How to Open Tailgate Window (with no power)
09-05-2010, 02:07 AM
#21
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My Ride: 2005 525d manual touring. Beige comfort leather, panoramic sunroof, hifi and blinds option.
Mike,
Its still on the 'to do' list ... Am just too busy at the moment (Finland all last week, France & Italy this coming week, then off to Japan for 3 weeks) ... Whats worse is that I kept my Golf Mk4 estate (170,000 miles, but like new) for leaving at the airport / winter driving and ITS rear wiper is working just fine (its also safer to drive in the snow and ice).
Anyway, I think we still need someone to chip in and tell us + and - 12V to which coloured wires ... Once I get some spare time I will just cut the wires and experiment, but would prefer to see if someone has the knowledge !
No other faults to report !
Cheers,
Ian
Its still on the 'to do' list ... Am just too busy at the moment (Finland all last week, France & Italy this coming week, then off to Japan for 3 weeks) ... Whats worse is that I kept my Golf Mk4 estate (170,000 miles, but like new) for leaving at the airport / winter driving and ITS rear wiper is working just fine (its also safer to drive in the snow and ice).
Anyway, I think we still need someone to chip in and tell us + and - 12V to which coloured wires ... Once I get some spare time I will just cut the wires and experiment, but would prefer to see if someone has the knowledge !
No other faults to report !
Cheers,
Ian
12-15-2010, 08:05 AM
#22
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My Ride: 2006 BMW E61 530xi sport wagon
I might be a little late to the game on this, but I found a solution to opening the tailgate glass. First, thanks to frost for the pics he posted. I too got stuck trying to remove the plastic trim because of the two screws that you can only get to with the window open (see frost's orginal picture, it's number 2) The Bentley manual doesn't even mention them, a real help there. Anyway, I ended up, accidentally, breaking them off, or more precisely tearing through them. Turns out to not be a big deal, they still kind of work when I reassembled it.
At this point I have the trim panel off, but I still can't get the window open and I don't feel like tearing into the wiring to energize the latch mechanism. So I'm at work trying to kill some time searching the forums for an answer, thinking surely there must be a manual release, right? I find this post: www.bmwland.co.uk/forums/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=105599 and the last post has what I have been looking for
the mythical manual release. I get home and look around at the latch for a second to figure it out, and there is an oval shaped hole, down in the hole you can see some metal and the metal has a round hole in it. I put a small screwdriver in the round hole and the whole metal piece slid up and "pop" the glass was open.
The first picture below is looking at the latch if you are standing at the left rear corner of the car. The second picture is a close up of the latch and inside the red circle is the manual release mechanism.
Now with the glass open I can test the actual switch for continuity. What do you know, it's not the switch, so I'm thinking it's the wiring in the hinge. I close everything up for the night, trim is still completely disassembled, and for the fun of it I try the glass switch...and it releases
I'm thinking WTF, I try it a few more times and every time it works. I'm not going to complain and I can go to bed happy.
Next day, it still works and I put the rear hatch back together glad the whole ordeal is over with, but with everything reassembled the switch has quit working again.
Back off with all the trim, except for the main trim panel. I removed all the screws/fasteners except the two hidden under the glass. Now for the test (frost I hope you don't mind that I borrowed your picture, but it's perfect for this explanation)
Once you have the trim panel at the same point as picture 1 below, it's possible to use a long slender tool to get to the manual release. I pulled the left half of the trim down and used a 18 inch flathead screw driver in one hand and a small flashlight in the other(to see what I was doing)to pop the latch. The longer the tool the easier it will be because there's not much room to get your hand, much less your arm, in there. Just in case you're thinking of using something like a straightened coat-hanger, don't, it is not rigid enough to pop the latch.
The only thing I can figure out is maybe with the trim panels removed it took some strain of the wires and the switch would work. That's the only thing I can think of anybody have any other thoughts? Since then the temps have dropped into the teens and 20s and I don't care that much about the problem to brave the frigid weather, but will have a look once it warms up a little. Another strange thing, when the tailgate is open (the whole thing) I can't use the remote to unlock or lock the car doors.
At this point I have the trim panel off, but I still can't get the window open and I don't feel like tearing into the wiring to energize the latch mechanism. So I'm at work trying to kill some time searching the forums for an answer, thinking surely there must be a manual release, right? I find this post: www.bmwland.co.uk/forums/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=105599 and the last post has what I have been looking for
the mythical manual release. I get home and look around at the latch for a second to figure it out, and there is an oval shaped hole, down in the hole you can see some metal and the metal has a round hole in it. I put a small screwdriver in the round hole and the whole metal piece slid up and "pop" the glass was open. The first picture below is looking at the latch if you are standing at the left rear corner of the car. The second picture is a close up of the latch and inside the red circle is the manual release mechanism.
Now with the glass open I can test the actual switch for continuity. What do you know, it's not the switch, so I'm thinking it's the wiring in the hinge. I close everything up for the night, trim is still completely disassembled, and for the fun of it I try the glass switch...and it releases
I'm thinking WTF, I try it a few more times and every time it works. I'm not going to complain and I can go to bed happy.Next day, it still works and I put the rear hatch back together glad the whole ordeal is over with, but with everything reassembled the switch has quit working again.
Back off with all the trim, except for the main trim panel. I removed all the screws/fasteners except the two hidden under the glass. Now for the test (frost I hope you don't mind that I borrowed your picture, but it's perfect for this explanation)
Once you have the trim panel at the same point as picture 1 below, it's possible to use a long slender tool to get to the manual release. I pulled the left half of the trim down and used a 18 inch flathead screw driver in one hand and a small flashlight in the other(to see what I was doing)to pop the latch. The longer the tool the easier it will be because there's not much room to get your hand, much less your arm, in there. Just in case you're thinking of using something like a straightened coat-hanger, don't, it is not rigid enough to pop the latch.
The only thing I can figure out is maybe with the trim panels removed it took some strain of the wires and the switch would work. That's the only thing I can think of anybody have any other thoughts? Since then the temps have dropped into the teens and 20s and I don't care that much about the problem to brave the frigid weather, but will have a look once it warms up a little. Another strange thing, when the tailgate is open (the whole thing) I can't use the remote to unlock or lock the car doors.
12-15-2010, 08:32 AM
#23
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My Ride: 2005 525d manual touring. Beige comfort leather, panoramic sunroof, hifi and blinds option.
Chop ... Brilliant, I still havent got round to this, so your info and pics are really useful .. I hadnt picked up on the manual release hole, so will give it a try (and then be able to get to work on the inevitable broken wires in the hinges).
Good to see that my pics were of some use 9and also pleased I didnt cut into the wiring ...)
Cheers,
Ian
NB .. The E61 is off the road for winter .. Its a nightmare on snow and ice, good job I kept the VW Golf estate for the winter months !
Good to see that my pics were of some use 9and also pleased I didnt cut into the wiring ...)
Cheers,
Ian
NB .. The E61 is off the road for winter .. Its a nightmare on snow and ice, good job I kept the VW Golf estate for the winter months !
12-22-2010, 09:26 AM
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Chop - Thanks for this.
I started reading through all the tailgate threads when my remote locking became intermittent. Having read all about getting to the diversity antenna and the potential for broken wiring I was thinking this could be a good fun fix. All I needed was the tailgate glass to be working...
3 days later you can imagine what stopped working. grrrrr!
So now it's back into the garage, and the project is back on for the Christmas holiday. Might even miss a bad film or two!
I started reading through all the tailgate threads when my remote locking became intermittent. Having read all about getting to the diversity antenna and the potential for broken wiring I was thinking this could be a good fun fix. All I needed was the tailgate glass to be working...
3 days later you can imagine what stopped working. grrrrr!
So now it's back into the garage, and the project is back on for the Christmas holiday. Might even miss a bad film or two!
03-07-2011, 01:57 PM
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Had this reply with my E46 320d tourer. Connected the positive of a 9volt battery to the brown wire with red stripe, and the negative to the brown wire and clunk the tailgate window opened.
I got this from another forum , if anyone is interested I'll look up the link and post it.
I got this from another forum , if anyone is interested I'll look up the link and post it.
03-07-2011, 10:01 PM
#26
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My Ride: 2005 525d manual touring. Beige comfort leather, panoramic sunroof, hifi and blinds option.
I can't believe that I havent got round to fixing this yet, so "Yes" please post the link ... the more info the better ...
The real answer seems to be the hidden mechanical release though (see above) ..
PS .. I dont use the BMW over winter .. have a spare Golf Mk4 estate ... Couldnt believe how dangerous the E61 was in the ice and snow ... Nightmare !
The real answer seems to be the hidden mechanical release though (see above) ..
PS .. I dont use the BMW over winter .. have a spare Golf Mk4 estate ... Couldnt believe how dangerous the E61 was in the ice and snow ... Nightmare !
07-02-2012, 12:25 PM
#27
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This is the right tool to use.
You need,
-A stick
-A nail
-Two plastic strips.
Attach the nail to the stick by using the strips, and you got the proper tool to manual open the tailgate.
You need,
-A stick
-A nail
-Two plastic strips.
Attach the nail to the stick by using the strips, and you got the proper tool to manual open the tailgate.
08-06-2012, 03:32 AM
#28
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I might be a little late to the game on this, but I found a solution to opening the tailgate glass. First, thanks to frost for the pics he posted. I too got stuck trying to remove the plastic trim because of the two screws that you can only get to with the window open (see frost's orginal picture, it's number 2) The Bentley manual doesn't even mention them, a real help there. Anyway, I ended up, accidentally, breaking them off, or more precisely tearing through them. Turns out to not be a big deal, they still kind of work when I reassembled it.
At this point I have the trim panel off, but I still can't get the window open and I don't feel like tearing into the wiring to energize the latch mechanism. So I'm at work trying to kill some time searching the forums for an answer, thinking surely there must be a manual release, right? I find this post: www.bmwland.co.uk/forums/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=105599 and the last post has what I have been looking for the mythical manual release. I get home and look around at the latch for a second to figure it out, and there is an oval shaped hole, down in the hole you can see some metal and the metal has a round hole in it. I put a small screwdriver in the round hole and the whole metal piece slid up and "pop" the glass was open.
The first picture below is looking at the latch if you are standing at the left rear corner of the car. The second picture is a close up of the latch and inside the red circle is the manual release mechanism.
Now with the glass open I can test the actual switch for continuity. What do you know, it's not the switch, so I'm thinking it's the wiring in the hinge. I close everything up for the night, trim is still completely disassembled, and for the fun of it I try the glass switch...and it releases I'm thinking WTF, I try it a few more times and every time it works. I'm not going to complain and I can go to bed happy.
Next day, it still works and I put the rear hatch back together glad the whole ordeal is over with, but with everything reassembled the switch has quit working again.
Back off with all the trim, except for the main trim panel. I removed all the screws/fasteners except the two hidden under the glass. Now for the test (frost I hope you don't mind that I borrowed your picture, but it's perfect for this explanation)
Once you have the trim panel at the same point as picture 1 below, it's possible to use a long slender tool to get to the manual release. I pulled the left half of the trim down and used a 18 inch flathead screw driver in one hand and a small flashlight in the other(to see what I was doing)to pop the latch. The longer the tool the easier it will be because there's not much room to get your hand, much less your arm, in there. Just in case you're thinking of using something like a straightened coat-hanger, don't, it is not rigid enough to pop the latch.
The only thing I can figure out is maybe with the trim panels removed it took some strain of the wires and the switch would work. That's the only thing I can think of anybody have any other thoughts? Since then the temps have dropped into the teens and 20s and I don't care that much about the problem to brave the frigid weather, but will have a look once it warms up a little. Another strange thing, when the tailgate is open (the whole thing) I can't use the remote to unlock or lock the car doors.
At this point I have the trim panel off, but I still can't get the window open and I don't feel like tearing into the wiring to energize the latch mechanism. So I'm at work trying to kill some time searching the forums for an answer, thinking surely there must be a manual release, right? I find this post: www.bmwland.co.uk/forums/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=105599 and the last post has what I have been looking for
the mythical manual release. I get home and look around at the latch for a second to figure it out, and there is an oval shaped hole, down in the hole you can see some metal and the metal has a round hole in it. I put a small screwdriver in the round hole and the whole metal piece slid up and "pop" the glass was open. The first picture below is looking at the latch if you are standing at the left rear corner of the car. The second picture is a close up of the latch and inside the red circle is the manual release mechanism.
Now with the glass open I can test the actual switch for continuity. What do you know, it's not the switch, so I'm thinking it's the wiring in the hinge. I close everything up for the night, trim is still completely disassembled, and for the fun of it I try the glass switch...and it releases
I'm thinking WTF, I try it a few more times and every time it works. I'm not going to complain and I can go to bed happy.Next day, it still works and I put the rear hatch back together glad the whole ordeal is over with, but with everything reassembled the switch has quit working again.
Back off with all the trim, except for the main trim panel. I removed all the screws/fasteners except the two hidden under the glass. Now for the test (frost I hope you don't mind that I borrowed your picture, but it's perfect for this explanation)
Once you have the trim panel at the same point as picture 1 below, it's possible to use a long slender tool to get to the manual release. I pulled the left half of the trim down and used a 18 inch flathead screw driver in one hand and a small flashlight in the other(to see what I was doing)to pop the latch. The longer the tool the easier it will be because there's not much room to get your hand, much less your arm, in there. Just in case you're thinking of using something like a straightened coat-hanger, don't, it is not rigid enough to pop the latch.
The only thing I can figure out is maybe with the trim panels removed it took some strain of the wires and the switch would work. That's the only thing I can think of anybody have any other thoughts? Since then the temps have dropped into the teens and 20s and I don't care that much about the problem to brave the frigid weather, but will have a look once it warms up a little. Another strange thing, when the tailgate is open (the whole thing) I can't use the remote to unlock or lock the car doors.
