BMW E61 Trunk Leak – Sunroof Drain Failure – 2004-2010 5 Series Wagon
Posted by jpluimers on 2025/04/21
Use this guide only as a last resort: [Wayback/Archive] BMW E61 Trunk Leak – Sunroof Drain Failure – 2004-2010 5 Series Wagon.
Try first to remove any debris from the drains from the panoramic sunroof/moonroof side or remove the valve with grommet at the lowest end. Some YouTube video’s explain how to do that.
It looks like a sunroof often has front drain holes clogged and a panoramaroof often the back drain holes; where it leaks depends how your car is tilted while parked.
You might want to move the electronics that are in the well under the spare wheel to the left hand side of the trunk.
Furthermore, the electric cabling on the E61 that runs underneath the hinges of the trunk and trunk window mechanisms tend to break over time causing all kinds of electrical issues.
A list related to those first:
- [Wayback/Archive] This is what is draining your BMW Battery – High battery discharge – YouTube
- [Wayback/Archive] Reversing light error – 5Series.net – Forums
I’ve got a 2006 e60 525i with a warning about the left reversing light.
I’ve checked the bulb & holder and can’t see anything that looks wrong – bulb changed: no difference.
Had a look for a faulty earth, or corroded connections, can’t see any problem with that. The continuity between the holder and the earth point is good and the spade connections all seem bright metal and not a hint of rusting.Had a look at the fuses in the glove box, nothing there seems wrong, nothing blown.
Had a look at the light control module, couldn’t see any components obviously faulty.There is another (I think related) problem – the car gives an increased discharge warning. Never fails to start, but clock is wiped if left for a while without running. When I start it in the mornings I also get an odd issue with the radio, it runs but cuts out after a few seconds. Once the car has been running for a few minutes, this problem goes away. Seems to me like the battery is being discharged by something after I take the keys out to a point where there’s just enough power to start and run the basics, but nothing auxiliary. So until the car has been running a while (and the alternator has charged the battery) the radio doesn’t run properly.
It seems like the issue with the light may be keeping the car in some sort of “wake” mode and draining the battery to the point it just stops everything (to preserve the ability to start the engine) – maybe I’m just joining 2 problems into one without good reason though.
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the intermittent radio issue was definitely the MULF unit – don’t really need it just now so will leave it disconnected and it doesn’t seem to have caused any issues.
I swapped the 2 bulb holders on the back over and tried the reverse lights again and both worked. I think maybe there was some oxidation on the connection and it chipped it loose using the different connector blocks (that’s the only thing I can think of, but the connections all seemed bright metal.
But when I put the trim back on, the left reversing light gave the same issue as it had. I took the trim back off and the light started working again. I think what may be happening is the trim is pushing against the connector block and causing a disconnect. Going to leave the trim off for a while and see if the problem occurs again.As for the increased discharge, that’s no longer happening. I think either the dodgy connection or MULF was causing the increased discharge after I switched the car off – here’s hoping anyway.
- [Wayback/Archive] Reversing Light Failure – 5Series.net – Forums
Am having an issue with my 2006 E61 520d M Sport touring.
The right reversing light doesn’t come on and I get a warning every time I start the car regarding right reversing light failure. There is nothing wrong with the bulb and the local BMW dealer said it is an issue with the wiring system in the rear somewhere which would have to be totally replaced, which costs a fortune…
Does anyone know of any DIY ways around this or is the replacement of the whole wiring loom the only way to go?Alternatively, does anyone know if there is a way to disable the warning at engine start alone as that would be more than enough for my liking
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Here is a link for it:
https://5series.net/forums/e61-touri…acement-72751/
I fixed mine yesterday, the wire for that light is yellow and white. I have had 6 wires in total that have broke, wiper, wiper park signal, number plate light, reversing light, defroster and button for boot lid. I was going to change them all was my first plan but, they where a lot thinner than the ones that I bought so I decided just to chnage the one I found broken. So now I have done the operation 3 times instead :-( - [Wayback/Archive] Tailgate wiring harness replacement?? – Page 2 – 5Series.net – Forums
Some of you may have read my post about my remote locking and reat tailgate glass button not working.
Its been a long saga with a dealer in Glasgow pointing finger at the Aeriel Diversity Module and then blaming the body control module.
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Well I went to another dealer as to be honest I’ve lost confidence in the Glasgow one and wanted a 2nd opinion. They traced the fault to a faulty tailgate wiring harness. I can see why this would cause both problems as the ADM is needed for the remote to work and it is located under the roof spoiler on the tailgate and I presume the tailgate glass wiring is all part of the same harness.
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If you open just the upper rear window you will see this(see picture) All the harness for the tailgate go through this cables so you chould be able to easily check if some of them are broken. But changing the complete harness is not much work. Im guessing two hours if they know what they are doing.
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Had a little fiddle today and got the rear tailgate glass working. I pulled the speakers out the roof and got access to the loom. You can feel that it gets stretched a bit when the boot is fully open and I tried to work the loom so there was a bit of slack. Maybe just a coincidence but the glass is now working fine
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I have a similar problem with a numberplate light not working, and the rhs tailights only working when the boot is closed. have traced to faulty loom where it enters the hinge of the tailgate. Am trying to sort it as I type!! I know the E34 and E39 models had the same problem, so why have BMW not sorted it on this car?
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my both rear number plate lights stop working, rhs reversing light and rhs rear fog are not working. what seems even strange is when i turn the head lights on, it stops the rear boot lid handle to response as well. but if you turn the lights off, it works again.. i have been tracing the cable harness with the internal boot lid stripped completely out. still no joy..
The E34 and E39 are easy to sort out as it has a normal boot lid, all cable are easy accessible. where E61 is all compactly routing throught the hinges and into the soffit where the rear speakers are..…
I have just got the rear lights and numberplate light working. I got some wire from FAB BMW breakers in Cinderford (though any car loom would do) and did a “cut and shut” job on the loom.
The part of the loom I cut out was broken in 3 of the 9 wires. Rubbish design, and from this forum seems to be quite common. My E39 has a similar problem (rear window heater – lights were all OK)
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I had to take the rooflining down to get full access to the loom. You will have a break in the wires, but by moving them a little, you may have gained a couple of weeks working tailgate!!
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do you have a E61? the wires going into the roof is a nightmere job. plus the wires is housing through the hinge, in fact 4 routing places, there is no obvious screw to release it off the hinge
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Anybody have any idea which wires go through which hinge?
I only need to locate the wires that operate the glass and the remote locking. I’m almost 100% sure the glass wire is through the RHS hinge as it was when I played with this loom that the glass started working again. No sure about the remote to the module under the roof spoiler though as there are a few connections on that module.
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I had my wire loom repaired 6 months ago. 3 wires were cut. Remote did not work, that was the main problem.
Wires go on right side.
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my concern is that i can not get the wire out of the hinge metal tunnel. which you can see from the photo above posted.
- SEETHIS
- [Wayback/Archive] RealOEM.com – Online BMW Parts Catalog: 5′ E61 525d Cable covering f trunk lid

