[06E90Rostik]

Update: Fixed the problem. Connector was snapped off for some odd reason, creating an open circuit. Fixed by crimping on some standard spade female/male connectors and shrink tubed/insulated afterwards, doesn't look OEM but whatever, it's hidden anyways.


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Not sure when it broke but today I wanted to roll it down but it wouldn't move.

I can distinctly hear the relay in the glovebox fuse box click and a moment later I can hear a fain click somewhere in the rear shelf assembly but nothing is happening. I checked fuse 63 (5A) it's good, not sure if it's related but as much as I gathered from googling it relates somehow to rear sunshade.

I tried pushing down the blind rods gently while pressing the button, nothing.

I thought the sunshade has its own fuse, but I couldn't find it, the fuse diagram doesn't have it.

Any pointers?

[kioneo]

Ours does the same thing. Best pointer I have is to try having an assistant press the button while you "help" it down. They key for me was getting the timing right.

It may take several tries, but it should eventually catch. From what I've read, it's a stripped gear in the motor, but I am not 100% certain on that.

[06E90Rostik]

Figured out the problem. My case seems to be completely random. The connector between the main wire harness and the sunshade wire has broken off. See the pictures.
The area where the arrow points used to have this purple/plum colored connector that was completely snapped off in my car


Here is the connector itself,


Verified that the motor and gears are ok by connecting directly, Yellow wire is the Positive on the motor. Worked perfect, so the issue was open circuit.


Also a side note on the LATCH anchor removal. The two anchors (left and right) are held with T30 bolts, but to get to them you need to remove the cover first, the cover is best removed from the rear of the anchor. If you are in the situation where your sunshade is up it could be tricky. Note that there is some sunshade left rolled up even with a fully extended curtain, meaning you could slightly stretch the curtain the get your hand behind the latch enough to pry up the bolt cover. Also once you have loosen the bolt and taken out the anchor, remove the spring clip also, it will make shelf removal so much easier.

[Arby1028]

Mine won't go down now...will try this when I get a minute...thanks!!

[BeastMode335i]

Did you guys retro fit these, or were they factory on ur car..??

[Arby1028]

Originally Posted by BeastMode335i

Did you guys retro fit these, or were they factory on ur car..??

I think we are mainly talking about factory units here.

Update: I had someone hit the button and I pushed the vertical struts inward. The sunshade went down fortunately. I sent it back up later in the day and back down. Seems to be working normally now (knocks on wood).

[Arby1028]

Follow-up: is there any way to lube the tracks and struts on the sunshade? It's difficult to get to it with the shad itself in the way. Tried to shut the car off several times to get the shade halfway down to lube it but it's either up or down...no in between.

[delmarco]

Originally Posted by Arby1028

Follow-up: is there any way to lube the tracks and struts on the sunshade? It's difficult to get to it with the shad itself in the way. Tried to shut the car off several times to get the shade halfway down to lube it but it's either up or down...no in between.

BMW says the lube is a lifetime lube.



No seriously.
The part that you would need to lube is inside the motor-see pictures below.
On the older E46 BMW 3 series we used to have the issue of the lubricant drying out so the shade would be stuck in the up position.

DIY required taking apart the rear deck, extracting the shade body and using a torx head to access the motor and then adding some gear lube to it.

[Arby1028]

Excellent...thank you!

[Cyberdemon]

Bumping this up - my sunshade had an issue where it would go up but click quickly on the way down.

This tutorial was helpful, but in my case, opening the gear case was completely unnecessary.

https://www.csparks.com/bmw/SunScreen/index.xhtml

The clicking is caused by bad engagement between the worm gear and small gear, even though neither was worn. If you loosen the screws on the motor and add some small sheet metal to the bottom edge of the motor (I used two strips of a tin can lid) then tighten it back down it helps to tilt the shaft enough for better engagement.

Fixed the issue - looks like this mechanism hasn't changed in years but this flaw seems to go back to E series cars from the 90's so hope this helps others.