'93 Touring rear hatch woes

[Bill'93Touring]

Hi all, I'm a roachfly.com refugee. Just got this '93 touring, found e34.net, man what a killer site! One problem I want to discuss before delving in and following the detailed repair on e34.net:
Backup lights don't work.
Rear hatch will only open with key - neither of the buttons (glass or hatch) works.

I've heard that the lights are somehow related to my dead OBC - anyone confirm that?

Otherwise the car is in good shape, 180k miles with fresh head gasket, fresh Auto tranny, bunch of other stuff.

Thanks, looking forward to many miles with my wagon!
Bill in Oakland, CA

[632 Regal]

sounds like you need to do a little trouble shooting to isolate some of these problems. Do you have a bentley manual for this thing yet? It has pretty comprehensive electrical sections. I only used mine 3 times and saved a lot of money.

[Mike H]

Odds are the trunk lid problems are due to the wiring in the hatch. See this article on Bruno's site. One tip is make sure you disconnect your battery when you do this repair. I managed to fry my transmission switch troubleshooting my reverse lights. Ooops

Mike

Hi all, I'm a roachfly.com refugee. Just got this '93 touring, found e34.net, man what a killer site! One problem I want to discuss before delving in and following the detailed repair on e34.net:
Backup lights don't work.
Rear hatch will only open with key - neither of the buttons (glass or hatch) works.

I've heard that the lights are somehow related to my dead OBC - anyone confirm that?

Otherwise the car is in good shape, 180k miles with fresh head gasket, fresh Auto tranny, bunch of other stuff.

Thanks, looking forward to many miles with my wagon!
Bill in Oakland, CA

[MicahO]

The hatch and window release problems are definitely problems in the harness. The other lighting problems are quite possibly exacerbated by problems in the hatch harness. Before oneof my two hatch harness repairs, I had a very interesting condition wherein the dash lights and OBC would illuminate when I moved the hatch through a specific area of movement. Somehow, the various bare wire ends were shorting in a manner that told the car to turn on the lights, or something.

OTOH - if the OBC is just dead and dark, you probably just have to replace the bulbs behind the OBC display. In this condition the OBC is working, you just can't see it.

Basically, shorts in the electrical system anywhere can make any number of components behave badly. Start with the hatch - it's a terrible weak spot on these cars, really thin-guage wires. If shorts seem to persist afterwards, only then should you pursue other items.

[Steve N]

My experience with the rear hatch was that the switch for opening it was bad. It was an easy fix. Once you take apart the trim on the interior, remove the switch. I found that the metal contact (it looks like small flat metal contact in a battery case) had lost its spring. I bent it just a bit, now everything is working fine.

Hi all, I'm a roachfly.com refugee. Just got this '93 touring, found e34.net, man what a killer site! One problem I want to discuss before delving in and following the detailed repair on e34.net:
Backup lights don't work.
Rear hatch will only open with key - neither of the buttons (glass or hatch) works.

I've heard that the lights are somehow related to my dead OBC - anyone confirm that?

Otherwise the car is in good shape, 180k miles with fresh head gasket, fresh Auto tranny, bunch of other stuff.

Thanks, looking forward to many miles with my wagon!
Bill in Oakland, CA

[Springfield1952]

Bill, Welcome to the forum and it's great to have another wagon from the Bay Area. As for your switches, I agree with Steve's comment. I ended up replacing one switch and things work fine. I still don't have a defroster though that's not much of a problem for us. Good luck.



Curt.
1994 530iT in Pleasanton

[DanQ]

Hi Bill,

Sorry for the late reply. I had the same problem with the switches on the back hatch. I took the interior panel off and found that the switch worked but was not able to be set off by the two handles on the exterior of the hatch. A new switch would probably fix the problem but I took the cheap route and folded up some stiff cardboard and put it in between the plastic handle and the metal switch and that fixed it up fine.

[Bill'93Touring]

You all gave me good tips. Tomorrow I'll try to tackle the hatch/glass release buttons. Then on to reverse lights/wiring.

As for OBC, I'll first remove it and change bulbs. I think it still works (and just has dead bulbs) because I can still scroll time/mpg/outside temp on my instrument cluster display using turn signal stock. However, pushing the reset button does nothing. I'll tell you what I find.

Otherwise love the car so far.

Bill

Hi all, I'm a roachfly.com refugee. Just got this '93 touring, found e34.net, man what a killer site! One problem I want to discuss before delving in and following the detailed repair on e34.net:
Backup lights don't work.
Rear hatch will only open with key - neither of the buttons (glass or hatch) works.

I've heard that the lights are somehow related to my dead OBC - anyone confirm that?

Otherwise the car is in good shape, 180k miles with fresh head gasket, fresh Auto tranny, bunch of other stuff.

Thanks, looking forward to many miles with my wagon!
Bill in Oakland, CA

[jdt10768]

Hi, Where exactly is the switch you are referring to Dan and Curt and Steve or anyone else? I have the same problem. The glass hatch will not open at all, and the entire rear hatch will only open with the key in the actual hatch lock . jt

[Qsilver7]

Hi, Where exactly is the switch you are referring to Dan and Curt and Steve or anyone else? I have the same problem. The glass hatch will not open at all, and the entire rear hatch will only open with the key in the actual hatch lock . jt

The microswitches are located above the "pads" that you press to lift the glass or hatch. See arrows #1 and #2 in pic below...



See #6 in the following link: http://www.realoem.com/bmw/showparts...75&hg=61&fg=35

Or see #10 in this link: http://www.realoem.com/bmw/showparts...41&fg=60&hl=12

(#6 in this diagram)


(or #10 in the diagram below...tailgate system)