E46 Vert help (Roof won't drop and the suns out)

[h4pry]

Hi People need help fast on this one as driving around in this weather with the roof up makes me look even more of a tit...LOL

My car is showing that the boot is open via the light on the dash even when it is closed. I have tried opening and closing the boot gently and hard however the light stays on. So what this in effect does is tell the i-bus that the boot is open and that the roof should not open. (dissables the softtop)

Phoned BMW up and they says its most definitely the loom that connects the boot lid to the car (fatigued from a few years of opening and closing) However I have taken the gromit off that holds this loom and it's mint, no way the wires are frayed!

So has anyone got any ideas please.....................

[Chaos]

I can't get out to my car atm and check, but often there's a contact area on the boot rim which the boot closes on and registers with the i-bus. Maybe worth just cleaning that and the area on the boot if it's like that on yours, it could just be a dirty connection.

There is the possibility that you have a break in the wire somewhere near the lid joint from constant flexing, but I can't see it as your car isn't that old and it doesn't say much for their wiring if it's gone already!

[h4pry]

Thanks for the response Chaos...

Well I found the problem and I can't believe I have found, yet another crap design fault on the E46... :eek: There wasn't just one broken wire but there were five!!! Two completely gone and the others well on their way out.

Well I pulled the loom gromit right back and this is what I found.....

http://hometown.aol.co.uk/H4PRY/roof-1.jpg

So down to Halford I go and get these.....

http://hometown.aol.co.uk/H4PRY/roof-2.jpg

And I finish up like this...

http://hometown.aol.co.uk/H4PRY/roof-3.jpg

Then finally I taped the whole exposed part of the loom up with insulation tape...

Just to further say that my car has done 30,000 miles and I have had it from new. The boot rarely gets opened....

[BigFas]

Holy crap!!! That looks seriously pinched and in a place which is well behind the grommet and shouldn't be like that at all. It's obviously not the first time it's happened seeing as the dealer diagnosed the issue immediately! Well done getting it fixed though and enjoy the weather :)

[Chaos]

Amen, good bit of break/fix work there dude, now drop the roof and make with some cruising!

[Durgesh]

Crazy stuff, I used mine a lot never had that problem...

So its all working now yeah?

Its good that you did not solder the wires.. I hear from our mate Andy, that the i-bus does not like that sort of thing.

Durgesh

[h4pry]

No I didn't solder. I used heat shrinks for two, tape on the one that was not totally broken and connection blocks for the other two.

Just thought..... my rear parking sensors kept blowing fuses last week, that will be what it was then [hmm

[adood84]

What ar ethose wires for ? and why would they break?

[h4pry]

They have broken from metal fatigue from the boot opening. They are for the reverse light, fog light, PDC, boot open sensor, central locking.