- [Wayback/Archive] RealOEM.com – Online BMW Parts Catalog: 5′ E61 525d Diagram Selection
- [Wayback/Archive] RealOEM.com – Online BMW Parts Catalog: 5′ E61 525d Rep. wiring harness, hinge on trunk lid

- [Wayback/Archive] RealOEM.com – Online BMW Parts Catalog: 5′ E61 525d Cable holder/covering

- [Wayback/Archive] RealOEM.com – Online BMW Parts Catalog: 5′ E61 530xd Diagram Selection
- [Wayback/Archive] RealOEM.com – Online BMW Parts Catalog: 5′ E61 525d Repair cable main cable harness

play attention to the small cliping on the sides of the truncking metal, top part and low part, carefully put a very thin metal ruler there to get it unclip. then you can have full access to the wire loop. and un wrap the protection ribbons to inspect cables. good luck, this is what i will do..
I had the speaker cover removed and saw the wire loops, it is extremely tight in space. my top part of my hand was cut many times trying to feel the cable. if the above is where the cuts are, we do not need to go into the interior roof to sort the problem out.
i thnk for my problem (number plate lights, rhs reverse light and rhs fog light) is on the left hand hinge.
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Success!! I managed to fix the loom and get the glass and remote locking working again.
I took a few photo’s. Not sure how helpful they will be but I’ll upload them later. I had the additional problem that the glass didn’t open so I had to pull the wiper off and the trim inside the bootlid to get it open so I could get the roof spoiler off!
I found 3 broken wires and 1 that was close to breaking! I used a simple wire connector to bridge the gap and will see how that goes.
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Ok a very rough DIY guide to removing the loom from the tailgate. NOTE this is for the part of the loom going to the Aeriel Diversity module which has the wires for the remote locking and tailgate glass amongst others.
It may be handy for those wondering how the wires come out the hinge? There are a couple of points with no pics but I’ll try to explain best I can and maybe when gary does his he can add the pics I missed.
Start off from inside the boot and remove the speaker cover (RHS in my case). Its easy enough to pry out with your fingernails but be careful notr to break the plastic lugs.

Then you need to remove the speaker. There are a lot of torx bolts but you only need to remove 2 as they are the only ones holding it onto the roof.


Then remove the 1 torx bolt holding the loom in place.

Now you need to remove the roof spoiler so you can unplug the loom.
1 – Open tailgate glass (if its still working unlike mine!! If not then thats a whole other DIY as its a pain to get open manually)
2 – There are 4 bolts holding the spoiler on. Equally spaced and under little plastic caps that come out easily with fingernails. Remove these.
3 – Lower the glass and then firmly work the spoiler backwards to slide it off the locating lugs.
4 – I then unplugged the washer nozzle which is on the LHS
5 – Unplug the connector on the RHS (think its the high lever brake light)
6 – There is another plug that goes into the aeriel diversity module. Pull the plastic cover off this and unplug this connector then place the spoiler safely to the side.
7 – Unplug the connectors to the ADMNow you need to strip the hinge after releasing it from the tailgate glass.
1 – With the glass lowered there is an 8mm bolt holding the hinge securing plate and 2x 13mm nuts holding the hinge together. Be carefull here as you need to remove the 13mm nuts but the hinge is spring loaded. It can be held with your hand but just be warned. Should be self explanitory how the plate gets removed and this releases part of the hinge containing the wires.
2 – The lower part of the hinge needs to be released now. I have a pic of this and you can see its a common BMW type retainer kind of like a rawl plug with the pin in the centre keeping it in place. These can be pry’d out carefully then the hinge is free.


3 – The hinge is in 2 halves and I decided to split it by wedging it with a flat bladed screwdriver.
4 – I then taped the wires together and pulled them through the speaker hole

5 – When I took the sheathing off you can see the broken wires clearly!!


Fix the wires and put it all back together.
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Chesney72: I have got it fixed.. as i promised, i will post you a step by step how i went about fixing it attachment for your information. and for all of you have the same or similar problem and trying to fix it yourself.. please use this guide for your information only. i will not take any responsiblity of you harming yourself and/or your vehicle. it is fully at your own risk.
Once again thanks Whitestone for your cut and join concept and scrap yard spare cables idea.
Attached Files
I was getting a fog light housing replaced today at the dealership, and the E61 next to mine was having this exact same surgery on the tailgate wiring harness. It looked just like your pics – wires hanging down from the headliner, roof spoiler off.
I asked the Tech about this failure, and he said that it happens all the time. “Poor design” was his comment.
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Last week I bought a 2005 e61 (525D) and have exact the same problem as garychairson (my both rear number plate lights stop working, rhs reversing light and rhs rear fog are not working).
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Welcome to the E60 Forums for E61. sorry to hear your problem which like mine. not to worry, it is not a major problem to fix. We have lots of member here are very good in sorting out problems. what out for the rear suspension air pump failure. it is also a common problem with E61. again, if you have that problem. dont panic. it is a easy job to fix too, but will cost you a bit more, you will need a new pump. no harm to source one now if you are planing to keep your car for another 2 yrs.
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And problems again

