Results 1 to 3 of 3

Thread: 2007 530xi wagon (e61) rear window won't latch, it's killing the battery, help?

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Jun 2009
    Location
    white plains, NY
    Posts
    13
    My Cars
    2007 Z4

    2007 530xi wagon (e61) rear window won't latch, it's killing the battery, help?

    I got this car a few months ago, and everything is breaking.
    First the front right strut went. Got that repaired at a shop because I didn't have time to do it, and it rained on the car.
    Well you know this car and rain, but don't worry, all the electronic boxes were removed from the spare tire well and placed in the rear side panel.
    Except apparently that's where the water goes on its way to the spare tire well. The rain shorted one of the boxes which appears to have burned out the compressor (I wasn't at the shop when this happened, I just noticed the suspension at bottom, and after poking around, when I tried to disconnect the power cable to the compressor, I noticed the plastic had melted and fused itself together, so I assume that's what happened.) Whatever, least of my problems at the moment.

    A few days ago, the main hatch door rear latch stopped opening. You push the trunk open button (near driver's door) and the side cover release things open, and the piston tries to push open the hatch, but it can't because the lock didn't unlatch.

    So I find the mechanical switch by climbing from the inside of the car (the hatch window switch was broken long long ago).
    The wiring must be good enough, because the external switch and the mechanical latch inside still trigger the electronics to push the piston to open the door, but won't disengage the latch, unless I do it manually. Fine, whatever. I looked at it, wiring seems to work, can't figure out why the latch won't unlatch. Help there would be appreciated too, but that's not my worst problem at the moment either.

    So today I had to put something in the trunk, I crawled in from the rear door, opened the hatch, put my stuff in the trunk, go to close the trunk and.... the window stays open.

    This is the same window that's impossible to open if the electric button switch is not working. I was able to get it open once, by removing the rear door cover and shoving a tiny screwdriver into a little hole on the side of the lock (this was in an attempt to get the spoiler cover off to try and fix the key remote convenience function which also isn't working, but oddly the antenna wasn't waterlogged and corroded, so it must be the wiring going through the door hinges, again not my biggest problem right now.)

    Here is my problem: The window won't latch.

    I push the latch in with a screwdriver and it just pops open again. As such the car thinks the window is not secure and therefore won't engage the alarm and more importantly won't turn all the interior lights off.
    So now I have to go to work but I can't because if I leave the car in the garage it will kill the battery and I will be stuck there.
    I have had luck disconnecting things to get them to work (like when the intelligent battery sensor got wet (again rain) and decided to not let me start the car anymore even though the battery was fine) I disconnected the blue IBS wire from the battery and now the car starts again... (again, not my biggest problem right now :-)

    So I disconnected the plug (4 wire plug) going to the hatch window lock mechanism, and that made the hatch light go off, but the car still thinks the window is open.

    Anybody have any idea how to just make the window stay shut? What wires can I short to make the car think it's latched so it won't kill the battery leaving all the lights on.
    Or maybe a list of fuses I can pull?

    Right now the car is in the driveway with the battery disconnected.

    I'm really at a loss. Every week some other stupid electronic thing goes wrong with this car, getting to my wits end here.

    Anybody wanna buy a shiny 2007 530xi wagon with lots of electrical problems?

    Thanks in advance for any help or advice anybody can offer.

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Jun 2009
    Location
    white plains, NY
    Posts
    13
    My Cars
    2007 Z4
    Quote Originally Posted by nixomose View Post
    I got this car a few months ago, and everything is breaking.
    First the front right strut went. Got that repaired at a shop because I didn't have time to do it, and it rained on the car.
    Well you know this car and rain, but don't worry, all the electronic boxes were removed from the spare tire well and placed in the rear side panel.
    Except apparently that's where the water goes on its way to the spare tire well. The rain shorted one of the boxes which appears to have burned out the compressor (I wasn't at the shop when this happened, I just noticed the suspension at bottom, and after poking around, when I tried to disconnect the power cable to the compressor, I noticed the plastic had melted and fused itself together, so I assume that's what happened.) Whatever, least of my problems at the moment.

