New roof problem

therealmc

Member
Is it possible that incorrect or careless jacking of the car could lead to misalignment of the roof and or deck?

I had a mobile tyre fitter round last week. Put the top down yesterday and now the roof goes back up but doesn’t complete its cycle. The windows don’t rise automatically and the dash reports that the roof is not latched. I can’t work the windows ‘manually’ or open the boot. The system will put the roof down without fault including windows and assume I’ll have to book the car into the local BMW dealer.

I didn’t notice anything amiss after the tyres had been fitted but now on close inspection the deck doesn’t fit correctly on one side and the arms of the mechanism on that side seem to have scraped a little paint where it rubs which it didn’t before. Don’t want to make false accusations against the tyre fitter but can’t think of anything else that I’ve done that could be to blame.

Any thoughts?
 
Being out of alignment won’t have been caused by jacking the car up, the body is very rigid, the problem with the closing will more than likely be a broken wire in the harness or a faulty micro switch.
There are loads of posts regarding this, just use the search function from the drop down list at top of the page.
 
If the roof is operated with the car leant over it can cause it to distort..there’s a tilt sensor to stop it ..but..it’s happened to me..I recycled it a couple of times on the level..
 
Thanks chaps. It’s 3 years since my last roof disaster and my local BMW garage not surprisingly will not provide any more than 2 years of warranty on work they’ve undertaken. Looks like I’m just unlucky (again) but I’ll try to remember to ask for them to let me have the old wiring/sensors/switches a) so I can satisfy my curiosity b) so I can let you know which bits are faulty in case there’s something someone on the forum can learn from this episode.
 
What happens when you slowly cycle the unit now?

Any sign of hydraulic fluid leaking from a hose ?
 
Just remember in life how so much is coincidence.
I jacked car up to change shocks.
Once back on ground i couldn't start the car. Took me 4 weeks of fault finding to fix.
Started with key not being recognised then string of obd faults which didn't exist.
New key slot, start button, abs unit, brake light switch (which failed because drivers window got stuck open, wind blew cover off and it rained in corroding switch) finally cured the problems.

Interesting that faulty brake light switch, tail brake lights stay on if switch faulty..
 
@B21 - no signs of a hydraulic problem, have looked around and it all looks dry.

Car back from BMW dealer and roof operating as it should. The culprits were a couple of microswitches though I am confused about the difference between what the invoice says and the items I now have in my hand. Have queried this with the dealer...

Photo of the microswitches attached, one apparently has an internal fault (haven't done my own continuity check) while the other is more obviously broken as the little metal arm is missing.
 

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That microswitch part number is odd. I search and nothing comes up for it, except japanese cars. Where did they say this microswitch was located?
 
therealmc said:
@B21 - no signs of a hydraulic problem, have looked around and it all looks dry.

Car back from BMW dealer and roof operating as it should. The culprits were a couple of microswitches though I am confused about the difference between what the invoice says and the items I now have in my hand. Have queried this with the dealer...

Photo of the microswitches attached, one apparently has an internal fault (haven't done my own continuity check) while the other is more obviously broken as the little metal arm is missing.

The micro switches have an internal resistor to allow the roof computer to discriminate between open circuits elsewhere and the micro switch itself..as to the broken micro switch it’s self evident ..

Yet again a code reader would have been useful to all involved and would allow access to the boot..for future ref..
 
Got a bit of BS from the dealer about the parts but after some research on the part numbers quoted on the invoice; 54377227398 does look exactly like the parts I was handed (per my photo) while 54377228585 looks to have a different micro switch but both seem to correspond correctly to an E89 roof. They probably didn’t think I’d notice but I was quite open about relaying this on the forum so if they value their reputation they perhaps should be more careful about what they say to their customers…
 
therealmc said:
Got a bit of BS from the dealer about the parts but after some research on the part numbers quoted on the invoice; 54377227398 does look exactly like the parts I was handed (per my photo) while 54377228585 looks to have a different micro switch but both seem to correspond correctly to an E89 roof. They probably didn’t think I’d notice but I was quite open about relaying this on the forum so if they value their reputation they perhaps should be more careful about what they say to their customers…

The two switches are handed so that’s why there’s two part numbers..
 
Part numbers might change if uprated items.
Had the same with ignition coils when i asked BMW dealer.
Came back hours later saying new part number and price £80.
Too late i bought uprated from Euro car parts, £25 each.
 
