mitchgixer6

Pretty much a total disaster for me today! Managed to get the inner black cover off the hinge that leads to the diversity unit, but only after I had cut through the radio coax cable! I could have cried when I realised that's what it was.

The brown cable that runs along side the water hose was the reason my rear de mister wasn't working. It has also melted the water hose. So I managed to repair the brown wire for the de mister which is now working. :-) But I now have terrible radio reception after bodging a repair on the coax, as well as a leaky water hose for the rear wash! Not good.

Does anyone know if there is an amplifier or suppressor that the radio coax goes into near the boot? I'm going to have to try and terminate that properly and extend if I can't run a full new cable to a near by amp etc. I'll also have to figure out a way to repair the water hose as well.

Not the best of days!

cmg535

Mitch - yes regarding the body work rusting, see below. On this side the paint hasn't gone, but it has on the other side. This shows you why. I intend to get the paint fixed then put silicone sealant around the panel.



I'm sorry to hear that you met difficulties with the repairs. It is very fiddly. My advice in general is:
- replace all of the looms with silicone cable, going from inside the car, by the speakers to inside the tailgate and Antenna Module.
- while you can still open the rear glass, remove the interior panels and install a wire tap allowing you to open the glass using a 9v battery

To fix the hole in the water hose you could try self amalgamating tape but probably best to replace a longer section and use a proper joint. The Sencom loom came with a replacement hose (haven't used yet). In fact i'd say your best bet is to get their kit for it which includes a new coax and a 2.5mm^2 silicone wire for the heater.

The coax is terminated with these connectors (ROKA Berlin) but i have no idea what weird crimps are needed to attach them. For this reason i have not attempted the LHS to the Antenna Module yet...

mitchgixer6

Thanks very much for the info. I actually found a coax repair kit that I bought direct from the local BMW dealer. You can also buy the connectors for joining the broken cable, but you are correct and you need an usual crimp tool to do the job. I have ordered one of the crimp tools and am waiting on it arriving. Not sure what to do with the water hose to be honest, I'm going to see if I can find a tube that's small enough to fit inside the oe hose, I can then join it with tape and heat shrink. Once I get everything fixed I'll do a how to for repairing the coax.

I haven't even looked at the rust area on my tailgate. I'm still waiting to hear back from BMW as to how they're going to fix it. Hopefully whatever they do should last the length of time I own the car. Good luck with your repair.

P.s. do you have more info on how to install the tap for the 9v battery?

mitchgixer6

OK, I had success repairing the water hose, coax and demister cable this week. As I haven't seen anyone else doing a repair to the coax I thought I'd make a how to guide which I've attached. Thanks again to for all the help, I wouldn't even have managed to get the trim off without others previous attempts!

https://www.dropbox.com/s/e0obxi0i7m...epair.pdf?dl=0

BartHolland

Nicely done

cmg535

Hi Mitch,

that is an amazingly well done set of instructions, brilliant effort!

I've replaced the looms in the other 3 hinges. I suppose I'll have to get around to this one.. so thanks a lot for the info. I wonder if people find the coax fails and needs to be replaced? Guess you couldn't tell as it was melted by the heater wire.

There is only one bit which I disagree with in your instructions, which is undoing the glass lid hinge in p15. I first did this as I didnt know any better and didn't appreciate the energy stored up in the spring. It is indeed dangerous. As I unleashed it, it ripped the cables out of the ADM, luckily not damaging it. I had removed the plate which holds in the wire guide (p16). Later I found it really hard to get it all back together again. Now i realise that if you first remove the plastic pin as you show in p11 you can wiggle the whole guide free by pushing it away from the ADM, without removing the plate, and hence without undoing the glass from the hinge. Then you can prise the guide apart.

Regarding the wire tap to open the glass - see this for a picture of where it is:



The wires you need are Pin 3 - Brown (Ground), Pin 4 Brown/Red (Solenoid). Apply +9v to Pin 4 to open the glass. You need to undo all the trim on the tailgate to access it. The reason i say to do it is that if you start repairing the loom which contains the wires for the microswitch and the solenoid (or these fail) you can get into a situation where you cannot open the glass. At that point you also cannot then do this mod, because you cant remove the trim.

Regards
CMG

mitchgixer6

Thanks for the addition CMG. So even with the glass fully open then there is still energy in the spring? Have I just been lucky when I took the nuts off? Also what's the ADM?

I've discovered I have a fault with the wire feed to the high level brake light on the other side so I'll try your technique when I repair that. Always easier if there are less nuts and bolts to remove!

Thanks also for the info on the wire tap. I'm struggling to figure out where that is on the car though. Do you have a wider picture at all?

Also in terms of the coax I think it's hard to tell. Even with the black coax disconnected I still got a (very weak) signal on the radio. So even if there is damaged to the coax cable the radio will probably still work. RF are a funny beast! Much easier to be just working with volts and current!

cmg535

Hi Mitch

- well... I didn't realise what i was letting myself in for and undid them with it partially open! I guess if you opened it fully then it would be OK, but the weight of the glass would be left on one side.

You can remove the cable guide without undoing these 2 bolts. - first remove the plastic pin on the hinge, then wiggle the whole guide out of the bracket, then prise it apart. ADM = Antenna Diversity Module - the radio receiver under the spoiler. IMO its a ridiculous design that you have to open the seal on this to remove the spoiler (due to the antenna wire).

OK, for the wire tap to the glass solenoid, these wires are inside the tailgate. My pic is taken looking down at the floor of the boot with the glass open. The trim is removed. You have to remove the whole trim exposing the rear wiper motor, reversing lights etc. in order to access them. The glass solenoid is attached to the wiper motor. It has a 4-pin plug and you have to get to 2 of the wires that feed into this plug.

To replace the wires in the tailgate loom there are two methods i've seen referred to:
1. Remove this trim, unplug all of the plugs that supply the motors and lamps in the tailgate. Pull the whole loom out and repair it freely outside the car.
2. Cut the loom at the grommet where it enters the tailgate - as shown in the Sencom video (grommet in my pic above). Repair in situ. You wouldn't need to remove this trim to replace the wiring looms in this method, but then you are at risk of getting the glass jammed shut.

You could access this wire by cutting into the loom on the LHS somewhere on the run between the hinge and the grommet where it enters the tailgate, but there is nowhere to leave the tapped wires accessible, and you need to open the glass to get to this!

FYI, I have in my notes that the wires to the Brake LED module are Black/Yellow and Brown/White, in the RHS loom to the glass.

remyek

So i had to check since the replacement of the diversity antenna did not work. All but one wire had broken, and there was clearly some short circuit from the thick red/white cable. Fixed them but still non of my keys work!!! Any idea??? I opened the wire cluster all the way from the speaker to the connectors. Found breakage In the wires just before the loom. No where else. The diversity antenna gets power, I can tell by the fm signal. Right now I'm clueless

remyek

Please I'm going mental