Lotus99

I can't believe it! I thought it was only the older cars, with higher mileage and more exposure to rain/water that were having problems. Our 2010 MY (June 09 build) has only 15,000 miles on it. The last month or so, like 1 in 10 times the car would say "Key not found" trying to start the car without the key in the slot (we have comfort access). When I had taken it in, they replaced the fob batteries, though I had just done that myself, and the problem persisted not surprisingly.

Then yesterday, it rained a ton here, and I guess that was the push it needed to crap out, which was a good thing, as it made diagnosis much easier! Neither key was recognized by car, CA stopped working completely, as well as the keyfob buttons wouldn't work at all to unlock/lock the doors. Telltale sign of the diversity antenna... Reading the forums was illuminating, so when I went in, I said "I bet it's the diversity antenna!"

Luckily, they had one in stock, and fixed it in one day, and I'm good to go. Part # was 65209183563.

What sucks is that the tech bulletin (attached) on the foam spacers that could be added to supposedly prevent water from getting to the amp says that it's only valid for cars produced up to 1/2008. So I guess even the models after that date still have issues...

They seem to have tried to improve the antenna's design after 1/2008 or so, as RealOEM shows http://www.realoem.com/bmw/showparts...65&fg=30&hl=12 a different part number mine superceded. I wonder if the spacers were added from factory for production after 1/2008 too, since there's no foam spacer part numbers listed on my work order, so I wonder if they should have put them in for me too seeing I've now had the problem with this supposedly newer part which still got soaked?

AAARRGGGHHHH!
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mmitev

Damn, man that's so annoying!

We just spoke about this a few days ago and you could have saved it if you knew it's at risk

At least others will benefit from your experience!

Lotus99

Luckily I'm still under warranty, so it was a no charge fix. I didn't open the spoiler up to see if my car had foam put in it, though the tech said today that he didn't install foam, and that there was something that came with the antenna that's meant to keep the water out. Though I would have figured with the new antenna design that my car should have had (based on its production date), it shouldn't even have any issues. So I don't know what special thing he installed that will prevent it from happening again... Wish the tech bulletins weren't locked out anymore and we could search them.

Dandle

Mine went when the car was only a couple of years old too.

Lotus99

Except if I read your signature correctly, your car's production date was May 2007, which was supposedly (as per the tech bulletin I posted above) more susceptible to water penetration, so at least to me that's more "acceptable" that it happened to you than mine. They came out with a newer part in March 2008 that should have been better than what you would have had, and which I would have guessed I had, given my car's production date was June 2009). But it seems even the newer part isn't much better...

frost015

I guess the foam spacers are to apply pressure on the lid of the black water-tight box(that contains the Diversity Antena but isnt waterproof). Fundamentally the design is very poor (in that the expensive Diversity box of tricks is in no way weatherproofed, so there is total reliance on a single plastic box being well sealed, which just cant be done in such an exposed situation).

My remote locking system failed a few days ago, so have just dissassembled the spoiler, and ... Yes, there are signs of water inside the black box.

Wish I had done this before the winter !

ALL E61 owners (pre 2007 at least) should check and re-waterproof in some way the FM Antenna / Remote locking box inside of the spoiler (IMHO) ... By the way, there are some formums that talk about water ingress being MUCH worse if the boot lid is open during heavy rain ...

This just adds to the long list of BMW electrical problems I have had / am having with the E61 ...

1. Rear Wash Wipe ( I still cant find which fuse controls this, but assume its a wire break in the hinges ...)
2. Button on rear glass window
3. Interior lights when door open (wouldnt go off)
4. Remote locking
5. Panoramic roof sticking open (fixed following advisce on the forum .. cutting off little triangular bits of plastic)

Paint finish is rubbish also ... god I am in a bad mood today !

Its a great car to drive, but I will NEVER again buy a BMW thats out of warranty (based on very poor electrical components / systems design ... no excuse for all these well known problems not being fixed in the design / 1st 2 years of production stage...)

Ian

master

'they had one in stock' !!

They seemed to know about the likelihood of that thing goes bad...

Bazz530i

@lotus99 Ive had the same, mine is MY2010 produced 06-2009 and my reciever went a couple of weeks ago. They added some foam with replacing, it wasn't necessary as told by BMW NL, but my dealer says it's their own policy because it should prevent new problems, or at least extend some time. :-)

@frost015 your problems 2,3 and 4 can easily be fixed by replacing the microswitch from the glasspanel. Costs nearly nothing by the way.

Still love these cars!!

Lotus99

If I was to check if they installed foam spacers or not, how many minutes do you think it would take from start to having things disassembled enough to see this famous module?

Theo

Some 5 minutes if proceeding casually, first time I took a bit longer I believe.