E89 roof relay change
- Thread starter Smartbear
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RobbiZ4 said:Perfect!
What you see is a bunch of moon craters full of carbon dust.
The intensity may differ according to the number of roof cycles in the past, so the risk starts to arise as of 6 years.
Have a look at a brand new contact:
20200102_172456_small.jpg
Exactly this inner contact may weld together due to the arising current density on the remaining copper surface. Nobody can stop the pump to run if that happens. You even wouldn't remark it as a problem until its dead.
It's a good job I changed then out!
I will have to make a note to change them again in 2025!For what it's worth, I ordered 2 of the OEM relays this morning at the dealer. About $42NZD each incl tax, which is £21.38, $28.11USD, €25.16 (using XE.com currency conversion).
Pickup tomorrow and install them asap.
Out of curiosity I just checked the old relays in situ. They have date stamps of 1024, so obviously originals.
Pickup tomorrow and install them asap.
Out of curiosity I just checked the old relays in situ. They have date stamps of 1024, so obviously originals.
enzed4 said:For what it's worth, I ordered 2 of the OEM relays this morning at the dealer. About $42NZD each incl tax, which is £21.38, $28.11USD, €25.16 (using XE.com currency conversion).
Pickup tomorrow and install them asap.
Out of curiosity I just checked the old relays in situ. They have date stamps of 1024, so obviously originals.
Change them quickly before they realise how old they are!
Rob
Just changed ours and tested the roof and all OK, took 5-10 minutes but easier after taking the metal battery retention crossbar out, thanks for the heads-up. We did have water ingress in the boot last year (BMW fixed this under warrantee) which did get into the battery well which then soaked the sponge material surrounding the pump. In hindsight this was potentially not good for the relays as they are probably not sealed against damp so should have been changed then as a precaution. The pump assembly is now in a thick plastic bag just in case.
Interestingly the date codes on the old relays were 1411 and 1540, the car was built in summer 2014 so one of the originals was replaced before for some reason.
Interestingly the date codes on the old relays were 1411 and 1540, the car was built in summer 2014 so one of the originals was replaced before for some reason.
When i went to BMW to buy my relays, the counter operative said they had loads of them in stock. They are quite a common relay on BMW's.
https://www.realoem.com/bmw/enUS/part?id=LM32-EUR-05-2009-E89-BMW-Z4_23i&mg=54&sg=15&diagId=54_0402&q=12631742690
So if that's the case, are they failing on other models of cars?
They should be breaking down all over the place.
When i checked my faulty solenoids, they both worked fine on the bench and no unusual resistance across the contacts.
As i arrived home with the roof down, i need to wait for some gates to open, so that is the time i close the roof.
The boot opened the roof unpacked to over the cockpit then froze.
Something i will check later today is that the Foxwell reader i purchased to fix the problem seemed to show half way through the movement that it switches to the other relay. Which would cause the motor to suddenly reverse. Which makes no sense.
https://www.realoem.com/bmw/enUS/part?id=LM32-EUR-05-2009-E89-BMW-Z4_23i&mg=54&sg=15&diagId=54_0402&q=12631742690
So if that's the case, are they failing on other models of cars?
They should be breaking down all over the place.
When i checked my faulty solenoids, they both worked fine on the bench and no unusual resistance across the contacts.
As i arrived home with the roof down, i need to wait for some gates to open, so that is the time i close the roof.
The boot opened the roof unpacked to over the cockpit then froze.
Something i will check later today is that the Foxwell reader i purchased to fix the problem seemed to show half way through the movement that it switches to the other relay. Which would cause the motor to suddenly reverse. Which makes no sense.
flybobbie said:
I think BMW have been using these relays for many many years across many models and of course with age there is a high probability that they will fail, hence why they keep them. Probably on other models there isn't a risk of catastrophic failure of the component unlike in the Z4. The BMW dealer here in Malaga had no stock, took them three days to get them in.
Reliability of the roof mechanism is always my biggest fear with this car. The roof sticking half open when away from home on a day where it might rain later?
So with these relays, just swap them out and no coding or other fiddling?
So with these relays, just swap them out and no coding or other fiddling?
step_change said:Reliability of the roof mechanism is always my biggest fear with this car. The roof sticking half open when away from home on a day where it might rain later?
So with these relays, just swap them out and no coding or other fiddling?
Yep, plug & play. Simple!
Rob
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Nictrix said:
The argument is that either the contacts fuse together and/or the spring release mechanism fails resulting in a continuous on condition resulting in the motor running into oblivion.. :thumbsdown:
Are there any warning signs before this happens which you could then change the relays or does it just happen?Smartbear said:Nictrix said:
Yes, your £2,500 roof motor is at risk of burning out because you didn’t change the £30 relays!
Rob
Also how many has this happened to? Cant remember reading anything on here about it other than these threads about changing them.
Nictrix said:Are there any warning signs before this happens which you could then change the relays or does it just happen?Smartbear said:Nictrix said:
Yes, your £2,500 roof motor is at risk of burning out because you didn’t change the £30 relays!
Rob
Also how many has this happened to? Cant remember reading anything on here about it other than these threads about changing them.
If you go to page2 of this thread Robbi has posted some links about the problem, I’m not sure how many people have had the motor catch fire, but it has happened & certainly not worth playing Russian roulette with when the relays are only £14 each! Potentially no warning signs either, are you feeling lucky?
Rob
I'm going for a record here :lol: A your guy's suggestion I just changed the relays out on my 2010 Z and here is a pic below of the one I removed. The question is how much longer could relay have continued to work? Once? Twice? Yikes.
I feel like I dodged a bullet on this one, thank you
Yikes.I feel like I dodged a bullet on this one, thank you
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scootr said:I'm going for a record here :lol: A your guy's suggestion I just changed the relays out on my 2010 Z and here is a pic below of the one I removed. The question is how much longer could relay have continued to work? Once? Twice?
I feel like I dodged a bullet on this one, thank you
Jeez, you need to go out & buy a lottery ticket straight away
Rob