Lol, yep…feels kind of like owning a boat sometimes for sure. The biggest thing I’ve learned is not to let the issues collect up and stay on top of them or eventually so many things will be wrong that the car is no longer enjoyable to own. I will have to say that I’ve spent more hours keeping my Cadillac Escalade running than I have on both my 650i and M6 combined. It’s a nice vehicle, but GM really neglected the quality on most every gasket or seal on the motor and drive train, lol. The parts aren’t expensive, but the labor time involved to fix it is quite a bit.
Hello, I actually don’t show physically taking it off, but in the video link below, I show what’s holding it on as well as the two hidden screws on the sides that need to come out. If you jump to the 3:45 minute mark it shows what needs to be removed: BMW e64 Convertible Top Not Locking Part 1 - checking mechanism and adjusting the stop position ua-cam.com/video/obY_R7XhcvE/v-deo.html . Hope this helps and all the best ! Steve
hello I have a bmw f12 year 2011, the tailgate window does not work, and I have the dtc 805011 fault and the hood does not work, if the hood window fails, does it not work too? Thank you
Hello, I believe the f12 platform is very similar to the e64 series (like mine) so if the rear window is not in the fully down position, the soft top will not function. The electronics need to know that the rear window is full down so that the soft top does not impact it as it retracts into the compartment. The rear window may not be the issue since the window also will not move if there is an error on the segment sensor of the wing as well. The more common issue is the segment sensor, but it can also be the the rear window motor or hall sensor as well (in the other video on the channel).
Hi there, my soft top started having issues: it does all the procedures except lifting the rear cover-after the trunk where the top is stored. Could it be the purple relays? Or???
Hello, if it’s running the hydraulics to lift and lower any portion of the soft top, I’d say the relays are working. It may just be that the sensors on the triangular wings are not hitting the correct position to let the controller know to open the compartment cover. You might try having someone press the button to make the soft top cycle and then when it lifts the wings, give the wing a little wiggle up and down to see if it will then trigger the compartment cover to open (assuming the soft top was covering the car and you are trying to put it back into the compartment). If the soft top is down in the compartment and you are trying cover the car, after all of the windows all go down, opening of the compartment cover is the next step so if you do not hear the pump come on and try to lift the compartment cover, then it could be either a fuse or these relays not starting the pump. Hope this helps a bit and all the best ! Steve
@@StevesDIYs Steve, thank you for your help. Update: today before going ahead with the procedure, I tapped the sides of the top, I saw you tapping the side on one video, the top retracted and did everything flawlessly. Enjoyed some fresh air on my drive home from work. However, at home I was getting the : top not locked alert. I tapped with my hand the sides and the alert went away. So, I guess the soft tops on these old 6 series are a little glitchy, huh?
@jeremiahex 👍. Great to hear you got it working again ! Yep, the same wing sensor that tapping on the back section of the soft top to get it to read the correct sensor segment (position) is also the one that wiggling the wing helps sometimes to get it to read correctly. It is also the one responsible for the annoying “Top Not Locked” error and gong when going down the road. I believe the video that I thumped on the soft top is the one that shows this segment sensor and how to replace…if not, there is another video on the channel that shows how if it starts acting grumpy frequently. By far, this is sensor the most common issue for the soft tops not working properly on these and is caused by either a bad sensor or that the soft top material is loosing its stretchiness as it ages and is pulling the sensor out of position. Storing the soft top in the compartment when it is wet will also cause it to error as the material shrinks from the lack of tension as it dries back out, then is too tight when the soft top is extended the next time to cover the car. Glad to have helped a little and all the best ! Steve
@@StevesDIYs thanks! But it was short lived. Yesterday, it wouldn’t open no matter how many times a tapped the area of the sensor. 🤪Kept getting: “Top Not Locked” So looks like the sensor isn’t working properly anymore.