Now I can open “glass” bootlid only when the engine is running, otherwise I can’t open it? Checked the wires, and I can’t finde a broken wire (checked all 4 cabels, spend a whole day in my trunk
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did you have the entire cable in the hinge unwraped all the way in and check??
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My problems: intermittent license plate light (right one). This causes an annoying warning in your dashboard…
I could have lived with that, if not the glass lid switch started to have a life of its own since a week ago. It started to open spontaneously every now and then (only when I started the car, or opened the car). It never did that while I was driving…
My car: E61 from december 2004. The problems started this summer at around 140K kilometers at the very young age of 5 years only.The posts in this thread have helped me a lot, so as a thank you I wanted to contribute with my fotoshoot. See attached.
The intermittent license plate light issue is now fixed. And I also hope to have fixed my glass lid switch (I simply disconnected it). I rarely use it anyway…NOTE: be very carefull with wiress that potentially carry supply voltages… I will not be held responsible for any damage that you make…
Using this fotoshoot/manual is completely at your own risk![Wayback/Archive] 5series.net/forums/attachments/e61-touring-discussion-4/94696d1258896806-tailgate-wiring-harness-replacement-bmw_e61_tailgate_wires.pdf
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I also found that it is possible to get the plastic retainer out without damaging it. Simply just get a small blunt screwdriver and tap the center pin through the plastic collar. It then pops out the back and falls out. The collar is then easily prized out with a flat blade screw driver.[Wayback/Archive] 99759-tailgate-wiring-harness-replacement-rear-hinge-pin.jpg (827×635)
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– glass tailgate section would not open
– radio would not remember its channels, and would lose FM reception when the car was running
– key fob functions would not work (central locking / opening and locking car / boot opening)
– high centre brake light did not work (FYI this was an advisory item on my MOT last week…but it passed the MOT with this not working)…
[Wayback/Archive] Tailgate wiring harness replacement?? – Page 14 – 5Series.net – Forums
Thanks for the excellent thread, I managed to fix my cables with the help of posted instructions. Only the right hand side tailgate light was out, even though 6 out of 10 cables were damaged.
[Wayback/Archive] 135608d1344861304-tailgate-wiring-harness-replacement-img_0405.jpg (640×480)
I made a tool out of a 3-inch nail to prise out the center pin of the fastener which holds the cable chute to hinge.
[Wayback/Archive] 135609d1344861319-tailgate-wiring-harness-replacement-img_0403.jpg (640×480)Before using the tool, I hit the nail against concrete to take out the sharp point, then inserted it inside the fastener and carefully tapped the center pin out. It’s important to align the end of the tool at the center of the pin.
[Wayback/Archive] 135610d1344861334-tailgate-wiring-harness-replacement-img_0400.jpg (640×480)…
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My rear glass button and rear wiper have both failed (all fuses fine) so I guess this is ‘broken wiring’ again …
Why has this not become a recall (safety) issue as the wires seem destined to fail on just about every E61… What has to go wrong on a BMW for them ever to repair a known design fault free of charge ????
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Here’s the how-to. I recommend anyone who have the “glass pops open on its own accord and glasslid button only works occasionally, or not at all” problem, to replace the microswitch at a cost of EUR 24 and 15 minutes work BEFORE spending hours trying to take the rear hatch apart in order to check the integrity of the wires. Let me know if you have any feedback to the pictorial.Attached Files
BMW 5 series E61 rear glass microswitch replacement process.pdf (1.17 MB, 2240 views)[Wayback/Archive] 5series.net/forums/attachments/e61-touring-discussion-4/113457d1288124800-tailgate-wiring-harness-replacement-bmw-5-series-e61-rear-glass-microswitch-replacement-process.pdf [Wayback View PDF] [View PDF]
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I have fixed the heated rear screen today and the experience of other was invaluable. Here’s what I found when I opened things up.
The brown cable was burned through and had also burned the rear wash tube. There was water in the cavity above the headliner. The wire was easy, cut and solder in a new section. I say easy, but I had to cut about 30mm of cable out – copper oxide doesn’t solder too well. I left the coax cable alone as I didn’t want to cut into an unknown and find I couldn’t repair it. If anyone has done this, I’d be interested in what you found.
The water tube took a little more thought. I finished up using connectors and pipe from a garden irregation kit – Hozelok I think – to replace the burned section, finishing them off with self-amalgamating tape.
The reassembly was fiddly, but OK. Make sure that you have pulled enough cable through before bolting everything back down.
Someone had questioned the strength of the spring in the glass hinge – it can be held with one finger.
Question is now how long will it be before I have to do more.
There are some photos posted here
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Took me a whole day to do this, but seeing the state they where in I was glad i did it. Modified the metal brackets so the cables are not bended so much any more where they enter in the interior. Hope this will solve this problem. Design is absolute crap.
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Thanks for the excellent thread, I managed to fix my cables with the help of posted instructions. Only the right hand side tailgate light was out, even though 6 out of 10 cables were damaged.

I made a tool out of a 3-inch nail to prise out the center pin of the fastener which holds the cable chute to hinge.

Before using the tool, I hit the nail against concrete to take out the sharp point, then inserted it inside the fastener and carefully tapped the center pin out. It’s important to align the end of the tool at the center of the pin.

