blueflightmedic

Here's a curious one. Left the car parked for 2 days in the rain (for what it's worth) and when I got back in the rear wash-wipe didn't work and the courtesy light behind the mirror won't turn off when the driver's door is closed. Fuse to wash/wipe intact.

This sound like something familiar to anyone? Anything I can try resetting?

E61 535d 2005.

Rudy

I'm not too familiar with the details of the E61 but I have a guess...

The problem may be connected to whatever switch tells the car that the rear hatch is open. Obviously, if the car thinks the hatch is open, then the courtesy light will illuminate but I'm taking a guess that if the rear hatch is open, the rear wiper will not function (by design).

In other words, if I'm correct that the rear wiper never operates when the rear hatch is open, I think the problem may be that the car thinks the rear hatch is open even when it's not.

juliann

You are indeed correct. Rear wash/wipe doesn't operate when hatch is ajar.

If it's just a case of moisture in the connectors under the lock mechanism and you can dry it out to get it working again, check the rubbers at the lower sides of the hatch frame are in good order and allow a tight seal

Rudy

Cool. I guess my next questions would be:

When the hatch is closed, is it really closed and latched?
Can it be raised without pressing any release buttons?

blueflightmedic

Excellent deduction. I'm going to have to do a bit of work on realoem to work out where all the connectors are. How does power get to the hatch bit? There aren't any wires as far as I can see at the top, just the hinges.

blueflightmedic

...And to reply to my own posting, I went to check and a tiny piece of fabric from a strap was fouling under the estate lid. Didn't stop it closing, or bring up any door-open warning lights but was obviously causing some tiny obstruction. Moved it away, and voila! Thank you very much, Rudy and juliann. Gold star both.

Rudy

Great news...

luigi524td

The easy solutions are always the best ... good forum hints + thorough investigation = results

frost015

Could you just confirm if we are talking about the glass panel (with wiper mounted) or the whole rear boot ??

I have the following:

1. Failed glass panel (it wont open)
2. Failed rear wiper (well after the glas panel failed to open)
3. Interior lights that come on as normal, but wont turn off (I have to press the central roof level button each time to turn them off)

Bizarely the internal lights issue happened months after the failure of the glass panel and rear wipers (which I was planning to live with until the summer)...

However, my initial thought that the glass panel and wipers failure was due to the dreaded "wiring break in the rear hinge area" may actually be wrong ...

Perhaps the car is sensing "glass panel open", but wouldnt this show up on the dash as "door open " ???

Any guidance welcomed !

Thanks,

Ian

fifthinarow

you need to take off the rear roof spoiler by unscrewing it from the glass panel but unfortunately you can only do that with the glass tailgate up and then sliding it down and then you will find the electrical connectors that you need to check in a waterproof box about 10" long make sure its not sust one of the cables come unatatched and then seal the box again.
hope this helps