Newbie - hopefully to become a Z4m owner :)

G

gman31

New member
Hi Guys

Just put a deposit down on a Z4m Roadster, been looking for 6months now and final it looks like this is the one. However I need some advice.

Before I go ahead with the purchase there were a few things that concerned me

1) The electric Roof did not work when out on the test drive, buttons did not respond ( The weather was terrible, heavy rain and strong winds ) - We tested the car again about 20mins later outside the house and all worked fine ? - anything to worry about ?

2) The run flat tyre button next to the electric roof one did not do anything ? should it ? - ( I noticed the car had continentals all round )

3) Second Key missing ? expensive to replace ?

Apart from this, the car is in very good condition with v.low mileage

would really appreciate your advice
 
gman31, welcome to the forum... :driving:
To answer your questions...

1. You must be completely stopped for the roof to work. If you were then there is a problem.

2. Continentals are the supplied tire and they are not run flats. I think you're talking about the reset button for the tire pressure sensor and it does nothing unless you need to reset due to a loss of air.

3. In the US the cost to replace a key is around $100.00.

Hope this helps.
 
Thxs for the quick response. The Car was stationary, but we just went through a storm with heavy rain (not sure if that would effect the roof?).
We parked up under a garage roof to test with no response, but when we got back to the house and waited for about 20mins (heavy rain still) - the roof worked fine? - I have been reading about flooded motors etc, could this be the problem ?
 
Welcome to the forum :D

I believe that the facelift cars (of which the M will be one as it was not available before) have a redesigned roof motor casing which protects it from the rain so that should be fine... Is this from a dealer or ?

Think Id make it a condition of the sale that it gets sorted.

'spose it could be a faulty microswitch in the boot for the divider which lets the system know the roof can stow. was there anything in the boot that could have been pushing up on the shelf at the time?
 
Thxs for the welcome, funny enough he did have a play in the boot, but still did not work (private buy). but worked fine later on at the house when it was still raining. Just spoke to BMW and they recommend a £114 1 hr diagnostics of the roof/car ? I could get the seller to do this before a buy ?
 
If your buying private then I would ask him to get a diagnostic done, they just plug in a computer and check fault codes on the roof and the rest of the car. A failed motor would be an expensive repair, I'm guessing £500?? Facelifts have a protected motor but it could still be faulty. I'd also want the key replaced while it's at the dealers.

Hope it works out and youre posting pics on here soon :thumbsup:
 
There's a microswitch in the boot which would halt the roof, but this would show up as a yellow symbol.

easy enough to sort, no real cost but this could have been why he was messing.

either way, don't let it slip or it could ruin your first few weeks of purchase fun :)
 
Gman just to clarify the comment about 'fiddling in the boot'; there are two knobs inside the boot at the top that you can use to raise the tray (that the roof folds down on to when stowed) by a couple of inches to increase load space in the boot when the roof is up. If these are in the 'up' position you'd get a yellow warning light when you try to lower the roof.

Sounds like it could be an electrical problem of some kind though - did the roof switch light up in any way at all (its usually displaying a red LED while the roof is operating) or was it just dead?

==================================================

Buying a car from a private seller - what the law says
If you buy a car from a private seller, you won't have the same rights as when you buy from a dealer. You will only be able to take action against the seller if:
• the vehicle doesn't match the description they gave you, for example, they told you it had only one owner when it has had several. The seller will be responsible for giving you a false description, even if they believed it to be true
• the seller broke a specific contract term, for example, by saying that the car would have an MOT and it did not
• the car is unroadworthy. It is a criminal offence to sell an unroadworthy car. A car is unroadworthy if its brakes, tyres, steering, or construction make it unfit for the road. An MOT certificate does not mean that the car is roadworthy
• the seller was not the legal owner of the car and did not have a right to sell it.
 
Basically the first time we tried, I saw no lights or anything just dead. But when the roof worked I cant remember if it had any lights or not :(
 
then the only way that wouldn't be unusual was if you were still moving when you first touched the button, or if you'd pressed roof up when you meant down.
 
I had a quote from BMW for a replacement key for a 2001 3 series (same key as Z4 I think) and it was nearly £150. Factor this into the price also. I never did get a replacement......
 
Darren M said:
I had a quote from BMW for a replacement key for a 2001 3 series (same key as Z4 I think) and it was nearly £150. Factor this into the price also. I never did get a replacement......
Click to expand...

Agreed, about 2.5 years ago I got a key for my 2001 3 series and it was £99 and some pence. Get the seller to sort it. Nobody should lose a key. You either actively lose it (drop it down the drain, dog eats it etc) and you replace it, or you don't lose it and it's in a drawer somewhere.

Mind you given that there are a fair few Z4MRs around at the moment, and this one has potential roof issues, I'd walk away (unless it's very cheap) and head for the nearest BMW AUC to take advantage of their warranty, 7 day insurance etc, etc. I was in Swindon 10 days ago and they had a lovely Z4MR in silver with black, full loaded up as it was a BMW management car. Sub £22k IIRC.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom