Hi I just bought a nice E61 523i touring. Everything works so far, except for one thing. The tailgate won't lift automatically. The locking system works as it should for both the entire tailgate and the smaller window hatch, however the hydraulic lifting mechanism is not functioning, so I have to lift open and close the tailgate manually. Where should I start debugging this? Is there something that is "typically wrong"? When pressing the open trunk button on the remote, I don't hear anything but the tailgate unlocking. It does not sound like the hydraulic pump starts, but maybe it does, I have no idea.

Hope someone has experience with this.

Regards

 

Check the wiring loom in the hinges

 

Thanks, I have read about that, but is it responsible for actually lifting tailgate or just unlocking it + lights? Because lights and locks works as they should...

 

There are a bunch of wires in the system and any of them could break.

Im actually in the middle of the same thing as you but I can hear my motor going. Checked and I am low on fluid so I'm doing that first before I open up the wiring loom

 

There aren’t really any wires going through the hinge for the auto opener. Under the spare tire is a control module (I believe it is the HKL module) for the liftgate and I would first check that it is not water damaged. It’s probably not fluid related if you don’t hear the pump cycling at all. Unless perhaps it dried up and seized the pump. I haven’t heard anyone mention that has happened to them though. Are you sure the hydraulic system is still in place? When I bought my E61 a previous owner had converted it to a manual liftgate by removing the pump and replacing the left side hydraulic lift arm with a conventional strut. I bought a used pump and arm on eBay to get it working again.

You can also scan with something like INPA/ISTA to look for codes and you should find them. There is a sensor on the hydraulic arm that measures the opening angle and it always showed errors for me since it was missing until I installed the new arm.

 

I can't tell if you have an LCI e61 or not, but this should prove helpful.

https://www.newtis.info/tisv2/a/en/e...ions/tailgate/

Perhaps the relay if the motor isn't cycling?

 

Also, these guys will rebuild your pump if you need, they also have a really handy-dandy PDF that shows how to disassemble everything to get to the pump. I used that PDF extensively when I installed a new pump. You mentioned that you don't hear anything, in my opinion these pumps are fairly noisy so it's probably fair to say it's not running at all.

 

Thanks for all the great replies. The pump was dead.