Coming back to my mis-aligned roof, the dealer has suggested damage may have been caused by driving with the roof not latched. I admit to driving about 20 miles home with a warning on the dashboard though I did so only after giving the roof a good tug all around to ensure it wasn't actually loose. The solution they say is a complete new roof at a cost of over £11k, needless to say that is a non-starter.

I had hoped that the answer was going to be something like 'we just need to fine tune the lock/stop to make it sit correctly' but it seems like there is no scope for adjustment to the mechanism; is that correct?

Attached are a few photos:

1) Nearside looks fine though there is actually a 1mm difference between the height of the body and the boot.
IMG_2313.JPG

2) Offside there is a 4mm difference.
IMG_2312.JPG

3) The mechanism is attached to the deck/clamshell by a couple of bolts and some shims are visible (both sides) under one of those bolts presumably to get the correct alignment.
IMG_2314 2.JPG

Whether I caused the problem by driving when I shouldn't or for any other reason would shimming the deck/clamshell be appropriate, is there any other way of re-alligning the panels or have I just got to live with this for the rest of the life of the car?
 
I think you need to visit Zedshed in St Helens…you are in deep where most have never been…

Usually that level of re-alignment is very difficult to do..even for the factory..
 
Spoke to Mike at ZedShed yesterday. He was confident (though this was over the phone so he’s not seen the car in person of course) that he could fix the roof. He even went so far as talking about doing it ‘while I wait’ suggesting it may take as little as 1 hour. All sounds very promising but I am over 250 miles away on the south coast so maybe I need to organise a road trip holiday where I can arrange to pop in as part of a longer trip.

One other thing why, if it is as quick/simple as potentially 1 hour’s work, can’t a BMW dealer figure it out?
 
I have adjusted the level of my cars boot to make it flush, can't remember how i did it now, but only took a few minutes.

"Can’t a BMW dealer figure it out?"..............One of the great mysteries of life.

Trying to cure a rattle in trim above window at the moment (only with roof down??), i will have a look in boot try work out what i did.
 
After another bout of roof bongs I made it to The Zed Shed yesterday on a long round trip from a quite damp Sussex yesterday. Windows down all the way in the rain wasn’t much fun but Mike was true to his word and had things fixed in about an hour.

Invoices for previous fixes by BMW seem to have included parts which Mike couldn’t see as having been replaced but for a much more reasonable cost (plus my petrol £100?) everything is now back working again as it should and the panels all line up. It seems that to get to some parts the dealer has undone the main latch but not made a note of the original position so that when tightening things back up they didn’t hadn’t got a reference point (and seemingly didn’t know or care about getting the panels lined up) . I watched Mike undo three nuts and nudge the latch up by a few millimetres; simple stuff if you know what you’re doing.

All in all I feel it was a worthwhile 550 mile or so round trip and I can definitely recommend The Zed Shed as a place to address your Z4 roof issues.
 
therealmc said:
After another bout of roof bongs I made it to The Zed Shed yesterday on a long round trip from a quite damp Sussex yesterday. Windows down all the way in the rain wasn’t much fun but Mike was true to his word and had things fixed in about an hour.

Invoices for previous fixes by BMW seem to have included parts which Mike couldn’t see as having been replaced but for a much more reasonable cost (plus my petrol £100?) everything is now back working again as it should and the panels all line up. It seems that to get to some parts the dealer has undone the main latch but not made a note of the original position so that when tightening things back up they didn’t hadn’t got a reference point (and seemingly didn’t know or care about getting the panels lined up) . I watched Mike undo three nuts and nudge the latch up by a few millimetres; simple stuff if you know what you’re doing.

All in all I feel it was a worthwhile 550 mile or so round trip and I can definitely recommend The Zed Shed as a place to address your Z4 roof issues.

:thumbsup:
 
B21 said:
...there’s a tilt sensor to stop it ..
Interesting!

I've never heard of it nor found any. :rofl:

Beleive me, there isn't any in the roof.

There exists a list of the 7 typically age related faults in our HowTo section!

Nobody want's to read it, everybody is searching for new, individual faults in the roof package. Really funny - or annoying!
 
I have exactly the same boot lid alignment issues on my car. Went into BMW dealer when purchased for roof bonging issue which was sorted successfully eventually. It was some time later that I realised the boot lid was out of alignment. Annoyed I hadn’t noticed at time but was just glad to get the car back, several wasted trips and frustrating phone calls left me just wanting to get out of dealers and have never been back.
Maybe a road trip to zen shed for me as well.
 
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