Roof drain clean from the top?
- Thread starter stevedruidstone
- Start date
Stratts said:AlpinaRoadsterS said:Georgio said:.....
After my experience I would almost guarantee that virtually every Z4 roof motor in the UK will have some degree of water ingress, the BMW designers guaranteed it.
Not only in the UK. Same in germany
We have a Z user in germany, who removed my roof motor into the trunk (left side) WITHOUT touching the roof.
You cannot leave us hanging, we need pics and a guide on how to do this.
To be honest it's not that difficult as the hydraulic lines and electrical cabling are long enough for the whole unit to sit happily in the boot once you get it out of the 'jacuzzi'. Almost by accident I moved the motor housing from the boot and found it wasn't even attached to the roof framework.
However, I didn't know what I was dealing with so had no choice but to completely remove the roof as this seemed the accepted way to resolve the problem.
Now I know different, if I wanted to access the motor I'd simply remove the boot roof, get in the boot and fish out the motor housing into the boot space.
If I have further problems with the motor getting drowned again I may do this anyways and correct the BMW design cock-up with the motor position.
jampudding
Member
Georgio said:
How did you manage that?
All sounds great but beware I had stratstone jaguar repair my roof after I bought the car 2nd hand from them and they went through all this s**t about we don't have to remove the motor blah blah blah ended up twelve months later with a bill for £900 for damage to hydraulic lines and roof hinges ( which they paid eventually !) please learn from my mistake let the professionals do the job properly - BMW specialist.......pay the bill....... enjoy the car -
In my opinion of course !
In my opinion of course !
jampudding said:
Easy. With the boot lid out, roof up and lying in the boot you can stick your hand round the corner of the rear bulkhead and reach the top of the motor housing. The problem is that I didn't know how all the hydraulic/electrical lines went so wasn't about to go pulling stuff around that I couldn't see.
jampudding
Member
I want to try moving the motor just a little so I can then stir the rubbish that collects at the top of the drain hole with some wire. Did you actually take the boot lid off?
jampudding said:
Not the boot lid, the boot roof, so in other words the moveable plastic tray in the boot that you can raise/lower. Take this out and with the roof up it's possible to reach round to the left of the boot and grab hold of the motor housing. Usually they're attached to the roof chassis by some zip ties, but more often than not the plastic slot that the zip tie goes through breaks allowing the motor housing to rattle around. The drain plug is directly under the motor so you'll be lucky to find something that will bend under the motor housing and then turn enough to find the drain plug - think Luke dropping his bombs into the deathstar blindfold and you get the idea... :roll:
I can't agree with you on this, not if the BMW specialist or dealer replaces the motor and puts back in the original compartment which is vulnerable for water ingress.The Badger said:
A few weeks ago I bought a 2008 3.0 Z4, the car was advertised with a broken roof motor, but since the car was a lot cheaper then other 2007 or 2008 Z4,s I took the risk and bought the car.
Offcourse i already know that the german fellow "pixelrichter" could probably fix the roofmotor.
On a Saturday 2 weeks ago I had an appointment with "pixelrichter" to fix my roof, within an 1-1/2 hour the original roof motor worked again !
8) The roofmotor is now mounted in the boot and is hidden by a panel made of the same carpet as original.
I talked a bit with Harald Richter and his wife, they have done about a 1030 modifications of the roofmotor so far.
(Yes, do the math 1030 x €335........)
Only about 1 or 2% of the repair fails, and in that cause the motor is usually really broken, and needs to be replaced.
But if that is the case, he still mounts the new motor in the boot where it is protected from the elements.
When i bought the car i got all the garagebills and documentation from the original (first) owner.
The motor was already replaced once in 2011 !, which was eventually paid for by the dealer at that time.
Al the discussion and howto,s on the forum about cleaning the drains, is very entertaining.
But you can,t expect that from the everage owner/customer.
jampudding
Member
Just out of interest when you spoke to pixelrichter did he seem like the kind of chap that travels much? I went to the website to fill in the form and was going to ask if he was keen on coming to the uk for a weekend to do his mod. I'm guessing if he could do lets say 10 per day, at a push with help from us, it might be worth his while.
When I had the appointment at 3pm on a saturday, a Z4 who was just finished drove away.
And whilst pixelrichter worked on my car another customer had already arrived waiting for his turn, this other customer was specialised in restoring Austin Healey,s by the way.
It doesn't look he is having problems finding customers.....
But you could always invite the man for a UK forum meeting.
Motor on the left, which worked just fine after some cleanup and a bit of WD40.
If this motor does fail somewhere in the future, it is now easy accessible in the boot and can be replaced/repaired in minutes by myself.
On the right the original compartment which holds the motor.
And whilst pixelrichter worked on my car another customer had already arrived waiting for his turn, this other customer was specialised in restoring Austin Healey,s by the way.
It doesn't look he is having problems finding customers.....
But you could always invite the man for a UK forum meeting.
Motor on the left, which worked just fine after some cleanup and a bit of WD40.
If this motor does fail somewhere in the future, it is now easy accessible in the boot and can be replaced/repaired in minutes by myself.
On the right the original compartment which holds the motor.
sunnchipie
Member
Why is pixelricter the only one who can do this job?
I thought it was just a case of slinging the thing in the boot?
Granted, I'm not sure how to get it there but surely somebody does?
Any idea gasman?!
Does he cut a hole out, feed it through and adapt the plastic housing in some way
I thought it was just a case of slinging the thing in the boot?
Granted, I'm not sure how to get it there but surely somebody does?
Any idea gasman?!
Does he cut a hole out, feed it through and adapt the plastic housing in some way
jampudding
Member
Gasman - can we have a few close up pictures of it in place now. Perhaps from that we could work out how it's done.
By the way if the motor is not working does he have some spares?
By the way if the motor is not working does he have some spares?
Slinging the thing in the boot is not the problem.sunnchipie said:
Doing that without removing the top is the challenge
I am working offshore at the moment, so taking pictures is a bit difficult.
Here are some pictures from his website.
http://pixelrichter.de/bilder--videos-1.html
http://pixelrichter.de/bilder--videos-2.html
I just send him an e-mail with the question if he has new or repaired pumps on stock.edit: he already responded, he does have new pumps on stock, but this is usually not necessary.
After I visited him, I drove further south to the Alps.
(pictures are thumbnails)
Dolomites in Italy, Gaviapass
Stelvio
Grossglockner, Austria
i'm going to see if i can get 1 off these:
http://www.lidl.co.uk/en/our-offers-2491.htm?action=showDetail&id=24110
this may be great for checking things
http://www.lidl.co.uk/en/our-offers-2491.htm?action=showDetail&id=24110
this may be great for checking things
AlpinaRoadsterS
Member
@ Taz
Have a look here in the german forum:
http://www.zroadster.com/forum/index.php?threads/kontrolle-des-wasserablaufes-beim-e85.108793/#post-2130818
Have a look here in the german forum:
http://www.zroadster.com/forum/index.php?threads/kontrolle-des-wasserablaufes-beim-e85.108793/#post-2130818
Hi I've got a dead motor also on my 2007 Z4 Roadater does anyone know of a person in the uk that refits it into the boot area , only its bad enough Paying out £700 or so but to have it possibly go wrong again within a year or two would make me very annoyed :evil: if not has anyone drilled a few extra holes to stop build up of water and has this worked ? Thanks Sam . 