Several months ago BMW North America told me the number of e61's sold in the US per year averaged 750.

 

Well, here goes. The photos aren't great but I'll try to explain what I'm showing you.

The first step is to remove the lower trunk sill plate. Under the chrome-coloured pop-up tiedowns are some small plastic bolt covers. Pry up these clips with a tiny screwdriver, and remove the bolts. Pull up the sill plate carefully - it's also held in place with a few clips along its length.

You'll also have to remove the two plastic trim pieces on each side of the tailgate. In addition to a few clips which will pop off when you carefully pull it off, there are two screws located on the inside of the roller track. One is lower down and one is higher, located under the rubber stop at the top of the track (the rubber stop is easily pulled out). Once those are off, you can also remove the trim pieces immediately forward of them with a couple of larger bolts. Shown here is the lower bolt (torx head). When you pull of the trim, be careful of the small black plastic piece that will stay behind - it's part of the track assembly (in the photo it's the piece my finger is not touching). You may have to rotate the trim slightly to allow the trim free of this piece. Note that this piece may not be at the bottom of the track - if it's at the top (where it should be!) your job should be much easier.



Now that all the trim is off, you can see the foam-wrapped tubes that travel along the width of the car, and up each side. They meet at the bottom left side of the floor where the motor is located. The first photo below shows the right side of the lower part of the track. The foam-wrapped tube (which you can just see the last few inches of) ends, and you can see a sort of 'furry spring' which is contained inside the tube. The spring is pushed up and down from a simple gear system located in the motor assembly. At the end of this 'spring' is the small plastic piece mentioned above (when you took the trim piece off - I'm going to call it the 'axle puller' from here on). It pulls the roller cover axle down into place, where it snaps on to another plastic clip that holds it down while the spring and plastic 'axle puller' retreat back to the top of the track, where they should normally reside.



Just so you can see what I'm talking about, here's are the 'axle puller' and 'axle holder' in a photo taken once the trim was put back in place. The 'axle puller' is located inside and pulls the axle down where it is held in place by the spring-loaded 'axle holder' (larger black piece in photo). This might seem a little confusing now but it should be pretty clear how this all works when you start taking it apart.



This photo shows the full length of the track (visible here as a groove in the black plastic track) with the grey foam-wrapped tube leading up to it. You can barely see the 'axle puller' at the lower part of the track - normally this bit is at the top end of the track. In my case, it was stuck at the bottom end of the track when I started the repair. Note also that these tracks are on both the left and right sides of the vehicle, so when you put it all back together, make sure they're both at the same level (top or bottom)!



OK, now the fun begins. You'll have to remove the motor and gear assembly, which is located at the floor of the trunk right on the inside edge (see photo). The motor is contained in the silver housing, and all of the gearing is in the black plastic housing. Remove the entire piece by taking out all of the bolts. It's a good idea to keep track of which bolt goes where, as they all seem to be slightly different sizes. Some of the housing will be taken apart from there, so that the 'furry spring' gear (which runs inside the grey foam-wrapped tube) can be left in place.



The housing and motor assembly come apart quite easily; unfortunately I neglected to take any photos of this, but it's not hard to figure it all out. I just made sure everything was clean and had a thin layer of grease where appropriate.

While the motor and gear assembly is removed, go back to the car and gently but firmly move the 'fuzzy springs' up and down inside the tracks and foam-wrapped tubes. I noticed a fair amount of resistance (probably one reason that many people find the cargo cover doesn't work anymore!) but it did move with an even amount of pressure. I didn't lubricate or dismantle any of this part of the system, but if you notice a lot of resistance or if either of the gears (springs) are seized completely, you'll want to remove them from the car and clean / lubricate them. I'm guessing that you won't want to use much lubricant, as the 'fuzzy bits' should serve to keep the springs moving freely inside the tubes.

For easier replacement of all the trim, it's probably easiest to slide the 'axle puller' to the very top end of the track. Be sure to make sure that both sides (left and right) are at the same location, or your cargo cover axle will be on a slant and this may lead to it siezing up again. With the 'axle pullers' at the top of the track, you should see the 'furry spring' in its track as shown below:



Another close-up of the gear / motor assembly (before removal):



When you put the gear assembly back in place, be sure to align the gears with the 'furry springs' so that everything is lined up and engaged properly as it should be. Do up the bolts and replace everything, including the trim, as it should be. When putting the side trim pieces back in place, make sure the 'axle puller' is on the outside of the track in the trim, and that it doesn't get squished behind the trim. This took a bit of tricky maneuvering for me but I think it should be easiest if you make sure they're at the top of the track when you re-install the motor / gear assembly, as I seem to recall a sort of 'cut out' in the trim at the top so that the 'axle puller' will simply poke through the cut-out. So, when everything is back in place, the 'axle puller' will be able to travel up and down its range outside of the narrow track in the trim.

Note that, for some reason, I wasn't able to get the motor to actuate before re-installing everything. I think perhaps there's a magnet or something in the axle that 'tells' the system that the cargo cover is in place, so that when the cargo cover is retracted in its holder, the motor does not actuate. So, you'll have to put everything back in place (except for possibly the lower sill plate) in order to test it.

Good luck! If I haven't explained very well or if you have questions, feel free to post below and I'll try to help.

 

very nice write-up mantraguy, thanks! my roll-up cover has always worked in the 3 years I've owned the car so I'm waiting for the day. I don't think I read what was the real problem with yours or what you fixed. Was it just too much resistance in the fuzzy springs?

 

I'm not really sure what the problem was, to be honest! Based on some of the wear and markings on the trim, I think it had been taken apart before and not put back together properly. I simply took it apart, cleaned everything up, made sure I understood how it all worked, put it back together and it worked great. I've found over the years that this often works for mechanical things.

 

Okay, I feel compelled to update this thread on my current E61 status. If you see my earlier post, I bought the car when it was a year old and never realized I had this feature. Apparently, it was broken from Day 1. Given how rare the E61 is, no one knew enough to point this out to me at the dealership.

I finally took it in under warranty to get it fixed. Now, keep in mind, it hadn't worked in over a year at this point.

As soon as I demonstrate the problem to the Service Advisor, it starts working!!!

@#$@!%#$#@@!!!!!

It's been a month now and it's worked flawlessly since.

 

I have an '06 E61. No roll up cover. The previous owner said it didn't come with one.
Steve

 

All E61 sold in the USA came with the roll up cover. I just don't know if they're all motorized or manual.

 

sorry - way late to the party....

My auto-cover did not work on day 1, the day I picked it up in Munich. Even the lady working at BMW did not know there is such a feature for the E61 wagon, and just said "it is manual, you just have to push it down by hand."

When I got back to the US, my dealer replaced the left strut before re-delivery, which contains the position sensor and the tailgate motor. It has been working flawlessly ever since. I don't remember exactly, but the service paperwork said the position sensor was faulty from the factory.

Hope this helps.

 

I've since gotten my cover fixed under warranty at the dealer. Such a pain in the a$$ to go through the motions, but at least it's fixed. I'm surprised the lady in Munich isn't more educated on her brand.

Alles Beste!

 

This is most intriguing. I have an E61 with power tailgate and the parcel shelf popping up but not closing is most annoying. If you forget to put it down, you drive off then find you can't see out of the back.

Armed with the info here I piled in to fix the problem.....but my car doesn't have the shelf close feature. The tailgate powers up and down but the rails for the parcel shelf are different to the pictures above and only have a spring-loaded release mechanism.

I am the second owner of the car so BMW may have "fixed it" or my car (2004) just doesn't have it.