Guess What I Just Saw Drive By My House...

[Kief]

I'm outside my house cutting my grass, and I see this beautiful shiny Crimson Red Z4 (E89) drive by....on a flatbed!

Their top appeared stuck in either the lowering/raising position as their trunk was nearly open. The car had no visible damage as if in an accident and I think this owner lives in the development next to me as I have seen them drive by before

I know there was a thread around regarding manually closing the top, but I don't believe we can?

[mcbeee]

I was doing the "convenience trunk open" thing with the keyfob and it quit half way and nothing would work. I must have moved the key fob or released tho button or something . After a trying it inside with no effect I realised that the trunk lid had opened slightly ...idiot I muttered to myself...it's supposed to open. Closed the trunk and jumped in and everything was fine. I was in my garage at the time so I didn't get too embarrassed

I hope that's all that was wrong with the red one...

[Kief]

Originally Posted by mcbeee

I was doing the "convenience trunk open" thing with the keyfob and it quit half way and nothing would work. I must have moved the key fob or released tho button or something . After a trying it inside with no effect I realised that the trunk lid had opened slightly ...idiot I muttered to myself...it's supposed to open. Closed the trunk and jumped in and everything was fine. I was in my garage at the time so I didn't get too embarrassed

I hope that's all that was wrong with the red one...

This didn't look like what you described, although I'm glad you figured yours out.
The car's trunk was stuck open at a 45 degree angle during what looked like the sequence of lowering/raising their top.
Yes, imagine how embarrassing

[EandS]

This has caused me to wonder again if I should keep one of those small plastic dropcloth packages (unfolds to a large size) inside the passenger cabin in the probably very unlikely event there was a top malfunction and it was starting to rain. It's something that has caused us some concerns about the Z4, especially since our Cadillac XLR's had a way to bypass the automatic system to manually raise the hardtop roof and secure it.

Best regards,
Ed

[Micky Dee]

There's no way to manually raise the top....and the handbook is hopeless if you happen to have a problem! Not good!

[SHADOW4]

I'm thinking if a lot of E89 owners mail an question about this and what the consequences of 2-3 inches of water will do to the car and their stuff that is in the car. Maby an "Outdoor car cover" will be an standard item to go with all cars?

[Kief]

I took a chance yesterday after I saw this and sent a quick email to my dealer's service manager to find out the scoop (there are 2 dealers within 25 miles). He emails me back and said he wasn't aware of any Z's being towed to the dealership. He said he would keep me posted, but I doubt it!

[RET46]

I got one that I keep in the car for hopefully the unlikely event the top gets stuck mid cycle during a rain storm. In Europe the VW Eos comes with one that looks like a giant shower cap. Sadly someone sometime will have top issues and need one.

RET

[myst]

My first day with the car my top got stuck trying to slide in the trunk. I was reading the manual late at night so I walked outside and threw it in the trunk when I was done. The next morning I went to put down the top and the red light started blinking and it stopped retracting. It wouldn't go up or down at this point, it was just jammed. I was able to look in the trunk since the trunk was open the reverse way to let the top in, and I saw the hinge was jammed into the BMW manual. I called BMW Assist and they said there was nothing I could do, they transferred me to the dealership and said there was nothing I could do and I had to call a tow truck to bring it back to the dealership and it wasn't covered under warranty! I had the car for about 16 hours at the time. As I waited for the tow truck I decided to turn off the car (I was scared of doing this at first because the trunk was in the process of closing, but with the tow truck on the way anyway, might as well give it a try). Then I wondered what would happen if I started the car again and just tried closing it, and it closed! I moved the books out of the way, put the top down and enjoyed the car ever since.

[cdeslandes]

Originally Posted by myst

My first day with the car my top got stuck trying to slide in the trunk. I was reading the manual late at night so I walked outside and threw it in the trunk when I was done. The next morning I went to put down the top and the red light started blinking and it stopped retracting. It wouldn't go up or down at this point, it was just jammed. I was able to look in the trunk since the trunk was open the reverse way to let the top in, and I saw the hinge was jammed into the BMW manual. I called BMW Assist and they said there was nothing I could do, they transferred me to the dealership and said there was nothing I could do and I had to call a tow truck to bring it back to the dealership and it wasn't covered under warranty! I had the car for about 16 hours at the time. As I waited for the tow truck I decided to turn off the car (I was scared of doing this at first because the trunk was in the process of closing, but with the tow truck on the way anyway, might as well give it a try). Then I wondered what would happen if I started the car again and just tried closing it, and it closed! I moved the books out of the way, put the top down and enjoyed the car ever since.

Something I learned with computers: when in doubt, reboot!

Since modern cars are computers with wheels, this is often worth trying.


I had my first small mishap with the roof: I retracted it but not all the way, i.e. the trunk/boot cover didn't fully close. I must have released the button too early. I pressed the open roof button again but to no avail. Just the roof error signal flashing.

So I closed the roof and reopen it, and voila! Fully open roof again, no error.