Re: Power rear sunshade (archive)

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In Reply to: Power rear sunshade posted by BrianV (94 740iL) on March 10, 2002 at 19:48:36:

Remove the rear seat, and behind the seat you'll see some clips that hold the shelf in place. When you undo the clips, the shelf will come off. If the sunshade is up, the shade is under tension... you have to pry out the linkage. Remove the retaining clips and pry out the left and right linkage rods.

Remove the screw from the center of the linkage drive arm and remove the arm with the linkage rods.

If you replace the motor, position the drive arm on the new motor by aligning the flat side of the drive arm with the flat side on the drive motor. Reinstall the retaining screw.

If your drive arm has a hexagonal guide hole in the center, which I believe it will... the new motor will not match up, since it was redesigned.

You'll have to drill out the two linkage rod rivets and remove the linkage rods and arm. Reinstall using new pins and lock clips in place of the rivets. The dealer has all the parts-- be sure you take in the parts to match them up and get everything you need.

Roll out the sunshade until both left and right linkages are suspended. Reinstall the retaining clips.

Supply electrical power to the sunshade motor and let it go through one complete cycle.

Extend the sunshade until the linkage has a clearance of about 4-6 inches at the sides.

With the sunshade extended, clearance should be roughly equal for the right and left linkage arms.

To adjust the side clearance, just slide the motor back and forth, and then tighten the screws holding the motor.

The Bentley manual (about $100.) covers the process with pictures, but Popular Mechanics has a CD that is just a fraction of the cost ($25.) and is much more convenient. You can print up only the pages you want, and if they get dirty in the process of working on the car, you can print it up again if you want. The Bentley has a lot of procedures that are completely missing... one I know of that was quite a probmlem for me was the outside temperature probe and readout... I had the new part, but it took me 5 months to find out where and how to install it.

The PM repair manual also includes a lot of stuff that's not in the Bentley, such as BMW factory service bulletins, factory recalls, and an electrical troubleshooting section.

You can get the PM CD from BMP Design... www.bmpd.com If you want to order it, the part # is 117722. Good luck// Bill '88 735i

Anyone have to fix or replace this? Mine works but clicks 36 times when it goes down. Sounds like a gear isn't catching somewhere. I've looked under the decklid to find out how to get to it, but can't see any easy access. Guessing that I'll have to remove the rear decklid cover? I was hoping for as easy of a fix as the power headrests.

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