07 650i Convertible Top Unlocked Alarm Problem

Originally Posted by PoBoyzBMW

Whats the chances of getting the dealer to fix my CV top if my factory warranty just expired in March and i'm now under CPO warranty? I took my car to two different dealers on two different occasions and both times they could not duplicate the problem as the warning light would reset it self just prior to reaching the service department. My previous visits should reflect in the system correct? Forth warning light came on three days ago however this time it went into safe mode with all windows half way down.

If it just expired, you have a chance. I always take a video or pic of the warning so I can show them it's doing it.

Originally Posted by PoBoyzBMW

Whats the chances of getting the dealer to fix my CV top if my factory warranty just expired in March and i'm now under CPO warranty? I took my car to two different dealers on two different occasions and both times they could not duplicate the problem as the warning light would reset it self just prior to reaching the service department. My previous visits should reflect in the system correct? Forth warning light came on three days ago however this time it went into safe mode with all windows half way down.

Let us know the outcome. I took my car in twice and same thing, could not be duplicated. The SA did see it happen when I first came in but it went away and the tech never saw it. So it was like it didn't happen.

I hope they recognize that this was an ongoing problem and work with you.

Thanks for the quick responses. I'll let you guys no something as soon as it stops raining and i can drive to dealer as the windows are still halfway down.

Originally Posted by PoBoyzBMW

Thanks for the quick responses. I'll let you guys no something as soon as it stops raining and i can drive to dealer as the windows are still halfway down.

What BS! sorry for your troubles

The car is now at dealer so we will see what happens tomorrow. They did see the previous trips concerning the Top Not Lock issue in the system. Hopefully this makes a difference.

Originally Posted by PoBoyzBMW

The car is now at dealer so we will see what happens tomorrow. They did see the previous trips concerning the Top Not Lock issue in the system. Hopefully this makes a difference.

It should. Are you using the same SA and have you tipped them in the past? I do and do and it makes a difference as well.

Yea i am using the same SA. However i never thought about tipping him. He has really looked out for me in the past. I will through him something on the side if this works out. Good advice.

Great news!! My CV Top Warning was fixed under Customer Goodwill Coverage. According to the invoice all they did was ENLARGE HOLES FOR ROTATIONAL SENSOR COVER? Not sure what this mean but if anyone has any knowledge on this please chime in.

congrat's on the great result - given the well-documented issues with the vert's, this seems like an excellent item for customer goodwill program.

Originally Posted by gregb

congrat's on the great result - given the well-documented issues with the vert's, this seems like an excellent item for customer goodwill program.

Agreed nice to see a dealer step up and do the right thing. Congrats

Originally Posted by PoBoyzBMW

Great news!! My CV Top Warning was fixed under Customer Goodwill Coverage. According to the invoice all they did was ENLARGE HOLES FOR ROTATIONAL SENSOR COVER? Not sure what this mean but if anyone has any knowledge on this please chime in.

That is great news!!! Who is your dealer?

I took my car in twice before the warranty expired because of this issue. But that was 8 months ago now, I just hope if it becomes a problem they recognize that and give me the same goodwill.

My dealer is VOB BMW in Rockville MD. Hopefully they will honer you a goodwill repair as well. Try what TopDownInFL suggested to me, tipping your SA on smaller issues even if its a warranty repair and i'm sure they will be more inclined to assist you in your efforts.

Originally Posted by PoBoyzBMW

Great news!! My CV Top Warning was fixed under Customer Goodwill Coverage. According to the invoice all they did was ENLARGE HOLES FOR ROTATIONAL SENSOR COVER? Not sure what this mean but if anyone has any knowledge on this please chime in.

Nice to hear they covered it.

They performed the update mentioned in the TSB which enlarges the holes frame to allow the sensor to be rotated making it less likely to read the wrong segment.

Click on the link in post #94 for details on the TSB.

Thanks Yorgi! What are the chances of this finally fixing the problem? Does anyone have any experience with this? I'm scared to take my car out of town because of this.

I had mine in about 3 weeks ago, they fixed/modified the sensors, tested after resting in sun and it was "fixed". After about another week, this same thing happened 3 or 4 days in a row but only after the car sat in the sun/95 degree heat. I took it back in and they kept it for 2 days. The maintenance report ultimately says they installed the sensors 180 degrees from the maintenance manual (going from memory, I don't have it in front of me). It's been a few days and no problems, knock on wood.

I think the sensors are to sensitive and when they have to be replaced and the frame modified. The technician have to consistantly adjust the sensors/frame to get it just right. They could have designed the top better. My top has been operating fine for about 7 months now. Let me knock on wood!!!!!!!!!!!

