Well, that's the first time that a dealer said that "they had not heard of a car having that particular issue" :rolleyes:

I think that's a phrase that is drummed into every dealership worker on their first day! :) And I'm not just talking about BMW...

Good to hear that the problem is resolved though :thumbup:

Agreed...

Check out post #9 on this thread :-

http://www.xoutpost.com/x5-e70-forum/...hlight=progman

At the very least you may be able to get a free progman upgrade ;)

Well, an update is due.

Yesterday, the E70 started at it again. Only this time, it would not latch at all. And, it would open and shut on its own without any input from my wife, myself or my keys. It would close, and then just sit there (unlatched).

Dropped it off today to the dealer. Their new opinion is that the soft close actuator is faulty. The have a new one on overnight order, but won't be ready till tomorrow. I will test it at that point and see if it is fixed. If it happens again, I will be calling BMWNA to see what the next option is.

J

glad they are at least taking care of it... good luck.

i actually had a strange experience the other day...

i left the tailgate open and engine running while i was wiping and waxing her down... spent about 30min.. when i was finished loading everything back in the trunk i hit the auto close button and nothing happened.. i did notice the red button although still lit was very hot to the touch... but no noise no movement...

i had to manually close the tailgate and decided to shut off the engine for awhile...

less than a half hour later i was able to open and close without a problem.

weird!

note: i also figured out a way to route another switch line to the dash.. this will allow you to automatically close the tailgate from inside the vehicle.. (nothing more than just tapping into the existing red button switch line)

just not sure if i want to go through that excercise...

Hmm, I wonder if the switch overheated from the light bulb and the contacts deformed (copper ?). Once it cooled off, it returned to the original shape.

What might be happening in Jason's case is a similar problem, when the light never goes off when gate is closed, or the pushbutton switch is bad and the contacts are just too close to each other.

that's exaclty what i thought...

if that's the case... we may be better off without the lightbulb.....honestly, do we really need it?? a red glow in the dark sticker would be just as effective if you can't find it in the dark.

even without the engine running..the bulb is still drawing power like any other door.. the tailgate switch is just too close to the light bulb..

another design masterpiece from BMW!! :confused:

My tailgate has been "bouncing" since the after I bought it. I've just been too busy/lazy to take it in. Usually 2 or 3 times and then it stays closed. Now it looks like I'm going to make an appointment...I'll have to mention the softclose actuator since it appears to be a non-stock part. Good info, thx.

My auto tailgate doesn't always close and re-opens to about half way. It's done it quite a few times now ( I am sure it's not the lower half ) so am going to book it in.

I just talked to my SA yesterday. The entire latching system was replaced, only to find out that there is a controller unit which is also faulty. The hatch won't latch at all now. So, I am waiting for a replacement.

Last week they told me overnight Friday, in service Saturday, repaired Monday. Well, that was wrong. The part is BACKORDERED indefinitely. And, when it is available, it is coming from Germany. So, we have no ETA on when it will arrive. I can't drive my E70 because it won't latch and the whole mechanism is FUBAR'd. We are switching out our X3 loaner for a base X5 loaner today or tomorrow. Hopefully sometime next week I will know more about when it will be available.

J