Automatic trunk lid not functioning

[josiahg52]

Haven't driven the X5d lately. It's just been parked in my garage on a battery tender. Thought I'd take it out for a quick drive earlier this week and found the auto power rear upper trunk lid (option S316A) will not close. It seems jammed.

I've read about different failure modes. I don't think it's an issue with the lower tailgate as I've seen that "failure" to close and that's not how it's behaving at all. It attempts to close but seems to torque a bit. Watching it closely, it looks like the left spindle drive is seized or electrically compromised. Contributing to this is that I can't even force it closed but then again, I'm not sure I could do that before, that it's even possible.

Not done much troubleshooting. Electrically it seems to want to close. I have not tried pulling Fuse 99 and/or 121 which seem to control the tailgate interlock. So far I've just observed the attempts.

Any ideas it should I just pony up the $500 for a new left side spindle drive?