Yep. Sadly, I have a 2007 vert and I am having the same issues. I love the car, but it is incredibly frustrating when it happens. Sometimes it goes away by itself (which makes me think it may be the weather/heat related). Someone suggested pulling a fuse in the glove compartment to "reset" it (30 amp fuse in position 10) which "may" work....unless the sensors are out of alignment. So I'M wondering.....how hard would it be to put switches across the rotational sensors? Then you could "force" them to think they were "closed" any time the malfunction occurred...

Originally Posted by Mrmicky

Yep. Sadly, I have a 2007 vert and I am having the same issues. I love the car, but it is incredibly frustrating when it happens. Sometimes it goes away by itself (which makes me think it may be the weather/heat related). Someone suggested pulling a fuse in the glove compartment to "reset" it (30 amp fuse in position 10) which "may" work....unless the sensors are out of alignment. So I'M wondering.....how hard would it be to put switches across the rotational sensors? Then you could "force" them to think they were "closed" any time the malfunction occurred...

Most are having issues when it's hot.

I have never had this problem in the closing mode (knock on wood) but I have intermittently had it in the opening mode and all I did was cycle the lever in the trunk and that fixed it.
I wonder if it is possible that the trunk lever mechanism or/slash switch/module is malfunctioning while in the closing mode causing all or some of these problems?
If you are able to open the trunk via the key during the malfunction give that a try, Id be curious...

I live in FL and with the summer heat kicking in I have had this issue now a few times over the past few months (just got my '07 650i Convertible 5 months ago).
I have read many threads and info from other places, and found a workaround for this issue that I have not seen posted anywhere else (at least it works for me).
I've had this happen to me just this morning again (car was parked in the airport garage for a week, and after taking the red-eye back from San Francisco, I could not open the trunk, and noticed the "red convertible top blinking light" problem - last thing you want at 7am after an overnight flight.

So I did what I've now sucessfully done over the past month when this happened, the the light stops blinking right away, and things are back to normal.

So this is what I do (old school):

There's a bar (not the kind you're thinking about) with an elbow that runs behind the canvas in the back pivot point in the convertible top (forgive me - I don't know the technical terms), but the first pic shows what this looks like on the drivers side. I have drawn the approx location of where this bar lies with a red dot indicating the pivot point where the faulty sensor lies.

All I do when I run into this problem is to apply a little pressue to that pivot point with my hand (as indicated by the red dot in the pic) and the red blinking light stops blinking, and things are back to normal (shown in the second attachhment). I normally push the pivot point down towards the body of the car - not a lot of pressure is needed at all. To quantify, if you press hard enough to break an egg, it's to hard. All it needs is a gentle nudge for the sensor to engage (is my guess).

I'm assuming in my case the problem lies with the sensor on the driver side, because I never had to do this on the passenger side, but it may be that in some cases one will have to do this on the passenger side as opposed to the driver side (as shown in the third attachment).

Let me know if this helps anyone else.

This works fine for me, so I'm not planning on taking the car in for this to be fixed, since it does not look as if the successrate in addressing this is that high (and I can't do without the car for two days, and it's out of warrantee anyway).

Great post! A simple and elegant solution.

If this works for others I think you are going to be a legend around here with the E64 crowd.

Great idea share! How in the world did you find that fix???

I guess my engineering degree is at last paying dividends

As I've said I've done this now at least 5 times when I ran into the issue and it works right away. The light stops blinking and things are back to normal.

I found it purely by chance - was reading a thread on how to resolve the issue (remove the sensor, use a file to blah blah blah) and figured let me go see if I can find the sensor in my car. And sure enough, when I touched it the blinking light stopped blinking !!!

I sure hope this helps others as well. Can't tell you how disappointed I was to buy the car and a few months later started running into issues where I can't open the trunk, can't close the windows simply because of red blinker.

Cheers.

Hi! I haven't been around the forums much lately because I've been driving this wonderful vert like mad whenever the sun's out! And, this vert top problem has been worrying me sick (although I haven't experienced it yet *knock on real wood trim*). If your suggestion turns out to be a robust solution (it's such a simple and elegant one too!) to this ridiculous problem, I think we should all chip in and get you some sort of forum award or something!

Loving the Sun!

Happy Father's Day to All!

Hi,
I had problem same every one at first but it had changed a other issue after that.
I lives in California and drive 07' 650i CV. Lately, the red light kept blinking sometime either I either hit unlock doors on remote twice (I set unlock 2 doors at once) or left my car on summer sun packing lot. It appeared the fault" CV not lock.." . Usually, I used a tool called Allen wrench in the trunk to slide down (open) the rear window completely. Then pressed the open cv button, the top will open completely and the red light will be gone.
Last week, I had other problem. After I drove mine with CV opened, I parked in my garage for a day. Next day I wanted to close the top and the top only went half way then stopped. I tried to open and close but it just stopped in half way of closing. I ran a test and it appeared the code A6A7 "Saving energy mode in active" This code had never been appeared before.

Does anyone know the code mean and how to reset it?
Thanks
Chi Tai