mdobin

I just filed my lemon law notice on the car. It went in again for the liftgate. First they said it was the "helper" strut, which had a failed seal. When that didn't work, they have now ordered the hydraulic ram arm, of which only one exists in the US. This is going to be the fifth time to make a lasting repair on this car for this problem. The "helper" strut has been replaced twice. If and when they replace the ram arm, the entire system will have been replaced.

As to symptoms, there are several. A change in sound from the hydraulic pump. Almost sounds like it's grinding. That's cavitation in the system because of air.

The gate will still go down quietly. Sometimes the gate will not fully open. That's an obvious one. And sometimes the gate will not stay open. That's another one.

We'll see what BMW does. Unfortunately, without the F11, my choices in BMW are limited.

Lotus99

Sucks to hear! I can't believe they can't figure it out, on such a small system in the car. It's not like there's a ton of things they would have to replace before getting to the bottom of it? I can't imagine now being without ours, so good luck to you with your replacement! If there are no new ones, you'd have to get out of the brand? Or can they give you a used one plus cash? I'd do that before having to switch to another car.

mdobin

Update -

The car has been at the dealer since Monday. They ordered a "hydraulic part" on Tuesday that arrived yesterday. I am told they have done most of the work and will be bleeding it today.

This is interesting that they had to order another hydraulic part since the other service department of this dealer (they have two locations) had already ordered the hydraulic arm. The hydraulic pump has already been replaced. It's like they messed up the last part of the model run.

I have the Lemon Law notice in place and I'm going to force the issue. As a prior poster said, this is a fairly simple, closed, system. It's a pump, some hydraulic lines and the hydraulic lifting arm. They shouldn't keep failing.

vash68

I had some strange grinding noise while opening and closing the gate after I traveled for a couple of hours in very low temperatures (around 0-10F) in the Rockies this winter.
But the gate would open and close completely while making that noise.
Any body else experience similar things?
Should I be concerned or is this acceptable?

1Animal1

I'm curious about this - my tailgate was inoperable when i bought the car due to water damage messing with the module - obviously it had been lifted a few times without electrical assistance. I've changed out the slave strut and it lifts 60% of the time off the fob, the times it doesnt lift, it just unlocks and hangs about an inch from the bodywork....

I wonder if there is a way to bleed it

Hisham

The luggage retractable lining is stuck in the open position for 3 days now. Can anyone help me with how to fix it myself?

Lotus99

Bumped into this, in case it helps.