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I had similar problems to the ones described on this thread, tail gate glass wont open, rear wiper motor does not work, reversing light out, tail light out, high level brake light partially working. I thought I would check out the suspect wiring harness. well after several hours of crawling around in the boot I checked the wiring and there were cracks in the insulation of several wires but they had not completely split. I repaired the insulation and put everything back together. I then removed the boot spoiler to check the high level brake light. this has only 6 led’s working. unfortunately there is just one plug which connect to the unit so I guess I need to replace this with new. I managed to sort out all of the other problems one by one. the reversing light was a new bulb, the tail light was a new bulb, the wiper motor had seized where it goes through the glass – low grade aluminium parts had corroded. about a gallon of WD40 later and everything is free and working fine. not sure how I managed to fix the tailgate glass but this is also working now? hapypy with the end result though. just need to source the replacement high level brake light.
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I also found this on a German forum (Google translated), along with the BMW repair manuals:
Overview of the function of each wire harnesses:
Is not the number of individual cables but the function. Right to Bottom (tailgate) has the following cables – rear lights tailgate right – license plate light – open button for tailgate – switch back window open – wiper motor + / – close tailgate switch inside (power liftgate) –
Right up (rear) – Plus rear window defroster / connector antenna diversity (ZV – Comfort Access, Comfort Access, radio reception) – switch back window open links down (tailgate) – Lock tailgate – lock rear window – 2x Most cable lock tailgate / rear window – Luggage compartment light tailgate – taillights left tailgate links up (rear window) – Mass Hechscheibenheizung – antenna cable ( Coax cable) – water hose washer
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I think the fix is in the metal guides, they press the cables again the roof when the lid is closed.
The tension in the wires is intensional for them functioning. There is a spring if I remember correctly from rubber that puts the tension on the wires.
When the lid closed there is an excess of wire and this spring prevents the cables from tangling up.
Now the problem is that the end of the metal guides bends the cable 90° again the roof, there virtually no radius either at the of the metal guides. One can only bend a cable that many times like this before the insulation damages and it then brakes.
Fixing the wires one has to prevent making them shorter so the tension doesn’t increase even more.
My fix was to shorten the end of the guide and making a curved exit so the wires have more and arn’t pushed to much again the roof. Hope it makes sense what I am saying.…
The “fix” described above only lasted two days before the remote locks failed again. I have now taken my remote locking problem to a third BMW mechanic, Autobahn Automotive in Natick, Mass. In about 2 hours, he was able to diagnose that the problem was lack of power to the diversity antenna. He pulled the wires back through the speaker hole, identified the broken wire, and fixed it. He said this wire is part of the wire bundle that is the second bundle from the right as you look at the car from the rear. The locks work fine and so does the radio. Let’s hope this time the fix lasts longer than it did the last time. It is doubtful I ever did need the new battery ($300) or the diversity antenna ($295) that I now have.
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Here’s the how-to. I recommend anyone who have the “glass pops open on its own accord and glasslid button only works occasionally, or not at all” problem, to replace the microswitch at a cost of EUR 24 and 15 minutes work BEFORE spending hours trying to take the rear hatch apart in order to check the integrity of the wires. Let me know if you have any feedback to the pictorial.
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I have a BMW 520D, June 2007
Yesterday I suddenly got 4 warnings on my iDrive
– Number plate left
– Number plate right
– Reversing light
– Fog LightToday I checked the wiring in the tailgate – cables to the far right on the car.
6 out of 9 cables was broken, so I extended the cables and soldering everythingAll warnings are now gone!
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The symptoms in order of occurrence over an 18 month period…
– Heated screen not working
– Battery low messages on cold mornings
– Occasional random popping of rear window
– Remote alarm stopped workingOnce the alarm stopped working I did a lot of googling, found this thread and decided to give it a go.
In my case
– the thin red/white (supply to ADM) was snapped which would explain the lack of remote control
– The thick red/white cable was snapped which would explain the lacy of heated screen
– both the browns had insulation bared which may explain the random popping.So if you’ve also read this thread top to bottom you’ll know most of the job but I have a few tips I thought worth passing on.
1. Once you’ve disconnected the ADM, your glass window won’t pop any more. Also once it starts to get intermittent its only a matter of time before it fails completely. Most threads tell you it’s impossible to get it open without the use of a hammer. WRONG, There is a release button. Problem is you need to remove the main tailgate plastics to get at it and you need to pop the window to remove the plastic cleanly. If you’ve got to it while it’s intermittent then good. If not, I’m sure damaged plastic trim will be cheaper to replace than tailgate glass.
The release is a small hole on the side of the solenoid housing. If you are sitting in the boot, looking out, it’s on the right hand side close to one of the two silver torx screws. It’s a very small hole and you need to get something in there and push it towards the back of the car. When I eventually put it all back together I’m going to mark the trim at the point I’ll need to drill a hole if ever it fails again.
2. People talk about problems getting the plastic pins out of the cable guides. Don’t pull the pins out, push them in. Then pull the rivet out and the pin will be easily retrievable
3. Ideally you are supposed to take off the glass hinge to release the cable guide. Instead I just bent up the silver tab a bit, and could then wiggle the guide off without removing the hinge. Guide is split in two by wedging a screwdriver down the side. When I put it back I only used half the guide to give the cable an easier time. This will make sense when you get in there.
4. Taking the spoiler off. All fairly straight forward if you follow the guide but I had trouble getting the pink aerial wire off. Wasn’t sure which bits stayed on the ADM and which pulled out. Basically use a screwdriver to lever the black plug out, don’t just pull the cable. It’s not a ZIF connector, it’s a plug.
5. I added an inch of so of cable to each broken one, heat shrunk individually then put it all back together with loom tape. A roll of loom tape is about £2.50 from ebay and made life so much easier.
So far alarm working, heated screen working, tailgate release working but too soon to say about the battery message. For now I’ve left the big boot trim off just in case the screen popper fails and when I put it back I will make sure I know where to drill in future to access the little release hole as I think it will be a life saver if/when it fails again.
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Here we go. I found this thread! After days of searching the internet. The primary reason for my search is my radio. It’s week four with my first BMW an 06 E61 96K Miles. I also noticed the rear defroster did not work.
Today I tore the car apart. I found water in the Antenna Diversity Amplifier compartment. But I think it still works. My key fob works. I found the brown screen heater screen wire to be cut. (easy fix) After reading this post for 2 hours I need to see if the coaxial cable is cut. When I pulled the left speaker out I didn’t see a black cable in the plastic plastic corrugated housing. I didn’t think anything of this till I saw a picture in this forum. I bet the coaxial cable was sheared off and I didn’t see it. I’ll check the right side too someone said there is a cable for the FM reception over there too.
The ADD had corrosion. I tried cleaning the board. The board was probably fine and I probably broke it. We’ll find out. tomorrow.
I’m going to raise the ADD up if it still works and seal everything with a ton of silicone.
