[ruimpinho]

Hello everyone! This is my first thread in this forum. Hope to stay for a long time and help other members!

I have a 2008 E91 LCI (320 D). Got a very nice deal, despite a few electronic problems:
- None of my key fob buttons work (lock/unlock/trunk), so I have to open the car manually. The central locking works fine on the dash button
- Very often, when I unlock the car (with the metal key on the driver’s door), the rear trunk glass opens. However, micro switch never responds no matter what I do
- The full trunk latch works fine, but sometimes it does not respond (bad contact?)
- One of the rear parking lights (LED) does not work (the one in the trunk, left side). Everything else does (both reverse lights, 3rd brake light, brakes, blinkers)



- The rear wiper does not work, but the washer does
- The interior lights for the trunk do not light up




My fuses seem to be ok. From what I read, this leads me to believe that either I need a new diversity module and/or the trunk wires are damaged in some way. And possibly a new key.

In my garage, I was already able to remove the rear spoiler and expose the diversity module (looks very clean, no signs of rust).



However, I can’t find any information on how to repair the wires or check where the problem comes from. Don’t want to cut the wire loom without proper confirmation.





What should be my next step?
Thank you in advance!!!

[Moisture]

Originally Posted by ruimpinho

Hello everyone! This is my first thread in this forum. Hope to stay for a long time and help other members!

I have a 2008 E91 LCI (320 D). Got a very nice deal, despite a few electronic problems:
- None of my key fob buttons work (lock/unlock/trunk), so I have to open the car manually. The central locking works fine on the dash button
- Very often, when I unlock the car (with the metal key on the driver’s door), the rear trunk glass opens. However, micro switch never responds no matter what I do
- The full trunk latch works fine, but sometimes it does not respond (bad contact?)
- One of the rear parking lights (LED) does not work (the one in the trunk, left side). Everything else does (both reverse lights, 3rd brake light, brakes, blinkers)



- The rear wiper does not work, but the washer does
- The interior lights for the trunk do not light up




My fuses seem to be ok. From what I read, this leads me to believe that either I need a new diversity module and/or the trunk wires are damaged in some way. And possibly a new key.

In my garage, I was already able to remove the rear spoiler and expose the diversity module (looks very clean, no signs of rust).



However, I can’t find any information on how to repair the wires or check where the problem comes from. Don’t want to cut the wire loom without proper confirmation.





What should be my next step?
Thank you in advance!!!

Did you try replacing the key fob battery?

Maybe start by disconnecting the car battery for 5 minutes and see if that does anything. Next, start checking wiring connections.

[ruimpinho]

Originally Posted by Moisture

Did you try replacing the key fob battery?

Maybe start by disconnecting the car battery for 5 minutes and see if that does anything. Next, start checking wiring connections.

Thank you for the quick feedback. My key fob is the stock one without replaceable battery so I'm a bit afraid to damage it. After I replace the battery, can I still use the old case or I need a new one? I only have one remote by the way, hence the hesitation.

[gbalthrop]

Originally Posted by ruimpinho

... 2008 E91 LCI (320 D)...
- None of my key fob buttons work (lock/unlock/trunk)...The central locking works fine on the dash button
- Very often, when I unlock the car (with the metal key on the driver’s door), the rear trunk glass opens. However, micro switch never responds no matter what I do
- The full trunk latch works fine, but sometimes it does not respond (bad contact?)
- One of the rear parking lights (LED) does not work (the one in the trunk, left side). Everything else does (both reverse lights, 3rd brake light, brakes, blinkers)
- The rear wiper does not work, but the washer does
- The interior lights for the trunk do not light up

The Aerial Diversity that functions as the "Receiver" for the Radio Signals emitted by the Remote Key is in the Tailgate and its wiring, along with wiring for rear wiper, tailgate mounted lights, tailgate opening latch & window latch, ALL have to flex or rotate as the tailgate is opened.

You need to slide the sheath back to expose the wires to assess the "Multiple" broken wires, as shown in the Thread linked below. Although I have a 2007 E91, I have NOT yet had to perform surgery. There are multiple threads on how different people have performed the "cut & splice" or harness replacement.

https://www.e90post.com/forums/showp...97&postcount=5

George

[Moisture]

Originally Posted by ruimpinho

Thank you for the quick feedback. My key fob is the stock one without replaceable battery so I'm a bit afraid to damage it. After I replace the battery, can I still use the old case or I need a new one? I only have one remote by the way, hence the hesitation.

