Remote Locking Problem 2007 E61 535xi Wagon

[alexisa]

Hello everyone,
Soliciting help and or ideas for the following problem:
First what I have done. Removed the diversity antenna and found zero trace of corossion or any indication whatsoever that moisture had gotten in. Took it to the bench and examined it with my magnifying glass and it all is AOK. At least visually and a bit of static testing. (I have a bit electronics bench experience)
I read as many threads in this and the other BMW forums and was not able to find anything which was in any way similar to my problem.
I have two keys and they both behave exactly the same way as I will state below.
So, remote locking does not work. Well, works ONLY in one instance.
When the tailgate is open and I press the lock button, the car locks and once the tailgate closes the locking tone (beep) is produced. The car will NOT unlock or lock with the remote at all any other way, after locking it this way or after locking it with the metal key.
After the car is unlocked with the metal key and I start driving the auto door locking system works and the locks properly come down after about the 10 mph speed is reached. The manual inside door lock activation push button works as it should.
So, I have a partial locking and total NOT unlocking problem.
Again, ideas or help would be more than GREATLY appreciated!
Cheers!
Alexis

[DRVN2WN]

Have you checked the wiring through the liftgate hinges? If it's locking when the liftgate is open but not closed, there could be a broken wire that is connecting when open and broken when liftgate is shut...

[alexisa]

Thanks for the input. It is on my list to check. Do you have any idea on which side(left or right hinge) the relevant harness will be?
Alexis

[nixomose]

Thanks for the input. It is on my list to check. Do you have any idea on which side(left or right hinge) the relevant harness will be?
Alexis

it's definitely the wiring.

my remote was working intermittently then it stopped.

as for which side, the looking around I've done says it's the left side.

However, just yesterday I went and dug out the harness on the left side.
there's two harnesses going to the driver's side hinge, the bigger one has 11 wires in it (which are also going to break so you might as well fix those while you're in there if they're not broken already.) The 11 wire harness goes down into the hatch door and at least controls the window latch switch and the actual main door lock, that's what was broken on mine that started working when I fixed them.

The other smaller harness goes to the top of the window, to the spoiler where the diversity antennae is.
there are 2 plastic corrugated conduits and one free wire all heavily taped together.
one conduit has a black wire in it, not sure what it's for.
the free wire is brown and that's what was broken on mine, but when I fixed it the key fob didn't start working. so I'm not so sure the left side hinge is it.
The second plastic conduit I'm not sure what it is but I was hesitant to cut it open because I thought it might be the washer fluid supply line to the rear window squirter.

So while I can't definitively tell you which wire(s) it is, I thought my discovery might at least fill out the picture for you.

If you figure out which wire(s) it is, please lemme know because I'd like to fix mine too.

a few notes: there is almost NO slack in any of the wiring harnesses, so if you patch any wires, leave lots of slack, it makes it a lot easier to work with and pack back together.


but I can guarantee you it's definitely a wire through one of the hatch hinges. they all break from metal fatigue and being pressed against the end of the metal C shaped bracket that's supposed to hold it in place.
everything that starts to fail intermittently based on opening and closing the hatch is definitely a wire-through-the-hatch-hinge problem.

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also I think the right side hinge has mostly the wiring for the lights and the liftgate switch. But I found no definitive reference anywhere as to what each wiring harness was for.