E85 - Encountered Problems during the recent trip from Kirwall to Milan

[vesprum]

I picked up a 2004 BMW Z4 2.2l SE (E85) in Kirkwall (Orkney - Scotland) and drove it for 1,605 miles to Milan (Italy).
Following are the fact findings relevant to the car's behaviour during that trip:

(a) Fully automatic convertible top.
FAILURE - The opening/closing roof top system did not respond to the commands. Considering the compelling urgency of the trip, no remedial action was attempted;

(b) Indicator and Warning Lamps.
ERRATIC INFORMATION PROVIDED
During the ride the following indicator and warning lamps went off:
-Parking Brake & DSC simultaneously (Orange colour);
-Flat Tyre Monitor (Red colour)
The tyres were inflated in response to the warning, although no puncture / low pressure was detected.
After tyre inflation, the Parking Brake & DSC lamps switched off, the Flat Tyre Monitor warning was manually reset.
No further indicator and warning lamps went off after those events;

(c) Battery
FAILURE - BMW states: "The battery is completely maintenance free. This means that the original electrolyte will normally last for the service life of the battery under moderate climatic conditions."
The car has been utilized always within the prescribed moderate climatic conditions, thus BMW statement is FALSE.
RAC was called for help and the battery was substituted, thus to resume the road trip;

(d) Steering system
FAILURE DUE TO THE STICKY STEERING SYNDROME, whereas shortly after the beginning of each leg of travel, the responsiveness of the steering becomes erratic causing a condition of danger. In fact, the steering becomes "sticky", i.e. it does not return to its original position, nor does it respond to micro solicitations. When, finally, it does (under extra applied force) then the steering overreacts, thus requesting a further micro adjustment to compensate that over reaction, to which the steering again does not promptly respond .... and so on and so forth for the thousand miles of the trip.

I seek any suggestion suitable to clarify the condition in (b) and to mitigate the conditions in (a) and (d)

 

[AndyBeech]

Erm....ok, did you check this stuff before you brought it??
Any who, most of those problems are quite common and a quick search of the forum would shed a fair bit of light on each of these.
The battery however, well if it's old and needs replacing then that's not a fault as such, that happens to all battery's eventually, regardless of climatic conditions! 5 years is around a good life for a battery under normal conditions, sometimes longer, sometimes less.

On the roof, what colour light flashes on the control?

On the tyre pressure, if it wasn't low why did you inflate it? Must have been off if you needed to inflate it, they only need a small amount of PSI off to throw the warning light, if the lights didn't come back on then I wouldn't worry.