This is the second time this has been done, because I see the evidence. I plan on figuring out a permanent fix. I’ll share it with the group.
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Had my 07 plate E61 530d for a week and the remote locking stopped working.
Was on the brink of shelling out for a diversity unit as mine had a little corrosion on it.
Then found this thread.
Then found this.
[Wayback/Archive] Photobucket | E5929F93-6B6C-44D5-A278-CB8AE9759CA4_zps5jmdlie9.jpgI was just about to shell out for a new diverstiy unit.
this thread saved me £200!!…
Swap the bulbs around. Could be a bulb on its way out.
Also there are 2 bulbs each side for the brake light, check carefully that all 4 work and swap them around.Not sure about the comfort access, but the diversity antenna below the spoiler has cables left and right. Remove the spoiler and you will see quickly.
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This isn’t correct, Left lights have there cables on the left and right lights have then on the right. This goes for all the lights even the licence plate lights are split in left and right. The defroster is in both sides.
Pritty sure there is no no difference for left en right handed cars, that would be stupid
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Checked the other side today. I felt It was way more difficult than the other side. The brown cabel was broken off. After fixing this, heating in rear window works!!!
But, FM-signals is still pretty bad……
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The aerial coax goes through the left hand hinge too.
The coax might be broken.Tricky to test continuity of that.…
Reverse lights and number plate light are in right side ( drivers side). Rear defroster wire is in left side along with left hand side wires for left hand side lights.
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The brake light goes through the right hand hinge but it’s only 2 wires. You have to pop the connector off to remove the spoiler from the car.
I’d say your brake light is on it’s way out..…
(on the defogger, demister, or defroster)
+ goes through right hand hinge.
– goes through left hand hinge.…
I used butt crimp connectors to extend the wires and then covered it with heat shrink.
Morris Products 12102 Butt Splice Connector, Non Insulated, 26-22 Wire Size (Pack of 100): Wire Terminals: Amazon.com: Industrial & ScientificPrior to the fix, I had the following problems:
* Key remote was not working
* Center brake light was not working
* Tailgate hatch window would not openAfter extending all the wires, nothing was fixed. But, I checked and the fuse for the antenna amplifier was blown (#77, 5 A). After replacing that fuse, the key remote works again (and FM antenna). One thing fixed.
The tailgate hatch now pops open all the time, so I think the microswitch is shorted out. Time to replace that.
The part that has me confused is the center brake light, which is still not working. The ground wire is not connected to ground. I checked the repair I did, and there is continuity through that section, but no continuity to the car ground. If I manually use another piece of wire to connect the ground, then the brake light works.
Time to get a Bentley manual and check the wiring diagrams. I have a feeling the fuse could be blown. I can only imagine that when the two wires were severed, they shorted out.
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I used the non-insulated connector for a number of reasons:
- I’ve seen the insulation come off of a connector before. Then, you need to either add heat shrink or electrical tape to insulate it.
- The non-insulated connectors are smaller than the insulated ones. Once you put the heat shrink over it, it looks much cleaner.
- You have a better visual of the crimp with non-insulated connectors, to make sure it looks good and secure.
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I used a small flat screw driver to open up the sides of the black hinge thing. I had to permanently bend the metal a little bit so the bumps would slide out of the holes. Then, use a bigger screw driver to pry the two halves apart. It just takes some force.
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In summary here is some general guidance:
– it is a design fault; all of these wires will break sooner or later, so there is no point replacing individual wires, you should do the whole lot.
– if yours is has not yet been repaired, but you can still open the glass on the tailgate, you should remove the inside trim on the tailgate and connect a wire-tap to the brown/red and brown wires that go to the locking solenoid before it is too late. This will allow you to open the glass using a 9V battery attached to these wires. Otherwise you can end up in the most ridiculous situation where the wiring in the hinges breaks, preventing you from opening the glass (no manual mechanism, only electric), but then you need to open the glass to fix it or even to reach the solenoid at all – catch 22
.
– it seems to be too tight a bend-radius for the type of insulation used, probably exacerbated in cold weather. Replace with silicone rubber cables otherwise your replacements will also fail
– for longevity the joints should be inside the sealed dry area of the car, i.e. on the inside of the grommet by the speakers in the car, and on the far side of the grommet on the tailgate.
– it is a long repair but the most fiddly part is dealing with those stupid cable guides. Be sure to push out the plastic pin and carefully remove them
– if you took it to a garage to fix, it would definitely cost a lot due to how much work is required. Still, they may well not use silicone cables, and may only fix the broken wires.Things still niggling me:
– the LHS side to the glass contains the aerial cable, one of the de-mister wires and the water hose. I haven’t attempted this one but do have the repair kit from Sencom.…
FYI – demister wires are:
– brown on the LHS side to the glass lid
– red/white on the RHS to the glass lid.
These are 2.5mm^2 wiresWiper motor is:
– black/green and the brown in the RHS to tailgate
These are 2.5mm^2 wires
– mauve/red in RHS to taligate – 0.3mm^2 – some switch/sensor.Glass lid opening is:
– brown/red to the solenoid, white/red – microswitch in lock. In LHS to tailgate
– brown/black is the push-button switch, in RHS to glass.…
That company that sells the repair kits Sencom TQ, have this video showing the entire replacement process.
[Wayback/Archive] Einbau SenCom Kabelsatz BMW E61 – YouTube
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Yeah, that video is great. As they went to the trouble of making it, I used their kits! Whilst the kit is expensive for what it is, you have all the right diameter silicone cable (not easy to find), sheath and grommets, saving you some bother in this lengthy process.
Of course it does make it all look soooo easy. The video does clearly show the right places to cut and join the loom. For the end which goes in the receiver unit with connectors, i soldered these as it could be done on the bench rather than in the car.
To fit their kit you need a good crimp tool which can do the usual red/blue/yellow insulated crimps but *also* you need a special small one that does “mini green” ones – like this: Tools Equipment/Hand tools/Crimp Tools | Rapid Online These are not common – I’ve never seen anyone sell the mini crimp connectors. I also fitted heatshrink over the crimps. The kit which fixes the aerial line needs a specialist hex crimp tool to fix the coax plug. I’m not sure what the right one is and any such tools are very expensive, so I’ve left this for now.
If you choose wires yourself, make sure they are the same diameter as the original loom. Any thicker and you will not be able to close the damn cable guides when you finish. For feeding the wires through the grommet by the speaker and adjusting the position in the guides, this stuff is useful:
Ideal Yellow 77 Wire & Cable Pulling Lubricant 950ml | Rigid Conduit & Trunking | Screwfix.com
I think there is meant to be some tension in these concertina grommets by the speakers, so that it takes up the slack as the tailgate is opened/closed.One mistake i made was trying to undo the torx bolt which hold the grommet that the glass window closes against. You can pull the grommet and then the plastic away without loosening the bolt. I made one of mine come loose and it is not possible to fix it back..
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OK, I had success repairing the water hose, coax and demister cable this week. As I haven’t seen anyone else doing a repair to the coax I thought I’d make a how to guide which I’ve attached. Thanks again to for all the help, I wouldn’t even have managed to get the trim off without others previous attempts!

