A little light wrenching for Sunday afternoon...
 

Here is a pic of the hatch. Somebody forgot to press the close button and crunched the hatch on the garage door pull, aaarghhh. I had a new hatch painted and it has been sitting in the garage getting dusty.

So today I decided might be a good day for a bit of light wrenching.
The only thing that I haven't figured out is the inner tail lights. These are held be a single 6mm nut and a plastic bracket. They should be easy to pop out but it feels like they are glued in there??

Any one had the inner tails out and know how hard I need to push or pry?

Inner tails have a rubber caulking holding them as well on the earlier cars. On the later (LCI) ones, they replaced this with a felt type weatherstripping. Good job on the wrenching, I'm just waiting for it to be a little warmer to put on my X5M calipers and rotors myself

Ha, ha! My wife reversed out of the garage with the hatch open and blew out the glass and scratched up the hatch. Couple of thousand dollars later it was good as new. Funny how with all the bells, gongs, and alarms, it lets you drive with the hatch open! However, if the driver's door is open it won't let you put it in gear.

Totally true! It drives me bananas that I can't open the door to reverse! It should indeed disable it with hatch open.

I got the innner tails out, the rubber caulk just needs insistant pressure to let go. By far the most annoying job is getting the wiring harnesses out. They are out but it took me almost half an hour I believe.

I believe this function could be coded out,but I personally wouldnt.I have the habit of backing up with the driver's door open,but i'd rather curse a little bit than remove this safety feature.

Hatch is back on and operable!
 

Took the old lift gate off with the help of a friend a couple of days ago and popped the new one on this afternoon. Retreaded the wiring harnesses back in and connected things back up. It is working like a charm and I need to call the glass guys to come and switch the glass.

My e53 threw me a curve ball by refusing to close the passenger window when I went to pick up my daughter just ahead of a thunder storm.... Fortunately I had purchased 2 window clips when the driver's side broke :-) Got it apart and the window lifted back up just before the heavens opened.

Any way, back to the e70. Two things have me puzzled. What should I use to seal the inner tail lights back on to the lift gate? What is the black stuff that was used originally?

Second question, what to use behind the rear roundel? It was glued on with some kind of adhesive ring and I am wondering what to put or if this ring come with a new roundel?

The adhesive is part of the roundel. You'll have to get a new one if you want the adhesive foam.

Butyl sealant is what was used on the innter tail lights.

If there is a body shop in the area, I'd stop by and see if they have a piece of adhesive. For something that size, they might even give you a piece for free.

thanks!
 

I'll look for the sealant for the tail lights, I need to get some supplies in the morning for an oil change on the tundra.

For the roundel I'll probably go without the adhesiuve strip, might just put a dab of the butyl.

Then I need to figure out how to swap the airsprings....a cinch on the e53. Looks a tad more involved on the e70.

Thanks guys, great knowledge.