First post... a few q's...

P

Padlingwell

New member
Hi all. Picked up my 2012 35i M Sport today. I can't describe what a gorgeous car it is...Lordy dordy.
Probably my fourth or fifth BMW, and the first petrol one. Silky, punchy, gawd, what a lovely car. 7 speed auto, iDrive etc etc.
I've been fiddling around with it today. I've already had the lovely fuse torture apparatus out, then found out that one fuse does all the 12v sockets, and the reason why there's no power to the one under the glove box is... because there isn't actually a socket there, just a hole. Urgh... is that normal?
Anyway- other questions for the hive mind: The roof doesn't retract remotely (ie with the key).. is this because it's not supposed to, or the battery isn't up to snuff? If the former, would I be able to change this with a Carly? In fact, the key just does the unlocking/locking and the boot. And that's it. If a Carly won't do anything about it, I'll probably save my money... and put some gloss black grilles on it, anyway.
Another one- on the Bluetooth audio connection on my last car (2015 220 Coupe) I had the ability to search through playlists etc. While the Z4 streams, it can only basically 'play,' plus next/previous track within whatever playlist is playing on my phone. Is there any simple way to fix this? Not massively important, tbh; although it would be nice to have the functionality. I spent too much of life plugging phones it to get music in the car. I know BMW are way behind the curve on this sort of thing, but what are my options?
 
Welcome aboard.
A friendly warning that the photo police on here are stricter than the social distancing ones :D
Best let us see your new acquisition pretty sharpish.
 
Welcome to the forum.

To answer your question about the 12v outlet under the glove box, mine also has just a hole and no actual socket. I found this out when I went to plug my satnav power socket in there and nearly lost it :rofl: can’t imagine it would take much to retrofit one in there should you want too.

Roof operation (lowering only) should be standard on the car, but will only do so if the battery is holding decent charge. If the car has been sat for a while, the charge level has most probably dropped a bit.
 
Hi and welcome
As said the roof should open with the remote, it could be the battery being low, is it the original could be ready for replacing, also the cover in the boot needs to be in the down position for the roof to close, as for the playlists mine seems to be the same.
Great looking Zed, enjoy
 
Hi and welcome - it sounds like we have another Z4 addict! :lol:

And your car looks lovely OP. :thumbsup:
 
Welcome to the forum. Great looking cars aren't they. 8)

As someone who has never owned a diesel car (AKA tractor), I'd like to welcome you back to being a petrol head. :thumbsup:
 
Hi Op
Welcome, not sure if you are aware but you need to hold down the button for as long as the roof cycle takes in order to lower it. Enjoy ............
 
Welcome to the forum :thumbsup: . I would recommend a battery charger/conditioner (e.g. CTEK) as the first item to buy for the Z4. They seem to be quite sensitive to low voltage and things (like the roof) may not work correctly without a good charge in the battery. If it's not a daily driver then the battery can easily drop to a level where odd things happen.
2nd - Replace the salmon relays in the boot (for the roof). Cheap insurance - if a relay fails the roof motor can burn out, or the roof become stuck not fully open/closed.
3rd - enjoy driving it when you can :lol: :thumbsup:
 
Go to https://www.mdecoder.com/ and enter the last 7 numbers/letter of your VIN this will give you all the original build spec of your car. You can take a few minutes to work through the various option codes (google helps). This will help you understand your vehicle and what will and will not work.
Regarding the key opening the roof. My last Z4, a 23i needed the car coding to operate this feature, and also opening while the car is moving up to 30MPH. I could not however close the roof with the key fob because my 23I did not have the comfort access option (keyless entry and ignition etc).
Post your location and I am sure someone with Carly can pop over and check this for you.
 
Thanks all- CTEC charger arrives today. It is sensitive to charge, I noticed after fannying about with it late Sat that the 'too much charge lost' warning came up. Took it for a blast and it was fine, and a further few miles topped it up enough that the battery is charged enough now that the roof lowers remotely using the key. I'm not so bothered about putting it back up remotely.
Salmon relays in on the list, as is eventually a wheel renovation and caliper painting, but the first job is to replace the grilles with gloss black ones which should arrive in the next few days.
 
I have a 2011 E89 and roof operation depends upon what country your in. Here in the USA, you cannot open the roof with the keyfob unless you have the comfort access option.. You can code it to open all the windows and fold in the mirrors, but that's it.

However, I'm told that you can open the roof with the the physical key, but have not tried it. Insert key, turn to open and hold. Again I have not tried this.

To do what you want, you would need the SmartTop option. Or there is a german cheaper alternative, but requires wiring.
 
javis20 said:
I have a 2011 E89 and roof operation depends upon what country your in. Here in the USA, you cannot open the roof with the keyfob unless you have the comfort access option.. You can code it to open all the windows and fold in the mirrors, but that's it.

However, I'm told that you can open the roof with the the physical key, but have not tried it. Insert key, turn to open and hold. Again I have not tried this.

To do what you want, you would need the SmartTop option. Or there is a german cheaper alternative, but requires wiring.
Click to expand...
I wonder if the US market E89's can be coded to lower the roof with the keyfob without comfort access (using Carly, NCS or similar), as this is easily do-able on other market's E89's (so it would seem to be a software setting that doesn't require the CA option). There may be an answer to this on this forum but I can't be faffed hunting for it right now....
Holy Grail option would be to code the roof to go up with the remote, without Comfort Access. Many have tried, none have succeeded (to my knowledge) :lol:
 
enzed4 said:
javis20 said:
I have a 2011 E89 and roof operation depends upon what country your in. Here in the USA, you cannot open the roof with the keyfob unless you have the comfort access option.. You can code it to open all the windows and fold in the mirrors, but that's it.