Hello, I looked back on the paperwork, but the company I got them from is no longer selling them (I think they were one if the first to make the replacement gears so now they don’t sell direct as it looks like they are selling to resellers). Now it looks like there are quite a few listings for them and the price has come down tremendously, but the kit looks exactly the same so maybe the volume has increased enough that they have a more automated manufacturing process to make them. If you google “E36 E46 E64 CONVERTIBLE TOP LATCH motor GEARS REPAIR KIT 67618370816” you should be able to find the complete set that includes both gears (made of brass) and the 4 little plastic holders that go on the ends of the gear shafts. Not sure if they come with grease in the kits anymore, but almost any non-hardening grease will do so long as it is plastic parts compatible. Hope this helps and all the best ! Steve
Jonathan Martinez , hello...there’s actually a small access hole where you can put the crank tool that’s in the trunk into. It is in between the back seats in the center of the car just below the glass and is under the rectangular cover that is in between the two small air vents. This rectangular plastic pops off and then you can put the crank tool into the hole and manually turn the motor to lower the glass down. If you look at the 8:49 minute mark of the “bmw e64 Rear Window Module Removal and Diagnosis - bad motor and hall sensor” video on my channel, it shows the small hole with the rectangular plastic cover removed. No need to do remove anything but the small cover that is between the two vents to access it. If you are like me and don’t have the crank tool that came with the car, you can use a metric Allen wrench and a pair of pliers, but go easy when cranking to be sure you turn it the right direction until you determine which way to turn. Also, If the small led lights are still lighting up when you press either the all windows up/down or the back window up/down button on the driver door, lowering the back window manually may allow the top opening cycle to begin. If they will not come on when the button is pressed or if, after manually lowering the back window completely (as well as at least partially lowering the side windows) the top will not open, then there is probably another sensor that is not registering that is preventing the top from working. Hope this helps and you get it working again 👍
Hey man ! Unless you could find someone selling a used motor that has the mount, I think it will be very difficult to find just the little mounts as BMW didn’t offer much for small replacement components. Just thinking about what I would do, I would probably get a couple of those rubber expansion plugs that have a bolt through them and cut the rubber plug to the height of the original rubber mount gap. Then bolt through both sides and squeeze down on the rubber plug material. Probably not a perfect replacement, but as long as it can isolate the motor’s vibration and keep it in place I’d say it would work. Here’s a link to a pic of one I found that I would try in that situation: facebook.com/109400450606405/posts/354759732737141/?d=n . Hope this helps some as a thought and if you do get it figured out, comment back as others might find your solution helpful as well 👍. All the best ! Steve
Natalia Arroyo Khem , hello...I’m in Middle Tennessee. Yep, BMW put some cheap plastic gears in the latch drive motor for sure...I think they were going for quiet gears vs. long lasting ones. It wasn’t too bad to change them out though.
Love your videos every time much appreciated
There are 2 good things about BMW ownership
#1 the day you buy it
#2 the day you sell it.
Lol, yep…feels kind of like owning a boat sometimes for sure. The biggest thing I’ve learned is not to let the issues collect up and stay on top of them or eventually so many things will be wrong that the car is no longer enjoyable to own. I will have to say that I’ve spent more hours keeping my Cadillac Escalade running than I have on both my 650i and M6 combined. It’s a nice vehicle, but GM really neglected the quality on most every gasket or seal on the motor and drive train, lol. The parts aren’t expensive, but the labor time involved to fix it is quite a bit.
Hey there, I searched your channel for the video on removing the top cover but couldnt find it. Can you point me to where the video is located?
Hello, I actually don’t show physically taking it off, but in the video link below, I show what’s holding it on as well as the two hidden screws on the sides that need to come out. If you jump to the 3:45 minute mark it shows what needs to be removed: BMW e64 Convertible Top Not Locking Part 1 - checking mechanism and adjusting the stop position
ua-cam.com/video/obY_R7XhcvE/v-deo.html . Hope this helps and all the best ! Steve
hello I have a bmw f12 year 2011, the tailgate window does not work, and I have the dtc 805011 fault and the hood does not work, if the hood window fails, does it not work too? Thank you
Hello, I believe the f12 platform is very similar to the e64 series (like mine) so if the rear window is not in the fully down position, the soft top will not function. The electronics need to know that the rear window is full down so that the soft top does not impact it as it retracts into the compartment. The rear window may not be the issue since the window also will not move if there is an error on the segment sensor of the wing as well. The more common issue is the segment sensor, but it can also be the the rear window motor or hall sensor as well (in the other video on the channel).
Hi there, my soft top started having issues: it does all the procedures except lifting the rear cover-after the trunk where the top is stored. Could it be the purple relays? Or???
Hello, if it’s running the hydraulics to lift and lower any portion of the soft top, I’d say the relays are working. It may just be that the sensors on the triangular wings are not hitting the correct position to let the controller know to open the compartment cover. You might try having someone press the button to make the soft top cycle and then when it lifts the wings, give the wing a little wiggle up and down to see if it will then trigger the compartment cover to open (assuming the soft top was covering the car and you are trying to put it back into the compartment). If the soft top is down in the compartment and you are trying cover the car, after all of the windows all go down, opening of the compartment cover is the next step so if you do not hear the pump come on and try to lift the compartment cover, then it could be either a fuse or these relays not starting the pump. Hope this helps a bit and all the best ! Steve
@@StevesDIYs Steve, thank you for your help. Update: today before going ahead with the procedure, I tapped the sides of the top, I saw you tapping the side on one video, the top retracted and did everything flawlessly. Enjoyed some fresh air on my drive home from work. However, at home I was getting the : top not locked alert. I tapped with my hand the sides and the alert went away. So, I guess the soft tops on these old 6 series are a little glitchy, huh?
