Roof broken again, only half closes

[Pondrew]

Just make sure you mark the bolts on the hinges when you undo them. They need to go back in exactly the same place they came from otherwise the bootlid will be wonky and a world of pain.

[SteveNortham]

Grabbed them off a seller on Ebay, £29 - no idea if thats a good price? but for £60 fix then its worth a punt!

Sounds just like mine- it's getting more and more frequent now on mine too.

Like you I have also managed to get the roof and windows all back up for now (after trying to run the opening/closing cycle multiple times).

Definitely keep us posted on here as to how you get on fitting your switches - where did you order them, direct from BMW?

Mine was intermittent for a few days but now seems to do it every time, I managed to get it back down and windows up after a few tries and left it like that for now - ill check out the fix thread and see if can solve

[SteveNortham]

Noted and thanks!

Just make sure you mark the bolts on the hinges when you undo them. They need to go back in exactly the same place they came from otherwise the bootlid will be wonky and a world of pain.

[Msport]

Thanks for all that, is this the thread you mention;

viewtopic.php?t=95385#p1402669

You have given me the confidence to have a go myself, worst case I can just give the indy it's booked into in a few weeks time the new switches if I order and can't fit myself.

Mine was intermittent for a few days but now seems to do it every time, I managed to get it back down and windows up after a few tries and left it like that for now - ill check out the fix thread and see if can solve

Classic symptoms of bootlid microswitches. They do seem to be the most common ones to fail due to internal corrosion (not sure why TBH).

There is a really good thread on here on where they are located, and a step-by-step guide to changing them, along with BMW part numbers. I did mine last summer (as had exactly the symptoms described here). It is a very simple job and cheap, as long as you do the right things like marking the bolt positions otherwise everything can go out of whack and it will then be a nightmare.

Sopers of Lincoln BMW (if in the UK) are really good on price for parts, very helpful and give a discount to forum members (usually free postage too IIRC).

[Pondrew]

Thanks for all that, is this the thread you mention;

viewtopic.php?t=95385#p1402669

No there is another one (or more than one actually as it has been discussed many times) which gives detailed instructions. I seem to remember another thread quite recently (end of last year?) where someone did it and made a youtube video.
They will all be in the E89 problems section, or maybe the E89 discussion section.

[Pondrew]

Grabbed them off a seller on Ebay, £29 - no idea if thats a good price? but for £60 fix then its worth a punt!

They were £16 each from BMW when I got mine, so sounds about right. I would check they are genuine BMW parts TBH. Not heard of anyone buying 'pattern' or 'knock off' ones.
Depending on the year of car, they have different connector plugs aswell. I think they changed in 2013 with the facelift.

[Ole gits rule]

Grabbed them off a seller on Ebay, £29 - no idea if thats a good price? but for £60 fix then its worth a punt!

They were £16 each from BMW when I got mine, so sounds about right. I would check they are genuine BMW parts TBH. Not heard of anyone buying 'pattern' or 'knock off' ones.
Depending on the year of car, they have different connector plugs aswell. I think they changed in 2013 with the facelift.

Mine were £16 as well, never seen patterned ones anywhere

Good luck with the job

[Msport]

I think this might be the one you refer to where a video tutorial was made- that's very useful thanks, I'll keep searching for the others:

viewtopic.php?t=137215

Thanks for all that, is this the thread you mention;

viewtopic.php?t=95385#p1402669

No there is another one (or more than one actually as it has been discussed many times) which gives detailed instructions. I seem to remember another thread quite recently (end of last year?) where someone did it and made a youtube video.
They will all be in the E89 problems section, or maybe the E89 discussion section.

[SteveNortham]

Perfect - ill give this a whirl when parts arrive and report back if it fixes!

I think this might be the one you refer to where a video tutorial was made- that's very useful thanks, I'll keep searching for the others:

viewtopic.php?t=137215

Thanks for all that, is this the thread you mention;

viewtopic.php?t=95385#p1402669

No there is another one (or more than one actually as it has been discussed many times) which gives detailed instructions. I seem to remember another thread quite recently (end of last year?) where someone did it and made a youtube video.
They will all be in the E89 problems section, or maybe the E89 discussion section.

[Pondrew]

I think this might be the one you refer to where a video tutorial was made- that's very useful thanks, I'll keep searching for the others:

viewtopic.php?t=137215

That's the fella! Hardest bit of the job I found was finding a suitable piece of wood to hold the boot lid open while doing the work. The hydraulic pressure won't hold for long enough!

[Stash36]

These roofs are failing big time. Book a road trip to Deutschland and get RobbiZ4 to renew everything en route is the best answer

[javis20]

Here is my video. I used an extension handle for a paint roller.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=qcwZC1uah_o&feature=share8

[z4lincs]

The battery will cause major issues but by the description it sound like micro switches - I am sure Robbie will be along to give better advice

Yeah mine is currently under a cover in exactly the same state with the roof half up.. booked in for replacement micro switches next week to hopefully sort. Was intermittent for a few days and now won't budge.

Yeah mine was the same - switches were £16 each at that point prob around £25 now, labour was pretty steep on it at 2Hrs then the diagnostics, just glad mine was covered under warranty.

I think its pretty easy to do - few videos online on how to do it

Decided to give it a go this afternoon and total success, saved myself a couple of hundred quid there which was what the indy were going to charge

[Ole gits rule]

Yeah mine is currently under a cover in exactly the same state with the roof half up.. booked in for replacement micro switches next week to hopefully sort. Was intermittent for a few days and now won't budge.

Yeah mine was the same - switches were £16 each at that point prob around £25 now, labour was pretty steep on it at 2Hrs then the diagnostics, just glad mine was covered under warranty.

I think its pretty easy to do - few videos online on how to do it

Decided to give it a go this afternoon and total success, saved myself a couple of hundred quid there which was what the indy were going to charge

Great news all round - you can now tout for business the way these are failing this year

[SteveNortham]

Swapped mine out today, all working as it should again! nice and easy, about an hour I recon to do both sides, had to chop the connector and solder new ones on etc. but a very simple fix thankfully!

The cause seems to be...last summer, when I last washed the car - it seems water got into the boot, the spongy case for the pump, the bottom was saturated in water, pump was not impacted it seems but being sat for months with water in the boot seems to have caused a nice damp atmosphere in there and corroded the microswitches... lesson learnt, be less abusive with the jet wash and use the car more!