[Wayback/Archive] www.dropbox.com/s/e0obxi0i7mdyanc/BMW%20E61%20Tailgate%20Wiring%20Repair.pdf?dl=0 [Wayback PDF View]
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When my remote key fobs stopped working, I replaced the Diversity Antenna to resolve the issue. There’s a known problem where water leaks in and corrodes the circuit board.…
Here you go some TSB’s. First you remove spoiler, then you get to the module. If you search under my name, you’ll probably find my post with some pics I took of mine when I opened it.Attached Files
TSB – Diversity Module Foam Spacers – Remote Control Malfunction.pdf (30.7 KB, 322 views)
TSB – Removing and installing rear spoiler.pdf (40.6 KB, 341 views)
TSB – Removing and installing_replacing antenna amplifier (diversity.pdf (18.4 KB, 383 views)- [Wayback/Archive] 5series.net/forums/attachments/e61-touring-discussion-4/147772d1429831203-tailgate-wiring-harness-replacement-tsb-diversity-module-foam-spacers-remote-control-malfunction.pdf [Wayback PDF view/PDF view]
- [Wayback/Archive] 5series.net/forums/attachments/e61-touring-discussion-4/147773d1429831223-tailgate-wiring-harness-replacement-tsb-removing-installing-rear-spoiler.pdf [Wayback PDF view/PDF view]
- [Wayback/Archive] 5series.net/forums/attachments/e61-touring-discussion-4/147774d1429831250-tailgate-wiring-harness-replacement-tsb-removing-installing_replacing-antenna-amplifier-diversity.pdf [Wayback PDF view/PDF view]
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A couple of years ago, I had to replace the diversity module circuit board, but I sealed it up well and used a silicone spray coating over it before installing it, to protect it from corrosion. I haven’t had a problem with it since.
I just re-wired all of the right side tailgate wires, most of which lead to the diversity antenna module area. Before re-doing the wires, I had no radio reception and the glass tailgate would pop open upon releasing the brake pedal (weird, right?!). Re-wiring solved all those issues, but now my remote locking / unlocking doesn’t work. Tried both key fobs, and nothing. I’ve also tried re-initializing them with no luck. Anyone have any ideas? All I can think of is that, despite being quite careful, perhaps I touched a couple of wires together while re-doing them (I didn’t disconnect the battery while doing it). I’ve checked the obvious fuses and found no problems.
One other thing that I thought was a bit odd… since doing the re-wiring job, the audio source always resets to FM radio. That is, if I’m listening to anything else (ie iPod through the AUX channel, etc.) and turn off the car, when I get back in and turn the car on, it goes back to FM radio. All the channels are still programmed etc., but it never used to ‘default’ to FM radio – it would just ‘remember’ what source I was last listening to. Can’t help but think these issues are related – maybe I joined the wrong wires or something?! Like I said, I was really careful so I can’t see how I might have done that. Anyone have a wiring schematic or anything?
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An easy way I found to remove the plastic pins that hold the cable guides to the hinge was a small Allen key to push it through, hope this helps.
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I have a my 2010 E61 with 80,000 miles, manufactured in March 2009. 12 months ago my keyfobs stopped working – so I bit the bullet, bought a new diversity antenna amplifier and changed it myself. 3 weeks ago – same problem, doesn’t work again. Short on time, I took it to the dealer to check it out. The Diversity antenna amp was fried again. Since I bought the last one at the dealer, and it was less than two years old, they gave me the replacement diversity antenna amp part no charge. Once it was changed, my keyfobs still didn’t work. The tech at the dealer traced it to 4 broken wires at the right hinge, just under the right rear speaker. To sweeten the deal, the dealer gave me a 20% discount on the labour. It still wasn’t cheap – but it goes to show the wires can start breaking after 5 years. I park my car outside in the winter – I’m sure it doesn’t help opening and closing the rear glass or tailgate when it’s minus 20 outside. I think I’m still going to run into problems, I think I’ll order the Sencom silicone wire kits – left and right – and rewire both hinges by the end of this summer just to be safe for a while. Since the dealer had to keep my car for a few days to get the diversity antenna amp – they loaned me a brand new X1 – and it really doesn’t hold a candle to the 535 touring. I’m glad to have my car back, I suppose this is just one of those things we have to live with to enjoy a great ride….
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So finally got round to replacing the tailgate loom, glad I did as this is what I found. I must have been very lucky to only get a dodgy number plate fault.
1 down 3 to go :-(
[Wayback/Archive] 147894d1431198744-tailgate-wiring-harness-replacement-image.jpg (797×1063)…
Yesterday I suddenly got 4 warnings on my iDrive
– Number plate left
– Number plate right
– Reversing light
– Fog LightToday I checked the wiring in the tailgate – cables to the far right on the car.
6 out of 9 cables was broken, so I extended the cables and soldering everything…
Has anyone investigated the possibility of replacing the quite stupid cable snapping hinges with some sort of flexible trunking? Like every other car manufacturer uses on their boot lids, and lasts for 20+ years……..
Alternatively using a multicore cable, so all the leads are protected inside the outer shell.
cable for robotic applications looks good. flexible and abrasion resistant.
Am I correct in thinking that the full loom includes moulded water seals/grommets – so even if you can find the right crimp connectors you can’t make your own replacement?
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You should replace the entire loom from end to end, not just the broken sections. Then it is easier to pull it through into the car and once attached by the speaker in the roof, feed the whole loom (wrapped in a suitable sleeving) down to the tailgate. Do it like in the sencom video, where your joins on both ends remain sealed inside the vehicle otherwise they will eventually corrode. Use silicone cable of the right cross sectional conductor area. I dont think Maplin stocks suitable ones. Silicone rubber is needed to make sure the new ones dont just crack like the original cable. I think the heater and wiper motor wires are 2.5mm^2 – quite thick. See my previous warnings regarding making sure you can still open the glass.
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generally followed the advice and guides here, but with two changes – first, get a mate to help you. it makes it a much easier, quicker and generally more fun job.
Secondly, making the joins outside the car and pulling them through is a really easy way to do it.
So the process was to cut the wire at the boot end, make a good solder joint to the wire going to the lamps, insulated with heat shrink, and a solder ‘tack’ to the wire going into the car. a gentle pull on this wire shows the bloke inside which one it is, and he pulls it through. cuts to length and joins with a butt crimp, so no soldering over your head inside the car.
the wire in the boot lid was tapped secure with self amalgamating tape, and the clamp refitted. as i wasn’t reusing the wire guide brackets it was obvious the wires would now be pulling against the edge of the boot lid, so i improvised a wire guide, from some garden hose – which i had to split down the outside to fit, as it was an afterthought. however it does the job. the bending the wire must do is now spread over a 30mm length at least, not an edge.
i think some 15mm black silicone tube would be an ideal replacement for the original brackets, and if i had fed it through properly would look very good. i may even retrofit it, just means redoing the external joins.
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I wanted to add an update. Thanks to everyone for their help as I was able to sort the right hand loom on the rear right (facing from the back of the car) which fixed my numberplate bulb problem.
