LCI so this issue is live and well on newer cars too and must have been an incorrectly set cabling tool at the factory that is going too deep into the wires. Issue was on production runs from at least 2009-2015. In my case I close the boot but the close mechanism is not engaging. I had this issue a few months ago too but it went away. It then was like this intermittently, doing it maybe 1 in every 20 boot closes or less. It is now permanently back.

When I try to open the boot with the round BMW circular tailgate handle I hear the motors operate. But when the boot goes down, there is no noise from the mechanism at all that does the soft close which implies the that when the boot goes down the switch signal is not getting through to the motors that pulling the boot shut.

EDIT: I manually pressed the latches on the lid to see if that would change it. Now the boot is permanently stuck open. Fortunately the car is garaged otherwise the boot would flood!
Last edited by step_change on Tue Oct 12, 2021 11:07 am, edited 3 times in total.
Gone :( : 2013 35is, Melbourne Red, DCT, Nav, Comfort pack
Gone: 2007 2.5is, Montego Blue, Auto, Nav

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Boot soft close failure-Fixed

Post by step_change » Fri Oct 08, 2021 1:36 pm

Guys, can you only prove that the wires are broken by removing the black outer heat shrink sheath first? I'd like to prove the wires are broken before I start to cut away at the sheath. I just ordered some cheapish TORX bits since I don;t have the T20 and T40.

Reason is that I have car under extended warranty with a £100 excess. Happy to save that £100 excess if I can by doing this job myself. I have soldering iron, heat shrink and gun etc already.
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Boot soft close failure-Fixed

Post by Smartbear » Fri Oct 08, 2021 1:53 pm

step_change wrote: Fri Oct 08, 2021 1:36 pm Guys, can you only prove that the wires are broken by removing the black outer heat shrink sheath first? I'd like to prove the wires are broken before I start to cut away at the sheath. I just ordered some cheapish TORX bits since I don;t have the T20 and T40.

Reason is that I have car under extended warranty with a £100 excess. Happy to save that £100 excess if I can by doing this job myself. I have soldering iron, heat shrink and gun etc already.
The post from “avidlemus” a few posts above yours stated this was the case, easy enough to have a look I’d have thought?
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Boot soft close failure-Fixed

Post by step_change » Fri Oct 08, 2021 2:09 pm

Apologies, yeah I'll RTFM :)
Last edited by step_change on Tue Oct 12, 2021 10:51 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Boot soft close failure-Fixed

Post by flybobbie » Fri Oct 08, 2021 8:17 pm

On my car left failure the boot was cycling, right failure simply wouldn't pull down.
I think it depends which wire of the three breaks first.
Strip back the sheath, cut the wires. Thread in some new sheath and then resolder wires with smaller heat shrink.

Yes, i think if you have the unit off, check both sides.
I think if your a diy'er, do some preemptive maintenance, take off and check before it fails.
BMW should have called back.

But the way the wires here and roof break makes me wonder if they were sabotaged at the factory.

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Boot soft close failure-Fixed

Post by step_change » Tue Oct 12, 2021 10:50 am

I have wimped out and will take it to BMW under extended warranty and get them to sort it.
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Boot soft close failure-Fixed

Post by step_change » Tue Oct 19, 2021 5:52 pm

Ok, so I changed my mind again. I took the mechanism out of the boot and removed the two connectors as mentioned in this thread, carefully stripped the outer sheath back to reveal the three wires inside. In my case the wires were OK switch end to connector end. I took it to BMW on extended warranty, they changed the whole mechanism and some connector blocks. It now works perfectly.
Gone :( : 2013 35is, Melbourne Red, DCT, Nav, Comfort pack
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Boot soft close failure-Fixed

Post by Ian_C » Sun Jan 16, 2022 10:47 pm

…so, my boot light has stopped working (bulb is good) but soft latch is working fine. Is this a sign of impending doom? Anyone know if there’s a fuse specifically for the boot light?
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RobbiZ4
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Boot soft close failure-Fixed

Post by RobbiZ4 » Sun Jan 16, 2022 11:32 pm

myredzed wrote: Sun Jan 16, 2022 10:47 pm …so, my boot light has stopped working (bulb is good) but soft latch is working fine.
In general, this is independant.
One of the three wires on the left microswitch is for the boot light, one is ground and the third one is for softclose.
If only the wire of the bulb is broken, the boot light does not work, the soft close still works fine.

This can be easily checked on the cuircuit plan.
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Boot soft close failure-Fixed

Post by Ian_C » Mon Jan 17, 2022 5:49 pm

RobbiZ4 wrote: Sun Jan 16, 2022 11:32 pm
myredzed wrote: Sun Jan 16, 2022 10:47 pm …so, my boot light has stopped working (bulb is good) but soft latch is working fine.
In general, this is independant.
One of the three wires on the left microswitch is for the boot light, one is ground and the third one is for softclose.
If only the wire of the bulb is broken, the boot light does not work, the soft close still works fine.

This can be easily checked on the cuircuit plan.
Thanks Robbi. I don't have a wiring diagram but sounds like it's worth getting into the wiring loom and checking all 3 wires on both sides.
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Boot soft close failure-Fixed

Post by RobbiZ4 » Mon Jan 17, 2022 7:34 pm

myredzed wrote: Mon Jan 17, 2022 5:49 pm [...]but sounds like it's worth getting into the wiring loom and checking all 3 wires on both sides.
Correct. In most cases the missing light indicates a first broken wire on the left. You have to cut the black hose for about 1 inch.
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E89 Roof Maintenance
viewtopic.php?t=130932

Y3 Roof Diagnostic System
viewtopic.php?f=23&t=129048
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