However, I'm told that you can open the roof with the the physical key, but have not tried it. Insert key, turn to open and hold. Again I have not tried this.

To do what you want, you would need the SmartTop option. Or there is a german cheaper alternative, but requires wiring.
Click to expand...
I wonder if the US market E89's can be coded to lower the roof with the keyfob without comfort access (using Carly, NCS or similar), as this is easily do-able on other market's E89's (so it would seem to be a software setting that doesn't require the CA option). There may be an answer to this on this forum but I can't be faffed hunting for it right now....
Holy Grail option would be to code the roof to go up with the remote, without Comfort Access. Many have tried, none have succeeded (to my knowledge) :lol:
Click to expand...

That’s where the smarttop module comes in, giving you back what bmw took away :?
Rob
 
Smartbear said:
enzed4 said:
javis20 said:
I have a 2011 E89 and roof operation depends upon what country your in. Here in the USA, you cannot open the roof with the keyfob unless you have the comfort access option.. You can code it to open all the windows and fold in the mirrors, but that's it.

However, I'm told that you can open the roof with the the physical key, but have not tried it. Insert key, turn to open and hold. Again I have not tried this.

To do what you want, you would need the SmartTop option. Or there is a german cheaper alternative, but requires wiring.
Click to expand...
I wonder if the US market E89's can be coded to lower the roof with the keyfob without comfort access (using Carly, NCS or similar), as this is easily do-able on other market's E89's (so it would seem to be a software setting that doesn't require the CA option). There may be an answer to this on this forum but I can't be faffed hunting for it right now....
Holy Grail option would be to code the roof to go up with the remote, without Comfort Access. Many have tried, none have succeeded (to my knowledge) :lol:
Click to expand...

That’s where the smarttop module comes in, giving you back what bmw took away :?
Rob
Click to expand...
Just put comfort access on your list of 'must haves' before buying. Takes longer to find the right car but theya re about, I got one with every option going apart from the sound system :-)
 
mcbutler said:
Smartbear said:
enzed4 said:
I wonder if the US market E89's can be coded to lower the roof with the keyfob without comfort access (using Carly, NCS or similar), as this is easily do-able on other market's E89's (so it would seem to be a software setting that doesn't require the CA option). There may be an answer to this on this forum but I can't be faffed hunting for it right now....
Holy Grail option would be to code the roof to go up with the remote, without Comfort Access. Many have tried, none have succeeded (to my knowledge) :lol:
Click to expand...

That’s where the smarttop module comes in, giving you back what bmw took away :?
Rob
Click to expand...
Just put comfort access on your list of 'must haves' before buying. Takes longer to find the right car but theya re about, I got one with every option going apart from the sound system :-)
Click to expand...
Good advice if you don't already have one :lol: . I don't think I've ever seen comfort access on any E89 in this country. Must be rarer than a white Z4MR....
 
true- my list of must haves has all been ticked. I had comfort access on my 220, and for me it certainly wasn't a must-have. The only other thing I would have liked is heated seats, but that wasn't a dealbreaker. I has 7sp DCT auto, idrive, heated steering wheel, the right wheels, cruise control and red leather. Oh, and a silky six cylinder... so now it does roof down before I go out, all good.
Might keep it on the CTEK, if I can find a way of permanently installing the leads on the jump/charge points under the bonnet, and have the socket with the rubber cover hidden inside the trailing edge of the front wing, so I can plug it in with just the driver's door open rather than pop the hood. It's kept outside.
 
Padlingwell said:
true- my list of must haves has all been ticked. I had comfort access on my 220, and for me it certainly wasn't a must-have. The only other thing I would have liked is heated seats, but that wasn't a dealbreaker. I has 7sp DCT auto, idrive, heated steering wheel, the right wheels, cruise control and red leather. Oh, and a silky six cylinder... so now it does roof down before I go out, all good.
Might keep it on the CTEK, if I can find a way of permanently installing the leads on the jump/charge points under the bonnet, and have the socket with the rubber cover hidden inside the trailing edge of the front wing, so I can plug it in with just the driver's door open rather than pop the hood. It's kept outside.
Click to expand...

Look at how Smartbear did his CTEK hardwire. No need to have any doors or bonnet open.
 
enzed4 said:
javis20 said:
I have a 2011 E89 and roof operation depends upon what country your in. Here in the USA, you cannot open the roof with the keyfob unless you have the comfort access option.. You can code it to open all the windows and fold in the mirrors, but that's it.

However, I'm told that you can open the roof with the the physical key, but have not tried it. Insert key, turn to open and hold. Again I have not tried this.

To do what you want, you would need the SmartTop option. Or there is a german cheaper alternative, but requires wiring.
Click to expand...
I wonder if the US market E89's can be coded to lower the roof with the keyfob without comfort access (using Carly, NCS or similar), as this is easily do-able on other market's E89's (so it would seem to be a software setting that doesn't require the CA option). There may be an answer to this on this forum but I can't be faffed hunting for it right now....
Holy Grail option would be to code the roof to go up with the remote, without Comfort Access. Many have tried, none have succeeded (to my knowledge) :lol:
Click to expand...
I have tried everything possible to code the top down with NCS Expert on USA cars. No luck. Many others have tried as well, with no success. On coding forums, I have requested for anyone that might have a non-comfort access car, with keyfob top-down working, to send me their code file so I can compare with mine. No one has yet done that.
As I previously indicated, there is a German company with a module significantly cheaper, but requires significant wiring ability. And to be honest, I could probably program an arduino to do this, but the time and effort is just not worth it to me.
 
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