Roof Movement Impaired

[Mayhem]

Just got the dreaded roof movement impaired message. Roof managed to go all the way down, but is not locked. Now gonging and saying roof not locked. Anyways, took it to an indy and he says the left side micro switch is throwing an error code. He will look at the wires and replace the switch and hope that fixes it. Meanwhile, my roof is down, but not locked. That means my windows won’t roll up for now. LOL…

[RobbiZ4]

Once again, these 2 microswitches in the rear roof shell never fail, even if the fault code suggests this. There is always a broken wire up to this switch.

You can place 2 new wires from it's plug down to the CTM in the trunk on the right.

Don't touch this microswitch, as it's very difficulty to re-mount without removing the roof shell!

[Rah-Vee]

Hi I think I have an easier one, I think. 09 E89, all movements work, only issue is the trunk does not open wide enough and the back of the roof hits the inner trunk when opening and rubbing against the inner trunk when closing. I'm not entirely sure its one of the hydraulic pumps as the trunk opens with no issue it just needs to open about 1 to 2 inches wider to clear the roof touching it.

[RobbiZ4]

You have to replace the rear hall sensor on the right hydraulic ram in the trunk. It works faulty due to corrosion inside the black housing.

How to get it repaired:
https://z4-forum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=2019185#p2019185

[Mayhem]

UPDATE on my roof movement impaired. My indy BMW repair traced the issue and found a broken wire. He replaced some wires. He said the broken wire is what was throwing the micro switch error code, but the micro switch was fine. After replacing the broken wire, the roof works great. Hasn’t BMW ever heard of metal fatigue?

The good news, is that my indy guy is a good dude and only charged me a really minimal amount to diagnose and fix it.

[RobbiZ4]

Originally Posted by Mayhem

Hasn’t BMW ever heard of metal fatigue?

Good point. But - didn't this complex roof work 14 years without any issue?

What about our personal lifetime expectations for complex products, if we are used to replace mobile phones each or every 2nd year? Why don't we discuss this with i.e. Apple or Samsung as well?

Back to the roof: from a business point of view I think everything is fine, even if there is a gap between our expectations and reality.

[Mayhem]

Originally Posted by RobbiZ4

Good point. But - didn't this complex roof work 14 years without any issue?

What about our personal lifetime expectations for complex products, if we are used to replace mobile phones each or every 2nd year? Why don't we discuss this with i.e. Apple or Samsung as well?

Back to the roof: from a business point of view I think everything is fine, even if there is a gap between our expectations and reality.

I get your point, but you would think the technology exists to make a metal “hinge” with a far greater lifespan. I doubt I have opened and closed the roof more than say 200 times total since new. I’ve opened and closed my refrigerator door about 5,000 times probably. Imagine if a metal piece was bent each time I opened my refrigerator door. If you bend a wire back and forth 200 times, I could see it breaking, but I also could see having a flexible metal hinge that could probably go thousands of openings and closings.

And while we are on the topic of the roof, the placement of the hydraulic motor is stupid. I cannot agree that it’s something we should just accept. Everyone I know with an E89 has experienced an issue with the placement of the motor and eventual water incursion.

[KennyP]

Originally Posted by Mayhem

Everyone I know with an E89 has experienced an issue with the placement of the motor and eventual water incursion.

I havent had any issues with the motor also my trunk has been dry. I do check it sometimes when im cleaning the car...
Maybe rare operation of the roof is the issue... you say you have maybe used it 200 times... I think mine gets used 200 times in 2 maybe 3 months during the summer.

[Mayhem]

Originally Posted by KennyP

I havent had any issues with the motor also my trunk has been dry. I do check it sometimes when im cleaning the car...
Maybe rare operation of the roof is the issue... you say you have maybe used it 200 times... I think mine gets used 200 times in 2 maybe 3 months during the summer.

The wire broke from metal fatigue. Rare operation doesn’t cause metal fatigue.

Don’t say you haven’t had any trunk/water issues too loud. I didn’t have any issues for years, until one day I did.

[RobbiZ4]

I'd say, water in the pump's area is an issue on 10-20% of the E89 I've "seen" in between. And most of these "rare" issues werde caused by defective vents, which got improved as of ~2011.

Interestingly broken wires/hoses happen according to the gaussian bell curve: some will break very early (I've seen it already after 5 years), others will last 20 years without an issue. But most of the E89 will run between 10-14 years into roof troubles.

And not only the movement counts, but also temperature/weather/humidity factors have to be taken into account for a reduced lifetime.

[Rah-Vee]

Made a quick video to show roof hitting trunk when opening. Also brushes against trunk lid when closing
https://youtube.com/shorts/UjzUqEJpz...hqU0AHedOY5MrO

https://youtube.com/shorts/k7fd0T-HY...N_eDbk6IPEg4tl

[RobbiZ4]

Thanks for the vids.

Same answer as 3 weeks before!

Originally Posted by RobbiZ4

You have to replace the rear hall sensor on the right hydraulic ram in the trunk. It works faulty due to corrosion inside the black housing.

How to get it repaired:
https://z4-forum.com/forum/viewtopic...19185#p2019185

Get the rear hall sensor (HS) of the right hydraulic ram replaced with a new one (E89's or much cheaper from E88). It's responsible to detect the opening state of ghe trunk lid, but suffers on corrosion indide the housing. That leads to wrong state signals.

Better to get both HS replaced, as the 2nd ages as well.