03 Z4 Top wont work at night!

[BMAD]

My top works fine during the day, I work a PM shift and get off work around 11:30PM and every evening it wont work, My windows go down halfway and then I get the red blink and my top wont even unlatch. The days are never under 70 degrees, I am at a loss because it works fine the next morning, so its clearly not the red switch, luggage rack or motors.

Anyone ever experienced this? Is there a setting I am missing?

Thanks,

Bob

[BMAD]

Just as an experiment I went ahead and kept the top down before nightfall. Now it is down and wont go up at night either lol. It is the latch, it simply wont unlatch at night, this is the oddest situation.

[Huz-Z]

It works fine during daylight hours?

[BMAD]

Yes, it works fine after 9AM PST here in California. I work a PM shift at a Hospital so I havent had a chance to determine exactly when it stops working but it really appears to be time based. My wife just took it to gym and the top wouldnt go up until 9:12AM

[dc_wright]

There's no connection between the top control and the clock so it's more likely temperature related. First when the top doesn't move and the LED flashes, look closely at the LED and make certain it's not the dark orange LED. There are two right by each other and there's not a lot of color difference between them so if you're not looking closely you might not see the difference. If it's actually the dark orange LED, that means the top controller thinks the bottom of the top storage compartment isn't all the way down. There's a micro switch in the center of the rear bulk head under the bottom tray. First thing to check is the knobs on each side to make certain both are turned to put the storage compartment tray in the fully down position. If not then fix that and see what happens. Next thing to check is the micro switch itself to make certain it hasn't been damaged.

[Huz-Z]

Originally Posted by dc_wright

There's no connection between the top control and the clock so it's more likely temperature related. First when the top doesn't move and the LED flashes, look closely at the LED and make certain it's not the dark orange LED. There are two right by each other and there's not a lot of color difference between them so if you're not looking closely you might not see the difference. If it's actually the dark orange LED, that means the top controller thinks the bottom of the top storage compartment isn't all the way down. There's a micro switch in the center of the rear bulk head under the bottom tray. First thing to check is the knobs on each side to make certain both are turned to put the storage compartment tray in the fully down position. If not then fix that and see what happens. Next thing to check is the micro switch itself to make certain it hasn't been damaged.

Good suggestion. The knobs are adjacent to the left and right trunk lid hinges, and just below them. They are black plastic knobs.

[Sterling Roadster]

Total shot in the dark, no pun intended, but may be a battery thing? If your battery is on the way out the battery can handle the headlights running at night or the top motor but not at the same time perhaps. Try doing the top at night with no lights or accessories on. Might be a dumb thought but it's a thought lol

[cooticooti16]

Another BMW oddity. Battery might be right.

I had an E39 where the NAV refused to work at temperatures lower than 40 degrees.

:

[3GFX]

Do you hear it trying to work? Is there a big temperature difference?

I've noticed as the car is getting up in years that my top struggled to have hydraulic pressure in low temperatures. Could you be experiencing the same temperature difference?

[antennahead]

Originally Posted by dc_wright

There's no connection between the top control and the clock so it's more likely temperature related. First when the top doesn't move and the LED flashes, look closely at the LED and make certain it's not the dark orange LED. There are two right by each other and there's not a lot of color difference between them so if you're not looking closely you might not see the difference. If it's actually the dark orange LED, that means the top controller thinks the bottom of the top storage compartment isn't all the way down. There's a micro switch in the center of the rear bulk head under the bottom tray. First thing to check is the knobs on each side to make certain both are turned to put the storage compartment tray in the fully down position. If not then fix that and see what happens. Next thing to check is the micro switch itself to make certain it hasn't been damaged.

It's like this thing has a life of it's own sometimes. I've occasionally raised the storage compartment lid to put something tall in the trunk, and when I lowered the lid, got the flashing orange light, even though the lid was all the way down AND the micro switch was engaged and working properly. Over time I also realized that bumping or moving the cable attached to the red manual release handle would impact this situation .......... grabbed the cable, wiggled it around a little, made sure the red pull handle was still secured all the way in it's little tube, and the orange light went away and the top started working properly again. I try really hard now to not raise that shelf or bump it, or the cable, at the top of the trunk.

[ryugatana]

Sorry to bring this back from the dead... but I'm having a similar problem. Anyone ever figure out what was going on?