I tried doing a quick search - E90 key fob not working - and sourced these quotes from the very first link. Hopefully it may be of help to you. I would recommend doing some research on the e9x forums and doing some google searches -

Originally Posted by Brian mc21

I have a 320d with the fob that doesnt come apart. My lock button stopped working on one of the fobs but the rest of it was fine. I have a mate who is a bit of a genuis on the electronics front and he was able to prise the fob open and diagnosed a faulty micro switch on the lock button which he replaced. Problem solved.
sorry thats no help to you.

Originally Posted by Mr Singh

UPDATE:

Had the car check on Autologic diagnostics, and the keys both work. The problem seems to be with something inside/under the rear roof spoiler. Either broken wire in the harness near the tailgate hinge or some sort of module which accordiing to PCS is a common fault initiated by damp. I will need to rebook it in for them to fully investigate which it is i.e. module or a broken wire.

Does anyone know where I can get an exploded view or guide of how to remove the rear spoiler? I'm pretty nifty when it comes to auto electrics, if its something I can do myself I would gladly prefer to save the outlay on labour costs, and should this module have failed - remove it and replace it.

[Captain Buumer]

If you have comfort access then there is replaceable battery. If you don't have it then there is rechargeable lithium battery that is charged in key slot via induction.

I've replaced one of these. Only option is to cut open the sealed keyfob.
Then ordered replacement battery (needs some soldering) and new case that actually can be split in half.

That diversity module forwards any signal to Car Access System which does functions you seem to lack. Could be that signal is lost somewhere between DM and CAS.

[ruimpinho]

Thank you very much everyone.

My E91 does not have comfort access and I didn't want to damage my only genuine key. Maybe if I get a second one I'll try it. But don't want to buy a new one without solving this first.

I'll try to read the codes first somewhere. I have a cheap OBD adapter which does not show up anything regarding this problem. My biggest problem is that I am a bit afraid of cutting open the loom cables as I have no past DIY experience in electronics. Guess I will have to find somewhere near me who has handled E61/E91/etc wire looms before.

[tlow98]

You can try charging those keys on a wireless toothbrush I believe.

[Tambohamilton]

Really sounds like you have broken wires in the tailgate hinge, and quite possibly a defective tailgate glass button. Repair harnesses are available for the hinge wires - make sure you get the correct one, as there are a few variations. Be ready to mess around with weird hose barbs if you choose to replace the washer hose while you're in there.

You should check the wires by pulling back the rubber sheaths on the right side of the tailgate. The breaks should be obvious, but may not be.

If you don't fancy shelling out for a 'proper' repair harness, silicone cable and a handful of good quality heat shrink crimps will do the trick just fine. Just don't undersize the wires.

[gbalthrop]

Originally Posted by Tambohamilton

Really sounds like you have broken wires in the tailgate hinge...You should check the wires by pulling back the rubber sheaths on the right side of the tailgate. The breaks should be obvious, but may not be. If you don't fancy shelling out for a 'proper' repair harness, silicone cable and a handful of good quality heat shrink crimps will do the trick just fine. Just don't undersize the wires.

Broken wires or SIX (6) separate faults that all occurred at ~ the same time. Any Statistical Probability Experts out there who can tell us what the likelihood of 6 separate faults is?

OP, as "Tambo" states, just pry ONE end of the sheath out of the opening in the metal & slide the rubber sheath away from the opening as per the photo supplied. NO cutting required. The FIRST step is to identify the cause of the problem. Your Remote Key is NOT causing the other 5 issues with wiring functions on the tailgate, from lights, wiper, latch, etc.

A Dealer can determine if your key is sending a radio signal. You should be MORE concerned about cutting the Key open to replace a perfectly good battery than cutting the sheath (which you do NOT have to cut -- just pull). You DO want to correctly identify the cause of the multiple issues, RIGHT?

George

[ruimpinho]

You guys are the best! Thank you so much!

I already tried to wireless charge my key fob on a Samsung charger. It didn't work.

Tambo, that video really helps! Wow seems like I will have an awesome time killer now that we have to stay at home.

I will keep you guys updated!

[ryan stewart]

I had to JUST do this regarding the keyfobs. Look at my thread and see how I was able to pull all of the wires back towards the body part of the boot to get room to work to solder and seal them again. Works again and no cutting the boot.

https://www.e90post.com/forums/showp...0&postcount=10

[RequestingData]

I had almost al these problems recently with my e91 that i had just bought.

While it seems odd that so many things are not working, some might be related and some not. My first guess is that there are some broken wires in the trunk. But that probably won't fix everything


I'll list the problems I had and how i fixed them. Maybe this can help you.

- My keyfob suddenly stopped working, I replaced the battery (I have keyless, so the battery is easy to replace), tried the spare key, still nothing. I opened up the harness of the wires in the trunk. There was a broken wire. This was related to the radio of the car. The signal of the radio was already bad before, after fixing this cable i got a clear signal again. But still no working keyfob.

