amesser325

Anyone else have issues of the automatic lift gate sagging when the lift gate is left open? Over the course of an hour or so, the lift gate gradually droops down. If I lift the gate manually it holds in whatever position I move it to but starts to sag again. I'd imagine the seals in the hydraulic piston are not strong enough to hold the gate up (hence the helper strut). I presume the pneumatic assist strut has failed as I topped off the hydraulic fluid a year ago and it has not bled down in volume since. I'm just hesitant to swap in a new strut if the old is not actually perished.
I might not have used the right search terms but nothing in the forums came up with this specific issue.

Thanks,

Andy
07 530xiT 6MT

BostonJon

hi andy-

it's not uncommon for E61 owners to have problems with the hydraulic lift gate. most folks seem to have a problem with slowly bleeding/leaking fluid from the reservoir into the area below the pump. i just had to top up mine recently and there was a gooey mess under the pump where the fluid had been slowing leaking. I'm almost positive i have a very slow seep from the base of the pump body. since it sounds like you are not losing fluid over time, perhaps one of the internal seals on your pump is failing allowing internal leaking of the fluid and eventual depressurization of the hydraulic system. some folks have mentioned that there is a company that rebuilds these pumps but I dont know if they are still in business.

paulie

Check the hydro fluid container on the left side of the car. It can be leaking, then you loose the pressure and all goes down a bit. So, it is either a top-up of the fluid and see from that point on. Otherwise, a bit more expensive, is rebuild or exchange of the fluid reservoir which is leaking.

BostonJon

the OP mentioned that he topped off the fluid a year ago and the volume has not declined since.

wavy

Look around, there are threads on reverting the hatch to struts. The hydraulic system for the hatch is problematic. Even if you spend a lot of time or a lot of $$$$ with an indy mechanic, you will have the problem again in 3 years or much sooner. You can order the struts used on the non US E61s. It works great and was way cheaper than trying to band aid a typically stupid BMW design.

paulie

Aha, oops

amesser325

Thanks guys, about what I figured... I suppose 10+ year life span is too much to ask!