I had added length to all the wires in that loom and everything was working well until last week.
Remote control stopped working and after lots of googling everything pointed to the diversity antenna … cheapest I could find online was about £180 so I decided to look at the 2nd loom on the rear right.
Turns out a red/white cable was completely broken with several others needing attention. It was a little trickier to fix as the mounts holding the glass had to be undone (do this with the boot open slightly and the glass lid all the way open (this will minimize the movement as you undo the two bolts).
I forgot to tape ends of the wires as I pulled them through and saw one spark … this led to fuse 59 blowing (5AMP).
Sorted the wires and changed the fuse, and I now have full remote central locking again!
(I had also taken the diversity antenna out which showed no signs of corrosion and re-soldered the joints on the bottom).
Feel like I’m becoming an electrical engineer the amount of time I’ve spend messing with the wiring. I know it’s only a matter of time before the left hand side breaks.
If it helps anyone coming to this thread, my symptoms were intermittent remote central locking working, opening and closing the boot helped sometimes (pushing the wires back together) and I then also lost all the presets saved on the buttons on my DAB radio. The only good thing was once everything was working, my presets came back!
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I had similar when I did mine. I was very nervous about cutting the wires, but when I did and pulled them through the speaker hole, pulled the tape off it was very clear that several were broken or frayed.
I didn’t buy a repair harness. I had some spare wires and extended each wire by about 6″ soldering together and sealing up with tape. From memory there is one thicker one (brown) which I’m guessing what the rear window demister.
If you rejoin the wires, so long as you use the same or larger wire then you’ll be fine.
Once you cut the wires there is no going back! It’s actually fairly easy, if not a little time consuming to do. But it’s so much better when everything is working as it should.
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Usual symptoms, de-mister not working, radio playing up. Then no central locking.
Turns out not only had the cables broken in the hinges, but the diversity unit was fried aswell, due to water ingress.
Most things are covered here so I wont go over them again, but for clarity I faced once major problem. The tailgate would not open, which mean I could not remove the large re panel to access the glass tailgate manual release. I found the easiest way to get to the panel out of the way was to remove the two screws holding the main lock. To do so I used a ratchet and the right hex bit.
Once removed you can pull it down and over the lock and access the glass tailgate manual release.
[Wayback/Archive] 149160d1453070555-tailgate-wiring-harness-replacement-img_20160116_161735.jpg (3120×3120)
[Wayback/Archive] 149161d1453070555-tailgate-wiring-harness-replacement-img_20160116_161742.jpg (3120×3120)
[Wayback/Archive] 149162d1453070731-tailgate-wiring-harness-replacement-img_20160116_161722.jpg (3120×3120)
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I know this is a longstanding thread, but the problems with the tailgate wiring persist so I thought I’d post what I found to be useful.
I have been having all of these problems with my now 6 year old 525D Touring MSport:
1. Central locking not working from key remotes (wire(s) to antenna in tailgate broken at tailgate wiring guide)
2. Rear window washer fluid hose not working (hose broken and leaking at tailgate wiring guide)
3. Rear number plate light intermittent connection (wire almost broken at tailgate wiring guide)
4. Tailgate glass lid opens randomly (intermittent connection in wire at tailgate wiring guide)
5. Tailgate window defogger not working (suspect broken wire in tailgate wiring guide)As a materials engineer the problem seems to me to be a design flaw: not preventing fatigue of the materials by use of adequate stress relief in the design (opening and closing tailgate over the years subjects the materials to sufficient fatigue stress that they fail – it’s the same a bending a metal coat hanger back and forth, after a very short while the otherwise fairly tough and strong material breaks easily). There appears to be no stress relief in the BMW tailgate wiring guide design and it is fundamentally flawed (and the guides have sharp edges too which doesn’t help) and it may well be that the loom is too short, adding to the problem of inadequate stress relief.
Of course my BMW dealer (in Ascot and Maidenhead, UK) states it’s the first they’ve heard of the problem and they’ve never had a customer complain of this before … so it’s down to me to pay to have it diagnosed and then fixed!!! They also previously stated (when I was chasing them to fix the remote locking which had failed just after the warranty expired) that they cannot take into account what is said on the forums because “it’s company policy not to take into account forum posts” and “what’s said on the forums is hearsay.”
I found this very useful guide for anyone struggling with these problems. It will almost certainly help you show that there is a common denominator between all of these seemingly disassociated problems:
http://www.snowspire.cz/staticke/E61-kabely.pdf
[Wayback/Archive] www.snowspire.cz:80/staticke/E61-kabely.pdf (now off-line) [Wayback PDF view]
My E61 started with these problems in the summer of 2009 at 140.000 kilometres, 5
years of age. The root cause of the shorts and bad contacts are the metal wire
guides which (should) protect the wires from the chassis to the boot door. First of all,
there is not enough space in these metal guides: the wires are really squeezed
together. Secondly, I noted sharp edges within these guides which eventually cut the
wires after some years of usage. Personally I decided to get rid of the two outmost
covers completely.…
From what I could tell this describes what hinge is for which function:
1 = rear window heating, water hose to the rear window washer, FM antenna
2= these wires go to the tail lights, fog lights, breaking lights, reverse lights, etc
3 = gsm/gps antenna cable, glass lid switch, middle breaking light
4 = at least: license plate lights (not sure about the rest)I also see the excellent write up at The Fix-it Blog – Sorting Things Out: BMW 535xi Touring E61 Tailgate Wiring Harness – SenCom Repair Kit Installation mentioned by some of the users in this thread.
By the way, I followed the first set of instructions to prove to myself that the problems all stemmed from the same problem. It only took me about 30 mins to carefully remove everything and identify the problems. Another half an hour saw everything cleaned up and put back in place. If I had a wiring loom available to me, I suspect it wouldn’t have taken too many hours to splice it in and reattach everything (just for the rear). The dealer quotes of 8-10 hours labour seem high to me – no surprise there.
Come on BMW: fess up … the design is flawed. Speak to your materials engineers, or better, try bending your wires a few thousand times to see if they survive. If not, put out a recall to replace the rear looms.
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I had to do another repair yesterday to the tailgate wiring. Previously I had only done the repair to the inside (spoiler) feeds, but my parcel shelve release was operating whilst closing the glass, so I immediately knew what the problem was.
I opened up the outside left feed and low and behold, 7 out of 12 wires had a break in the insulation. Luckily I had some experience in fixing it, but still took me over 3 hours from start to finish. I’ll tackle the other side once the weather heats up a bit as I’ve not got any symptoms from that side. YET!
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well after about a dozen hours of tedious wiring i’ve managed to fix the defroster and wiper. all functions in the tailgate area work *BUT* my remote still doesnt work!!!