Later I opened up the cover of the diversity antenne and there was a lot of moisture inside. After replacing the antenne everything worked fine again. It is possible that the antenne stops working even with a little bit of corrosion. (mine was an extreme example). If you replace this antenne i would highly recommend you to also replace the cover of the antenne.

- Rear wiper was not working either. This was al the way corroded and shut in place. You could hear the wiper motor trying to move the wiper, but the wiper would not move. The part in the windshield was the problem. After replacing that mechanism, (which was a pain in the ass because it was really stuck in there because of all the rust)

- The brake lights were just a simple bulb which died.


The e91 has a common problem with water getting into the trunk, mine is a bad example of this. This destroys a lot of wires and other things inside the trunk.


The only thing i havent fixed yet are the cargo space lights not working when opening the trunk, and the light inside the trunk itself (the one that's on the bottom of the trunk to warn other drivers in the night). However the lights of the trunk do work when i open the window. But not when the full hatch is open. I think they might be linked together somehow.
Maybe someone has experience with this?

[Tambohamilton]

If your trunk lights work for the glass, but not the tailgate itself, I'd be checking the tailgate latch; it (or the glass latch, when it is open) is what completes the circuit for the interior lights.

[RequestingData]

Okay thanks for the information.

[smallseafishie]

How many keyfobs do you have?

Ironically I had this exact problem with one of my keyfobs. The previous owner managed to wash one of the keyfobs and it broke which resulted in the exact symptoms except for me the trunk would open upon unlock with key.

Other key worked just fine. I fixed the problem by buying a used key and transplanted the EEPROM over.

[nsjames]

Originally Posted by ruimpinho

Thank you very much everyone.

My E91 does not have comfort access and I didn't want to damage my only genuine key. Maybe if I get a second one I'll try it. But don't want to buy a new one without solving this first.

I'll try to read the codes first somewhere. I have a cheap OBD adapter which does not show up anything regarding this problem. My biggest problem is that I am a bit afraid of cutting open the loom cables as I have no past DIY experience in electronics. Guess I will have to find somewhere near me who has handled E61/E91/etc wire looms before.

if you want to continue doing DIY repairs you need to up your diagnostic tool game.
hit bimmergeeks dot net up for a cable/wifi adapter and either download the bmw tools to a laptop or buy their protool app. not only will it give you diagnostics, it will also let you check things like the status of switches, and even switch things on for testing.
it's a must if you intend to DIY your own maintenance and repair.

Originally Posted by RequestingData

The e91 has a common problem with water getting into the trunk, mine is a bad example of this. This destroys a lot of wires and other things inside the trunk.

are you thinking of the e61? They have massive problems with water intrusion, enough to prompt a lawsuit.
I've not seen any similar reports of widespread water leakage in e91s, and mine has always remained dry.
the only issue I've had was in the tailgate lighting sockets because the weather seal on the light was torn, likley from someone being in there previously.

[ruimpinho]

Small update here!
I took the car into an electrician, and he says he fixed the wire loom which was indeed damaged. My left inner light now works again. My boot lights do not, nor does my remote.

Also my tailgate switch needs replacing. I ordered one and tried to replace it myself, but it is completely stuck (corrosion?). I tried using a hammer, loads of WD40, but it is really stuck.

I saw some people using a saw to cut it and then remove it. How safe is this? Is there any other way?

Also ordered a new remote housing to see if a new battery fixes my remote.

[ruimpinho]

Can anyone help me? I eventually got the switch out. What is the problem? The metal part seems to be too thick to come out. I searched online and never came across a wiper motor like mine. All of them usually come off with almost no effort once all screws are removed and the switch is off as well.

It wiggles a little bit (I can rotate it 270º) but it won't come of. Anyone else had this thing happen before?

Pic attached

[jsunma]

Originally Posted by ruimpinho

Small update here!
I took the car into an electrician, and he says he fixed the wire loom which was indeed damaged. My left inner light now works again. My boot lights do not, nor does my remote.

Also my tailgate switch needs replacing. I ordered one and tried to replace it myself, but it is completely stuck (corrosion?). I tried using a hammer, loads of WD40, but it is really stuck.

I saw some people using a saw to cut it and then remove it. How safe is this? Is there any other way?

Also ordered a new remote housing to see if a new battery fixes my remote.

I feel your pain, since troubleshooting these rear hatch issues on the E91 can be very frustrating. I have several threads about this myself, and there are many more here on this site as well as elsewhere online. Unfortunately, this is a problem that it seems everyone with a wagon has eventually (although some are lucky and the problem doesn't show up for some time). A couple of things...