@jeremiahex 👍. Great to hear you got it working again ! Yep, the same wing sensor that tapping on the back section of the soft top to get it to read the correct sensor segment (position) is also the one that wiggling the wing helps sometimes to get it to read correctly. It is also the one responsible for the annoying “Top Not Locked” error and gong when going down the road. I believe the video that I thumped on the soft top is the one that shows this segment sensor and how to replace…if not, there is another video on the channel that shows how if it starts acting grumpy frequently.
By far, this is sensor the most common issue for the soft tops not working properly on these and is caused by either a bad sensor or that the soft top material is loosing its stretchiness as it ages and is pulling the sensor out of position. Storing the soft top in the compartment when it is wet will also cause it to error as the material shrinks from the lack of tension as it dries back out, then is too tight when the soft top is extended the next time to cover the car.
Glad to have helped a little and all the best ! Steve
@@StevesDIYs thanks! But it was short lived. Yesterday, it wouldn’t open no matter how many times a tapped the area of the sensor. 🤪Kept getting: “Top Not Locked” So looks like the sensor isn’t working properly anymore.
I have the same car and the windows is up When I press the button the window do not move how I can manually move the window down
Look identical to the z4
Where can I find the exact gear? Thank you!
Hello, I looked back on the paperwork, but the company I got them from is no longer selling them (I think they were one if the first to make the replacement gears so now they don’t sell direct as it looks like they are selling to resellers). Now it looks like there are quite a few listings for them and the price has come down tremendously, but the kit looks exactly the same so maybe the volume has increased enough that they have a more automated manufacturing process to make them. If you google “E36 E46 E64 CONVERTIBLE TOP LATCH motor GEARS REPAIR KIT 67618370816” you should be able to find the complete set that includes both gears (made of brass) and the 4 little plastic holders that go on the ends of the gear shafts. Not sure if they come with grease in the kits anymore, but almost any non-hardening grease will do so long as it is plastic parts compatible. Hope this helps and all the best ! Steve
The rear window so I can manually move the top down
Jonathan Martinez , hello...there’s actually a small access hole where you can put the crank tool that’s in the trunk into. It is in between the back seats in the center of the car just below the glass and is under the rectangular cover that is in between the two small air vents. This rectangular plastic pops off and then you can put the crank tool into the hole and manually turn the motor to lower the glass down. If you look at the 8:49 minute mark of the “bmw e64 Rear Window Module Removal and Diagnosis - bad motor and hall sensor” video on my channel, it shows the small hole with the rectangular plastic cover removed. No need to do remove anything but the small cover that is between the two vents to access it. If you are like me and don’t have the crank tool that came with the car, you can use a metric Allen wrench and a pair of pliers, but go easy when cranking to be sure you turn it the right direction until you determine which way to turn. Also, If the small led lights are still lighting up when you press either the all windows up/down or the back window up/down button on the driver door, lowering the back window manually may allow the top opening cycle to begin. If they will not come on when the button is pressed or if, after manually lowering the back window completely (as well as at least partially lowering the side windows) the top will not open, then there is probably another sensor that is not registering that is preventing the top from working. Hope this helps and you get it working again 👍
My motor mounts(bumpers) are torn out and completely separated from the bracket. Advice?
Hey man ! Unless you could find someone selling a used motor that has the mount, I think it will be very difficult to find just the little mounts as BMW didn’t offer much for small replacement components. Just thinking about what I would do, I would probably get a couple of those rubber expansion plugs that have a bolt through them and cut the rubber plug to the height of the original rubber mount gap. Then bolt through both sides and squeeze down on the rubber plug material. Probably not a perfect replacement, but as long as it can isolate the motor’s vibration and keep it in place I’d say it would work. Here’s a link to a pic of one I found that I would try in that situation: facebook.com/109400450606405/posts/354759732737141/?d=n . Hope this helps some as a thought and if you do get it figured out, comment back as others might find your solution helpful as well 👍. All the best ! Steve
@@StevesDIYs Thanks so much! I will give that a look.
@@StevesDIYs Got those plugs and cut them to fit like you said. New gears too. Works like a charm. Thank you!
@@jrswartzbaugh that’s great ! Glad I could be of some help and thanks for posting back that it worked 👍. All the best ! Steve
dude i have the same problem
is your shop located at
Natalia Arroyo Khem , hello...I’m in Middle Tennessee. Yep, BMW put some cheap plastic gears in the latch drive motor for sure...I think they were going for quiet gears vs. long lasting ones. It wasn’t too bad to change them out though.
I have a long question to ask lol
Hey Steve how are you, I left you a message on face book to call me