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I have a 2005 325ci. Today, my wife attempted to put the top down after work for the drive home, and it only went half way and stopped. So she tried to close it, and it went down to about an inch from fully closed and stopped. The red light blinks and it makes a funny ticking/whirring noise when you push the close button, but it won't shut all the way and lock. She had to drive home holding the top down so it didn't blow up!! It's also been having trouble recently with the trunk refusing to open. We think these two things are related. The trunk will NOT open with the fob, and locks itself upon closing, even with the doors unlocked.
I've read about the "valet lock" feature, but the "answers" are all to turn this off with a button in the glove compartment. Well...there is no button in the glove compartment.
Any one have any other ideas? We'll probably end up taking it to the dealer, our regular mechanic is on vacation, but neither of us is looking forward to holding the top closed for a half hour drive!! Her hand hasn't recovered from her trip home from work yet! Also...how likely is the top to blow open and get ruined anyway? Has anyone had to drive with their top in this condition??? Thanks for any help!!
I have a 2005 325ci. Today, my wife attempted to put the top down after work for the drive home, and it only went half way and stopped. So she tried to close it, and it went down to about an inch from fully closed and stopped. The red light blinks and it makes a funny ticking/whirring noise when you push the close button, but it won't shut all the way and lock. She had to drive home holding the top down so it didn't blow up!! It's also been having trouble recently with the trunk refusing to open. We think these two things are related. The trunk will NOT open with the fob, and locks itself upon closing, even with the doors unlocked.
I've read about the "valet lock" feature, but the "answers" are all to turn this off with a button in the glove compartment. Well...there is no button in the glove compartment.
Any one have any other ideas? We'll probably end up taking it to the dealer, our regular mechanic is on vacation, but neither of us is looking forward to holding the top closed for a half hour drive!! Her hand hasn't recovered from her trip home from work yet! Also...how likely is the top to blow open and get ruined anyway? Has anyone had to drive with their top in this condition??? Thanks for any help!!
Check your manual, there should be instruction on there to manually close/open the top with an Allen wrench.
Yeah, we saw that. BUt I would really like to not have to use an allen wrench to open and shut my convertible top. We still think it might be the "Valet mode" problem, but can't find the button or switch to turn this option off and on.
Yeah, we saw that. BUt I would really like to not have to use an allen wrench to open and shut my convertible top. We still think it might be the "Valet mode" problem, but can't find the button or switch to turn this option off and on.
I was recommending to use the allen wrench to manual open/close the top so you can drive the car safely instead of holding it with one hand. This is by no mean a long term solution unless you decide it's not worth to get the problem fixed.
As for the valet lock. There are no button with the older BMW. The way it's supposed to work (if I remember correctly) is that you turn the key all the way left and then right to lock and put it in valet mode. To take it off the valet mode, you do the opposite.
After further investigating on line, we read plenty about the valet option. I don't think we have it. The key only turns one way in both the glove box and the trunk, so that's not it. And there's no mention of it in the owner's manual. Thanks anyway. I gave up and made an appointment at the dealer. I needed to get the air bags fixed anyway. Good thing I get paid that day.
The service guy told me not to worry the top will blow up in the air on my way there. He said that's highly unlikely.
It's not the valet feature at all. Nor are the trunk and top issues intertwined. BOTH the truck latch ($200) AND the convertible top motor ($800) are bad.
hydraulic top motors are notorious for going bad..the pump itself cost anywhere from 450 to 600 hundred, it is labor intensive...the whole top and assembly must be removed...
It will probably happen again when water leaks into the fender well where the hydrualic motor is located and soaks into the hydraulic pumps sound proof foam packing.
I relocated the hydraulic motor behind the drivers
Big job, but well worth the fix.
No TSB issued om BMW top..some dealers felt bad for some customers and assumed some of the motor cost/labor replacement..but it the most part you are on your own.
It may not be a costly motor problem at all. It may be a simple plastic gear with worn teeth. I had a 2002 3-series and the top got stuck once and made a clicking noise and would not open or close. Get in the back seat, put your ear to the center of the seat cushion, and see if the clicking noise is coming from under the center of the back seat.
I know this is old, but people may still be looking at it. The top not closing all the way is a common issue and the single most likely culprit is wiring. Serious.
Ok, so the other night when my wife came home from work with the top down, she went to put the top up in the driveway before putting it in the garage. Well,the top went to about 4" from closed and just stopped, no noises or anything. It would not go back down either. All that happened was the light at the top buttons started flashing. Since it was close to closed, I pulled out the center rear cushion to get at the manual top allen wrench and top release button. Pushed the button to release the top and used the allen wrench on the header panel access to manually close the top (you really have to turn the allen wrench like a million turns to get them to latch, or to get them to fully open so you can open the top manually).
Anyhow the flashing light told me that the CVM module had detected a fault in the sensor. Since the sensors are hall sensors and basically glorified magnets, they will probably never fail. What DOES fail, with regularity on these convertibles, is the wiring harness at the first bend of the top bows. The wiring harness runs down the driver's (left) side of the top channel bows and bends at the joints. Repeated bending back and forth putting the top up and down fatigues them and the wires break inside the loom. Before looking for expensive motors and pumps and the like, a simple check of the wires above the driver's side front seat is in order.
Manually open the top up and hold it propped in the semi-folded position where the bows and loom are visible and easily reached. In my case it was immediately apparent by the fact that the wiring was encased in electrical tape, that the problem had been "fixed" before. Took off the electrical tape and sure enough, one wire was broken completely and another was bent, pinched, and the strands snapped (shown in the picture below). So I cleaned up the wires, cut and stripped them back, made some jumpers (you want to use silicone shrouded wires so that it flexes better than stock), soldered them together, re-wrapped them and attached the loom back in it's location.
Turned the car on, hit the top open button and viola, it worked again and opened up. After fully opening it, I hit the button to put the top up and also had success closing the top like it's supposed to. Since it had been repaired before I fully expect that next time it goes, it'll need a new top wiring harness (which is under $100 new), but replacing that is a bit of a PITA, so I can live with this fix for a while.
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