1) As has been pointed out a number of times in this thread, your key is not the problem. That fob is fine and you're almost certainly chasing your tail trying to figure out if the battery is fine and/or needs replacement. Rather, the problem is almost certainly the wiring from the car body to the hatch...and almost certainly in the wiring bundle on the right side.

2) You need to get access to a wiring diagram for your car. I believe that TIS can help you there. George, who responded to your posts back in March is the Jedi Master of accessing wiring diagrams and maybe he can point you in the proper direction. The reason why you need a car-specific wiring diagram is that while all E91s have a similar setup as far as where the wires are routed, the specific wires in the bundles that run to specific circuits will be different from car to car. E.g., you have a European market diesel...it's going to have a different wiring harness than my American market gas car, even though we're both 2008 pre LCI. Without a diagram, you're really just playing a guessing game...which will likely add to your frustration and result in little forward progress.

3) When you say that you took your car to "an electrician"...do you mean someone who has experience specifically with car electrics AND who had the wiring diagram for your car (i.e. a BMW specialist)? I worry a bit about that, as someone who doesn't know what goes to what and just what to splice back together could potentially cause you more problems than are fixed. In my experience (and from the sounds of your problems), it's never just one wire in those bundles that get broken...and again, without a diagram or a gigantic bit of luck, you'll really not know what to splice together. The first several times this issue happened to me, I had the dealer fix it (the car was under warranty)...and they actually spliced together wires with different insulation coding, but they got things working. Again, they had the diagram, they knew which circuits to splice.

4) Does your radio have any reception? Usually one of the first things that is a tell for severed wires in the tailgate bundles is a radio that won't pull in stations. The second clue is usually a key fob that will not unlock the car. It's easy to assume that both of those problems are the diversity antenna, but my experience is that the real problem are broken wires running to the diversity antenna. If the diversity module looks ok (e.g,. no signs of water leakage), it probably IS ok. Fix the wiring first, and then decide that it's the diversity module if things are still not functioning properly.

5) What is the "tailgate switch"? Do you mean the latch that opens the tailgate or the latch (near the rear wiper) that opens the glass? If it's the first thing - which is called the "Trunk Release Switch" (51247118158) and is common to a huge range of BMW models -- I don't get how that could be corroded. It's plastic and just snaps in to the body work I believe (I'm getting ready to replace mine since the inset rubber grippy part is starting to fall apart). I can't imagine what you would use a saw for on that part...and no, that probably wouldn't be safe.

Anyhow, sorry for the long post, but hopefully this has pointed you in some directions that might help.

[ruimpinho]

I can rotate the piece 360 no problem. I can wiggle it 2-3 mm each way, but there is no way it can came out. The diameter of the part exceeds the glass whole by about 1 mm. Used a hammer again but no luck. Any suggestions?

[ruimpinho]

Originally Posted by jsunma

I feel your pain, since troubleshooting these rear hatch issues on the E91 can be very frustrating. I have several threads about this myself, and there are many more here on this site as well as elsewhere online. Unfortunately, this is a problem that it seems everyone with a wagon has eventually (although some are lucky and the problem doesn't show up for some time). A couple of things...

1) As has been pointed out a number of times in this thread, your key is not the problem. That fob is fine and you're almost certainly chasing your tail trying to figure out if the battery is fine and/or needs replacement. Rather, the problem is almost certainly the wiring from the car body to the hatch...and almost certainly in the wiring bundle on the right side.

2) You need to get access to a wiring diagram for your car. I believe that TIS can help you there. George, who responded to your posts back in March is the Jedi Master of accessing wiring diagrams and maybe he can point you in the proper direction. The reason why you need a car-specific wiring diagram is that while all E91s have a similar setup as far as where the wires are routed, the specific wires in the bundles that run to specific circuits will be different from car to car. E.g., you have a European market diesel...it's going to have a different wiring harness than my American market gas car, even though we're both 2008 pre LCI. Without a diagram, you're really just playing a guessing game...which will likely add to your frustration and result in little forward progress.

3) When you say that you took your car to "an electrician"...do you mean someone who has experience specifically with car electrics AND who had the wiring diagram for your car (i.e. a BMW specialist)? I worry a bit about that, as someone who doesn't know what goes to what and just what to splice back together could potentially cause you more problems than are fixed. In my experience (and from the sounds of your problems), it's never just one wire in those bundles that get broken...and again, without a diagram or a gigantic bit of luck, you'll really not know what to splice together. The first several times this issue happened to me, I had the dealer fix it (the car was under warranty)...and they actually spliced together wires with different insulation coding, but they got things working. Again, they had the diagram, they knew which circuits to splice.

