Tailgate latch trouble, fuse maybe?

[diyanich]

Originally Posted by Patrick-Irish

This is a long shot maybe.

I had a dead tailgate release button and one dead licence plate light. The other light was working but very dim.

I investigated and found that a seal had perished badly and was letting water into the switch and licence plate lights. I replaced the seal, cleaned the corrosion off the light contacts and dried out the switch with a hair dryer. Hey presto, both lights back on full strength and no problems from the release button any more.

The seal in question. I don't know what you call it but there's this "strip" of trim above the licence plate area, attached to the very bottom of the tailgate. For example if you were opening the tailgate using the release button your thumb would be on this piece of trim. That can be removed by undoing three or four torx screws on the bottom of it and then the seal in question is visible between the strip and the bodywork.

Mine had almost turned to dust it was that perished !

Hi there,
The moisture gets inside and shortens the circuit.
What I've done with mine was removing it for examination,finding that if the right light(license plate) bulb was installed it would get a short circuit and the button wouldn't work at all..it worked fine once the bulb was removed,so I bought it inside and dried inside with the hair dryer.
Also the connector inside of the housing was loose and I suspect it was where water accessed through into the otherwise sealed plastic capsule.
So I used the glue gun and sealed the connector hole as well gluing it,so there's no play at all.
It's been two or three months and never had the problem,and we've been through the worst winter I've ever seen.
Before I fixed it I would turn off the engine and would get the hatch unlocked or turn on/off the lights and get the same result.
Good luck

[Socalkev]

I ended up going to the dealer, diagnosis was bad cpu in the rear, replaced for $600 and everything now works fine.

[diyanich]

Originally Posted by Socalkev

I ended up going to the dealer, diagnosis was bad cpu in the rear, replaced for $600 and everything now works fine.

wow

[bluejazzer]

Just posted this exact same post elsewhere in reply to another thread so apologies if your reading it twice!
Solved my problem (kind of). Took the tailgate trim off (with the boot release and number plate lights in) and pulled it apart. Now this is quite difficult as the thing appears to have been melted together, presumably to seal it and keep the water out. So, on inspection, 2 of the 4 wires inside had worked loose. Result methinks, just solder them back on and bobs yer uncle. However, when i took the pcb out for easier access i found the back had corroded and the bus bars were completely gone for about 4 inches!!! So its goosed then! Bunch of arse.
Take note BMW. If you have 2 pieces of plastic and you need to join them together to keep them watertight. Dont melt them together!!!!!! Use a bit of rubber! It works for the rest of the bleeding car manufacturing world!