my last resort is to replace the diversity module but it really doesnt appear to have any issues. i’ve got 5v on the diversity module pin 2 where the remote wiring plugs in with blue/white.
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Hi guys. I just repaired the harness on my wife’s E61 2008 535xi. This link was very useful. I got the defroster working again. Found 1 broken wire on the left side (defroster) and 6 insulation-cut-but-not-yet-broken wires on the right side (to antenna).
The remote key will not work still. I found corrorsion on the underside of the antenna board, so the board must be kaput.
The E61 board part number is only available new. However, there are e60 antennas on ebay, that have a different part number. Anyone know if the e60 board will work, and which year’s e60 part will work, as I believe the key design changed somewhere along the way.
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– I broke the tabs of the speaker cover when reinstalling it. Make sure the speaker is aligned before pushing the cover on.
– I had spliced one of the wires on the left side, and I think it has broken again – my FM radio reception has gone to the dogs again. Add more wire to these repairs, with 2 splices, so you dont have stress on the wires, and they can stretch when the hatch is moved.
– the plastic rivet holding the wire cover in the hatch can be popped out using a wire hanger. The dealers cannot easily find these, so better to reuse the ones you have. I ended up having to buy more, I’ll post the part number later if I can still find it.…
An update – I fixed my wife’s e61 remote. As I mentioned before, e61 diversity antennas are not on ebay. I found an e63 diversity antenna on ebay ($40!), that looks identical. I moved the board over to the wagon, and it works! An added benefit, probably from the harness repair, is that the range is now ‘normal’ – about 30 feet. Previously, I had to be right next to the car to open it with the remote.
The part number of the e63 antenna is 6934485-02. I bet E60 antennas work as well.
Make sure the connectors look identical.
An important note: I had to have the AM antenna hooked up – the Black connector – for the remote to program.
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I inspected everything in the hatch and spoiler area and I can’t tell if it was new or old, but previous owner and I both knew it has the nonfunctioning rear wiper and rear hatch issue now (right side loom), so I will need to inspect both sides just to see how well the replacement wiring has held up.
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I’ll recommend you change them all – once one has broken, many more will follow. It’s a big job to splice the entire harness, but you won’t be doing them all one at a time over the space of a year. Just some friendly advice. The gray / black wire is 0.5mm2, looked it up in my Bentley manual. If possible, purchase wire with silicone jacketing which is more flexible than plastic jacketing, particularly in cold weather. Good luck with your repair.
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There are 2 completely different wiring harness sides FYI. The left must be the window release and the remote entry and also defrost wiring in the glass because these all stopped about a year ago but the brake light and other items all work again since repairing/replacing the right side wiring. It was definitely annoying to do but I did it. I went the solution of cut-pull-splice new length-pull back through-splice other end, then wrap to protect.
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And… all my installation notes are here with photos. Tedious – yes. Not too complicated though, just need to be organized and methodic:
https://tcbf62.blogspot.com/2016/01/…te-wiring.html
[Wayback/Archive] BMW 535xi Touring E61 Tailgate Wiring Harness – SenCom Repair Kit Installation ~ Fight Chaos – the Fix-It Blog
Sencom 2016061 on eBay
Sencom 2016062 on eBay
Sencom Ant0612 on eBay.…
01 Wire duct upper part, rear screen, left 61136978337
01 Wire duct upper part, rear screen, right 61136978338
02 Wiring duct lower part, rear screen 61136978340 - [Wayback/Archive] Ultimate Guide to E61 Diversity Antenna Amplifier troubleshooting and fixing. – YouTube
- [Wayback/Archive] bmw e61 “left reversing light” warning – Google Search
And a list on the drains:
- [Wayback/Archive] E61 water in battery tray? – 5Series.net – Forums
- [Wayback/Archive] How to: Clean BMW Sunroof Drains (CLOGGED) – YouTube (start at 05:00, then at 10:00 and 13:30 to see how to unclog the drain holes)
- [Wayback/Archive] How to unclog a sunroof drain – YouTube (sunroof)
- [Wayback/Archive] DIY: e61 drain holes, sunroof leaks, flooded trunk/ battery compartment
There is a total of six drains . Two under the cabin filters which drain out behind the front wheels, and the two front sunroof drains that exit at the front door jambs under the top hinges .
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the passenger side rear drain gets slightly kinked with the headliner installed, due to the shape of the headliner. Typically this is the point, along with the drain flaps, that buildup will occur. Removing the drain flaps will help flow. But removing the C and D pillar covers, and dropping the rear of the headliner will give you access to the sunroof drains. Disconnect and blow compressed air down the drain. I would do it every 1-2 years.
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Water is a common theme on the E61. Intermittent remote operation on the E61 is typically a result of water entering the antenna amplifier. It’s located in the spoiler on the rear hatch. To remove the spoiler, open just the glass portion of the hatch. With it open you will see screw covers. Remove the covers and screws and then the spoiler will slide off. With it removed you will see a black cover. Remove it to access the antenna amplifier. Inspect for corrosion. Replace if present. Water leaks in where the ribbon cable/wiring pass through the cover. The only way Ive found to seal it is using windshield urethane on the perimeter of the cover.Make sure to do a quality job with it, it will be a pain to get back off.
- [Wayback/Archive] DIY: BMW 530xit e61/ e60 drain hole clear & flooded trunk & battery compartment – YouTube (how to yank off the valves from the drains leading to the back)
- [Wayback/Archive] BMW 530xi water in trunk (E60 and E61 models) – YouTube (how to check the electronics and how to move them to the left side of the trunk)
- [Wayback/Archive] BMW E61, Panoramadach Abläufe verstopft, Wasser im Kofferraum, oder Radmulde. Reinigung der Abläufe – YouTube (long German video detailing all the steps of taking out the drain hoses and getting them in again)
- [Wayback/Archive] E60 and E61 Scuttle Drains, clear them now! – YouTube
- [Wayback/Archive] Bmw e60 / e61 5 series wet carpet fix, ALL rain drain locations and places water can leak from – YouTube
- [Wayback/Archive] BMW E61(E71) Tailgate Problems, soft-closing mechanism and others. – YouTube
My station wagon (2009 E61) started to have an issue with the tailgate not getting shut all the way…
Parts that may need to be replaced: Numbers are pulled from the 2009 BMW 535xi E61, your part numbers may be different!
- Relay changer salmon-red: 12631742690 x2
- Power distribution box, rear: 61149138830
- Control unit, tailgate lift: 61357188110
- Trunk lid lock (solenoid): 51247114612
- Trunk lid power lock drive (a soft-closing mechanism): 67107114613
- Tailgate wiring kit: 61119231820 and 61119231821
- Stops: 61119241656 and 61119241657
Most common causes for failures:
- Clogged Panoramic Roof Drains
- Blown fuses (mostly in the rear compartment)
- Broken wires through the tailgate and tail window hinges
- Tailgate locks and solenoid due to aging
- Tailgate electronic modules and relais due to water damage
- Broken softclose mechanism
- Damaged fuse panel due to water leakage
- [Wayback/Archive] e61 roof drain – Google Search
[Wayback/Archive] bimmer.work : VIN Decoder for BMW WBANP71070CS26363
--jeroen
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