4) Does your radio have any reception? Usually one of the first things that is a tell for severed wires in the tailgate bundles is a radio that won't pull in stations. The second clue is usually a key fob that will not unlock the car. It's easy to assume that both of those problems are the diversity antenna, but my experience is that the real problem are broken wires running to the diversity antenna. If the diversity module looks ok (e.g,. no signs of water leakage), it probably IS ok. Fix the wiring first, and then decide that it's the diversity module if things are still not functioning properly.

5) What is the "tailgate switch"? Do you mean the latch that opens the tailgate or the latch (near the rear wiper) that opens the glass? If it's the first thing - which is called the "Trunk Release Switch" (51247118158) and is common to a huge range of BMW models -- I don't get how that could be corroded. It's plastic and just snaps in to the body work I believe (I'm getting ready to replace mine since the inset rubber grippy part is starting to fall apart). I can't imagine what you would use a saw for on that part...and no, that probably wouldn't be safe.

Anyhow, sorry for the long post, but hopefully this has pointed you in some directions that might help.

Originally Posted by jsunma

I feel your pain, since troubleshooting these rear hatch issues on the E91 can be very frustrating. I have several threads about this myself, and there are many more here on this site as well as elsewhere online. Unfortunately, this is a problem that it seems everyone with a wagon has eventually (although some are lucky and the problem doesn't show up for some time). A couple of things...

1) As has been pointed out a number of times in this thread, your key is not the problem. That fob is fine and you're almost certainly chasing your tail trying to figure out if the battery is fine and/or needs replacement. Rather, the problem is almost certainly the wiring from the car body to the hatch...and almost certainly in the wiring bundle on the right side.

2) You need to get access to a wiring diagram for your car. I believe that TIS can help you there. George, who responded to your posts back in March is the Jedi Master of accessing wiring diagrams and maybe he can point you in the proper direction. The reason why you need a car-specific wiring diagram is that while all E91s have a similar setup as far as where the wires are routed, the specific wires in the bundles that run to specific circuits will be different from car to car. E.g., you have a European market diesel...it's going to have a different wiring harness than my American market gas car, even though we're both 2008 pre LCI. Without a diagram, you're really just playing a guessing game...which will likely add to your frustration and result in little forward progress.

3) When you say that you took your car to "an electrician"...do you mean someone who has experience specifically with car electrics AND who had the wiring diagram for your car (i.e. a BMW specialist)? I worry a bit about that, as someone who doesn't know what goes to what and just what to splice back together could potentially cause you more problems than are fixed. In my experience (and from the sounds of your problems), it's never just one wire in those bundles that get broken...and again, without a diagram or a gigantic bit of luck, you'll really not know what to splice together. The first several times this issue happened to me, I had the dealer fix it (the car was under warranty)...and they actually spliced together wires with different insulation coding, but they got things working. Again, they had the diagram, they knew which circuits to splice.

4) Does your radio have any reception? Usually one of the first things that is a tell for severed wires in the tailgate bundles is a radio that won't pull in stations. The second clue is usually a key fob that will not unlock the car. It's easy to assume that both of those problems are the diversity antenna, but my experience is that the real problem are broken wires running to the diversity antenna. If the diversity module looks ok (e.g,. no signs of water leakage), it probably IS ok. Fix the wiring first, and then decide that it's the diversity module if things are still not functioning properly.

5) What is the "tailgate switch"? Do you mean the latch that opens the tailgate or the latch (near the rear wiper) that opens the glass? If it's the first thing - which is called the "Trunk Release Switch" (51247118158) and is common to a huge range of BMW models -- I don't get how that could be corroded. It's plastic and just snaps in to the body work I believe (I'm getting ready to replace mine since the inset rubber grippy part is starting to fall apart). I can't imagine what you would use a saw for on that part...and no, that probably wouldn't be safe.

Anyhow, sorry for the long post, but hopefully this has pointed you in some directions that might help.

Thanks for the input. Yes, the wire loom was fixed on a specialized Bosch car service center. They have over 30 years of experience and have fixed this wiring issue countless times. My radio signal also improved. I only have one remote so I couldn't find the reason why it didn't start working. The rest seems fine.

About the tailgate switch, I was referring to the glass latch button that is a common issue with E61, E91, etc. I tested the new one and it's working, I just need to get it into place now. but the damn wiper arm fixing unit (not sure what is the name of the part itself) won't come off. Mine has a metal cylinder with a larger diameter than the window itself (?). So it just doesn't come off. All videos and tutorials I saw make this look extremelly easy.