Ever caught your Z with it's pants down?

[Red Law]

So I step out this morning to drive to the office having worked at home a couple of days. I'm momentarily stunned to see my windows 3/4 down, then that the doors are unlocked and finally that the roof is partially open (a good inch or so out from closed). :?

It was raining heavily last night so looks like it's a wet arse into the office for me. :x

It was dry inside, even though the outside was still wet, so fortunetly must have happened shortly before. I didn't have time to check it out, but having recently discovered a flat (RF) that didn't alarm I'm wondering about electric gremlins...

Anyway, I tested a theory tonight by locking up and then holding down the open button... a few seconds after unlocking, down came the windows followed by the roof. It would seem that this happened this morning whilst the keys were in my pocket and I was in the house! Coversely, holding the lock button doesn't do the reverse.

Is this a 'feature'? Why the hell would you want to do this outside the car but not the reverse? And surely if it is by design it should be protected from accidental use when your not even next to the car.

Beware especially if your Z is left on the street or you use a cover on a roadster. :!:

 

[edgreen]

The factory key allows you to "remotely" lower the top, but not raise it. I put remotely in quotes because BMW's idea of remote is a few meters -- this car has the worst remote lock range I've seen. Also, you have to hold the button down throughout the entire operation (for that matter, you have to hold the dash-mounted roof buttons down, and you can't do it at all in motion, even at very low speed). I suspect lawyers, not engineers. There are aftermarket cures for both:
Remote up and down: http://gap-tech.co.uk/rch.html
One-touch button: http://gap-tech.co.uk/oth.html
There are other manufactures that offer the same functionality. Basically, they all fool the car into thinking you are operating the roof using the key in the door.

I seriously doubt your key remotely lowered your top. It doesn't have the range, and you have to hold it down continuously (it's a pretty "stiff" button; I don't see it being accidentally actuated by laying against something). More likely, somebody else actuated a garage door opener, remote starter, or the like, and there's a frequency overlap. I suppose it could be some sort of transient in the vehicle, but that would be odd. Hope you can track it down!

 

[Red Law]

I seriously doubt your key remotely lowered your top. It doesn't have the range, and you have to hold it down continuously (it's a pretty "stiff" button; I don't see it being accidentally actuated by laying against something). More likely, somebody else actuated a garage door opener, remote starter, or the like, and there's a frequency overlap. I suppose it could be some sort of transient in the vehicle, but that would be odd. Hope you can track it down!

Thanks. My neighbour opposite now thinks I'm mad as I just tested it again; it's 22:45 p.m. here. First in the hall - the car is parked at the front of the house and can be seen through a window via the lounge - about 5-6m- and down it came. Put it up, then tried in the upstairs bathroom mid house, window open I couldn't hear anything when pressed, so moved to the window and I hear the Z going down again around the corner. I'd say that was a pretty good range!

It might take a few seconds and be a fairly stiff button, but it is on a fob with other keys, which seem to have pressed and held it in my jeans probably when sitting down in the house.

 

[Boogle]

Can't help re the roof (although sounds like a gremlin - remote lowers the windows all the way, not 3/4). But the RFT could be an issue you didn't know about for a long time. When I picked up my car from the garage I 'assumed' the tyre pressures were all correct. In fact they were all over the place, with one tyre a whole bar under where it should be. I pumped up all of the tyres and promptly got the tyre pressure warning. Basically it seems the garage had reset the sensors with the incorrect pressures. The sensors pick up a difference from the reset position, rather than flat/not flat. It could be your sensor was reset with a very low starting pressure

 

[Red Law]

Can't help re the roof (although sounds like a gremlin - remote lowers the windows all the way, not 3/4).

Tests this evening lowered the windows fully when tried manually from inside my house. It would seem that the button was only pressed long enough to just start the manouvre.

But the RFT could be an issue you didn't know about for a long time. When I picked up my car from the garage I 'assumed' the tyre pressures were all correct. In fact they were all over the place, with one tyre a whole bar under where it should be. I pumped up all of the tyres and promptly got the tyre pressure warning. Basically it seems the garage had reset the sensors with the incorrect pressures. The sensors pick up a difference from the reset position, rather than flat/not flat. It could be your sensor was reset with a very low starting pressure

Same here. I had the dealer change the front two as part of the purchase as they were close to the limit. A few weeks later I checked them on a road trip and was in Germany - one rear was very low. Filled it, reset RFS and checked for next few days - all fine. Roll forwards 3 months and 6k I'm on the Ilse of Skye and check some scraping when I pulled onto a layby - inner side of same tyre is now in a bad state - no warnings. Scraping stopped soon after so probably just a stone caught in the wheel. Slow drive to a garage and fill it from 0.8 and arrange a new tyre asap. Will always check regularly now as you just can't tell with RFs if the warning can't be trusted for slow punctures - had a nail in it.