    A few days ago, the main hatch door rear latch stopped opening. You push the trunk open button (near driver's door) and the side cover release things open, and the piston tries to push open the hatch, but it can't because the lock didn't unlatch.

    So I find the mechanical switch by climbing from the inside of the car (the hatch window switch was broken long long ago).
    The wiring must be good enough, because the external switch and the mechanical latch inside still trigger the electronics to push the piston to open the door, but won't disengage the latch, unless I do it manually. Fine, whatever. I looked at it, wiring seems to work, can't figure out why the latch won't unlatch. Help there would be appreciated too, but that's not my worst problem at the moment either.

    So today I had to put something in the trunk, I crawled in from the rear door, opened the hatch, put my stuff in the trunk, go to close the trunk and.... the window stays open.

    This is the same window that's impossible to open if the electric button switch is not working. I was able to get it open once, by removing the rear door cover and shoving a tiny screwdriver into a little hole on the side of the lock (this was in an attempt to get the spoiler cover off to try and fix the key remote convenience function which also isn't working, but oddly the antenna wasn't waterlogged and corroded, so it must be the wiring going through the door hinges, again not my biggest problem right now.)

    Here is my problem: The window won't latch.

    I push the latch in with a screwdriver and it just pops open again. As such the car thinks the window is not secure and therefore won't engage the alarm and more importantly won't turn all the interior lights off.
    So now I have to go to work but I can't because if I leave the car in the garage it will kill the battery and I will be stuck there.
    I have had luck disconnecting things to get them to work (like when the intelligent battery sensor got wet (again rain) and decided to not let me start the car anymore even though the battery was fine) I disconnected the blue IBS wire from the battery and now the car starts again... (again, not my biggest problem right now :-)

    So I disconnected the plug (4 wire plug) going to the hatch window lock mechanism, and that made the hatch light go off, but the car still thinks the window is open.

    Anybody have any idea how to just make the window stay shut? What wires can I short to make the car think it's latched so it won't kill the battery leaving all the lights on.
    Or maybe a list of fuses I can pull?

    Right now the car is in the driveway with the battery disconnected.

    I'm really at a loss. Every week some other stupid electronic thing goes wrong with this car, getting to my wits end here.

    Anybody wanna buy a shiny 2007 530xi wagon with lots of electrical problems?

    Thanks in advance for any help or advice anybody can offer.

    So I took apart the rear latch mechanism, came off with 2 bolts. And I'm not sure what's wrong with it, I'm guessing the motor has a dead spot. But spun it around to get it into the latch position which caused it to depress the switch indicating it is latched. Put it all back together and, well the window latch doesn't work, but at least it stays latched now and doesn't think the car is unlocked thus killing the battery.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Mar 2008
    Location
    Napa, Ca
    Posts
    1,796
    My Cars
    1987 M6
    Hmmm ...... it sounds like you identified the problem, and can address it by purchasing a new latch assembly.

    Jose
    1987 M6
    Livin the dream!

Similar Threads

  1. 2007 530xi wagon (e61) rear air suspension failure.
    By nixomose in forum 2004-2010 (E60,E61)
    Replies: 0
    Last Post: 07-07-2018, 08:48 PM
  2. HELP! rear window won't go up!
    By MarqE36 in forum 1991 - 1999 (E36)
    Replies: 7
    Last Post: 11-05-2007, 08:49 PM
  3. rear window won't go up! Help quick please...
    By daveydarko33 in forum 1991 - 1999 (E36)
    Replies: 12
    Last Post: 05-10-2007, 10:04 PM
  4. My greatest fear! Rear Window won't go up!
    By Unique MjC in forum 1996 - 2003 (E39)
    Replies: 3
    Last Post: 04-29-2007, 12:28 PM
  5. Help! Rear window won't close!
    By Phalcon51 in forum 1988 - 1996 (E34)
    Replies: 11
    Last Post: 09-15-2006, 01:24 PM

Bookmarks

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •