Roof jammed!

[mole734]

Hello all
Been having a few minor issues with the roof warnings (code A696) but noticed that the boot lid is sometimes a bit slow to move , recently they have gone away until...

The warning came back and I stupidly continued to press the button and the boot lid went really slow and somehow jammed against the mechanism for the roof shells.

I managed to free the jam and get the roof to go back to the closed position.

I'm now looking for the cause.

I'm suspecting the motor/pump because of the slowness of the movement and the fact that it looks like at some point it has been sitting in water (now dry and has been since I owned the car)

Question is whether to change just the motor (from roofmotors.co.uk) or the complete motor /pump assembly and of course if my diagnosis is close or miles away.

Thanks for reading

[Smartbear]

Sounds like you need to get them tested so you’re not just guessing which parts to replace.
Rob

[mole734]

Any suggestions as to who might offer testing? I am in the midlands if there is a choice

[Deepseaskateboard]

With this kind of issue, I would pay a main dealer the £100 diagnostic fee.

One of their engineers will write up a list of the work which needs doing, and their software will detect all the faults.

It’s not a cheap service, but if you are thinking of changing roof motors and pumps, it may save you in the long run.

[maxman]

Autotech Performance in Telford are good,sorted out my roof on my e85

[Danglesberries]

With this kind of issue, I would pay a main dealer the £100 diagnostic fee.

One of their engineers will write up a list of the work which needs doing, and their software will detect all the faults.

It’s not a cheap service, but if you are thinking of changing roof motors and pumps, it may save you in the long run.

£100 for a simple diagnostic check? Seriously? You could probably get a good Indy to diagnose AND fix for little more than that IMO.

[Pbondar]

With this kind of issue, I would pay a main dealer the £100 diagnostic fee.

One of their engineers will write up a list of the work which needs doing, and their software will detect all the faults.

It’s not a cheap service, but if you are thinking of changing roof motors and pumps, it may save you in the long run.

£100 for a simple diagnostic check? Seriously? You could probably get a good Indy to diagnose AND fix for little more than that IMO.

I think if you have read the thread and based on past people’s’ issues with E89 roof faults the chances that a commercial entity will fix this for around £100 must be close to zero..

E85 roof mechanisms are trivial in complexity compared to E89s..

[mole734]

Ok some progress

I left the car for a while and when I had time to look at it there was a permanent A696 code, I had a look at the most accessible hall sensor on the ram that opens the boot lid and found it to be cracked and some possible corrosion on it. So I ordered the sensor from a 120i convertable as its £14 instead of £210 this is the same part but without the (wrong) connector on it. I soldered and heat shrunk the connection and now the boot opens correctly, I get a bong and a roof movement impeded error when the boot reaches the top of its travel so was able to look at the other sensor that detects the ram in the open position and surprise surprise that one's broken as well, so I've ordered another one, hopefully that cures it!

[tintoverano]

great!!

thanks for sharing

[tintoverano]

which ones are you replacing/replaced?

Screenshot 2020-07-14 at 11.22.03.png (516.54 KiB) Viewed 1699 times

[mole734]

It's part number 7 on the drawing, you can see the car uses 4 of them, the 2 i'm replacing are on the hydraulic ram on the right hand side of the car that opens the 'rear module' (boot lid) although the price that is listed is now £210 from BMW uk

[Pbondar]

Great detective work..well done..good write up

[flybobbie]

All the Hall sensors crack, i bought two from a Jap car, they were cracked, but worked fine on experimenting.
The connector was most likely the problem, they come apart to easily.

[Nictrix]

Thats absolutely shocking that there is such a difference in price between what is almost identical sensors.
I wonder how long it will be before these sensors jump in price like the E89 ones.
Or it makes you wonder if there has been a mistake made somewhere with the pricing of the E89 sensors.

[Smartbear]

Thats absolutely shocking that there is such a difference in price between what is almost identical sensors.
I wonder how long it will be before these sensors jump in price like the E89 ones.
Or it makes you wonder if there has been a mistake made somewhere with the pricing of the E89 sensors.

It’s bmw we’re talking about here, there’s been no mistake!
Rob