A bit of a saga, but thought my efforts to resolve this issue just might help others. If nothing else it puts in one place the possible boot lid roundel opening issues – well those I’ve found :lol:
I’ve had my 2015i E89 for six months now and a couple of months ago I realised that I couldn’t open the boot from the boot lid roundel. Frankly I’d never thought much about it before, because I always use my remote, but it finally dawned on me that it has probably never worked since I bought the car. I also realised hat here was a problem in the making as it would be so easy to leave my remote in a coat pocket in the boot and close the lid…..leaving me well and truly up the creek without a paddle……
So, first thing I did was search the forums and I certainly found plenty of threads relating to this problem. Some were simply user error…. the roundel certainly won’t open the boot if the car is still locked
Someone else said they had had two E89’s and the roundel didn’t work on either, suggesting it was coded that way. I couldn’t find a reference anywhere to being able to deactivate the roundel by coding and you can’t do it from iDrive settings. There is no valet setting or valet switch on my car either that would account for this.
Another thread suggested a faulty roundel microswitch, so it was off with the boot lid lining and a check with a meter showed the microswitch was working fine. Still, whilst I had the boot lid lining off, I took the opportunity to check the boot lock wiring which I know can fail due to a wire stripping fault in manufacture. It’s well reported elsewhere on the forum – mine was fine.
Next stop was to check for fault codes and indeed my Foxwell NT510 threw up fault code A739 – “JBE Central- Locking Drive Rear Lid”. Out of curiosity I tried an ‘active component test’ using the Foxwell and low and behold it opened the boot
I had read of Stealers charging £200 for this feat, but a humble Foxwell will do it. Anyway it didn’t solve my problem, but with the reference to the JBE (Junction Box Electronics), I did another forum search and found a mention of the same problem being traced by one owner to a faulty connector latch on the JBE Module/Fuse Box. Most of you are undoubtably already familiar with the ‘interesting’ challenge of accessing the Fuses/JBE. I wasn’t, so learnt a new skill, but no solution to my actual problem as the connector was properly seated.
By chance, I then came across an old thread on the Forum from 2016, with 2020 updates. It concerning an issue a couple of owners had with the boot lid opening when the brake pedal was depressed. Thank you everyone who contributed to that thread, in particular RobbieZ4 and Pauly. Alas some of the detail is missing, but it put me on the right track to solving my own issue.
https://z4-forum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=45&t=92398&hilit=boot+opening&start=15
Their problem was caused by damp/corrosion shorting out the boot release and brake light circuits. I physically traced the boot lid wiring and there behind the trim, next to the offside rear light was the blue 18 pin connector referred to in the thread. I attach photographs showing the location of the connector, the internal corrosion and wiring diagram. Connector is X14303 and the boot release wire is GR/GE on pin 17. To access this connector follow the same process of removing trim as you would for removing rear light cluster or for that matter same initial process used when installing a Smart Top Module. Both are well documented on the Forum and it literally takes 5 minutes to remove the 3 pieces of trim – very easy with roof in half up position. The connector itself is easily parted by depressing the tab and swinging the locking arm down.
The corrosion on the pins was quite bad, so I cleaned them with spray contact cleaner, but then realised I was wasting my time. The connector pin for the boot release is 17 and I no longer had a pin 17 – so bad was the corrosion on that one pin that it had corroded through
Replacing the whole 18 pin connector would be a pain, so I simply removed the one cable going to pin 17 on both sides of the connector and soldered in a bullet connector with heat shrink to protect.
Problem solved
A final thought. Connector block X14303 is poorly protected from moisture in the position it is mounted and I know from that earlier thread that I’m not alone with suffering corrosion on it’s contacts. It’s easily accessed and I think a quick check on it might well be worthwhile preventive maintenance as it can affect several circuits.
I’ve had my 2015i E89 for six months now and a couple of months ago I realised that I couldn’t open the boot from the boot lid roundel. Frankly I’d never thought much about it before, because I always use my remote, but it finally dawned on me that it has probably never worked since I bought the car. I also realised hat here was a problem in the making as it would be so easy to leave my remote in a coat pocket in the boot and close the lid…..leaving me well and truly up the creek without a paddle……
So, first thing I did was search the forums and I certainly found plenty of threads relating to this problem. Some were simply user error…. the roundel certainly won’t open the boot if the car is still locked
Someone else said they had had two E89’s and the roundel didn’t work on either, suggesting it was coded that way. I couldn’t find a reference anywhere to being able to deactivate the roundel by coding and you can’t do it from iDrive settings. There is no valet setting or valet switch on my car either that would account for this. Another thread suggested a faulty roundel microswitch, so it was off with the boot lid lining and a check with a meter showed the microswitch was working fine. Still, whilst I had the boot lid lining off, I took the opportunity to check the boot lock wiring which I know can fail due to a wire stripping fault in manufacture. It’s well reported elsewhere on the forum – mine was fine.
Next stop was to check for fault codes and indeed my Foxwell NT510 threw up fault code A739 – “JBE Central- Locking Drive Rear Lid”. Out of curiosity I tried an ‘active component test’ using the Foxwell and low and behold it opened the boot
I had read of Stealers charging £200 for this feat, but a humble Foxwell will do it. Anyway it didn’t solve my problem, but with the reference to the JBE (Junction Box Electronics), I did another forum search and found a mention of the same problem being traced by one owner to a faulty connector latch on the JBE Module/Fuse Box. Most of you are undoubtably already familiar with the ‘interesting’ challenge of accessing the Fuses/JBE. I wasn’t, so learnt a new skill, but no solution to my actual problem as the connector was properly seated.By chance, I then came across an old thread on the Forum from 2016, with 2020 updates. It concerning an issue a couple of owners had with the boot lid opening when the brake pedal was depressed. Thank you everyone who contributed to that thread, in particular RobbieZ4 and Pauly. Alas some of the detail is missing, but it put me on the right track to solving my own issue.
https://z4-forum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=45&t=92398&hilit=boot+opening&start=15
Their problem was caused by damp/corrosion shorting out the boot release and brake light circuits. I physically traced the boot lid wiring and there behind the trim, next to the offside rear light was the blue 18 pin connector referred to in the thread. I attach photographs showing the location of the connector, the internal corrosion and wiring diagram. Connector is X14303 and the boot release wire is GR/GE on pin 17. To access this connector follow the same process of removing trim as you would for removing rear light cluster or for that matter same initial process used when installing a Smart Top Module. Both are well documented on the Forum and it literally takes 5 minutes to remove the 3 pieces of trim – very easy with roof in half up position. The connector itself is easily parted by depressing the tab and swinging the locking arm down.
The corrosion on the pins was quite bad, so I cleaned them with spray contact cleaner, but then realised I was wasting my time. The connector pin for the boot release is 17 and I no longer had a pin 17 – so bad was the corrosion on that one pin that it had corroded through
Replacing the whole 18 pin connector would be a pain, so I simply removed the one cable going to pin 17 on both sides of the connector and soldered in a bullet connector with heat shrink to protect. Problem solved
A final thought. Connector block X14303 is poorly protected from moisture in the position it is mounted and I know from that earlier thread that I’m not alone with suffering corrosion on it’s contacts. It’s easily accessed and I think a quick check on it might well be worthwhile preventive maintenance as it can affect several circuits.
