Morzada

Sold!

For sale - 2007 XiT AWD, Auto
$5,000
175,000 miles
Extremely well maintained including recent replacement of valve cover, water pump, and battery.  I have all the maintenance records.
Car presents extremely well - looks almost as new.
Notable detractors:
Headlights beginning to yellow (although I'm sure they could be polished just fine) One small door ding on passenger rear door (PDR only partially removed). Rear sun roof actuator failed and during its last cycle part of the front sunroof guide cracked, so sunroof is a bit rattly on rough pavement (rear glass has now been disabled). Oil filter housing gasket has begun to leak. I'm the second owner of this car and have owned it since 57,000 miles.  It has arguably been the best car I've ever owned. 
I can provide additional details on request.
Thanks for looking,
Eric
Madison

For those of you that like this sort of thing:
https://autoweek.com/article/car-life/patron-saint-how-bmw-e30-m3s-sudden-popularity-was-decades-making

For those of you that like this sort of thing:
https://autoweek.com/article/car-life/patron-saint-how-bmw-e30-m3s-sudden-popularity-was-decades-making

For those of you that like this sort of thing:
https://autoweek.com/article/car-life/patron-saint-how-bmw-e30-m3s-sudden-popularity-was-decades-making

Has really grown.  I didn't manage to get there at all last year.  I just got back from there this morning and it must be three times the size it was last time I was there.
Kind of a limited BMW turn out.  Very few older cars.  Two E30s (one wagon), one same generation 5 series, and two E36s (one mine).  Nothing older that I saw.
My favorite of the day:

Has really grown.  I didn't manage to get there at all last year.  I just got back from there this morning and it must be three times the size it was last time I was there.
Kind of a limited BMW turn out.  Very few older cars.  Two E30s (one wagon), one same generation 5 series, and two E36s (one mine).  Nothing older that I saw.
My favorite of the day:

Still working on this.  Interestingly, I went to double/triple check the hood switch and swapped it out with a spare I had.  Nothing to put in the success column, but oddly, now instead of chirping one and locking/unlocking, then chirping three times and unlocking/locking - the chirp sequence is backward.  I now get three chirps, then one.

here's my car being washed...
here's someone beating  on the car on the track...
here's my crotch...
here's an ad for liqui moly...

here's my car being washed...
here's someone beating  on the car on the track...
here's my crotch...
here's an ad for liqui moly...

here's my car being washed...
here's someone beating  on the car on the track...
here's my crotch...
here's an ad for liqui moly...

Just found these on Bavauto's site.  On sale!

Yes, and all for only 3kobos!  

Here's that photo.  There were some compositional things I could have improved on, but I thought it was a good photo.  'Course no one loves e36's...

Voted.  Green one, Right? 

I've owned 2 E36 verts and have diagnosed some problems.  Tops can be tricky - there are a lot of micro switches, any one of which could go bad.  There are also three motors and the processor which can give you trouble.
First, though, you should tackle the easy things - have you checked fuses?  My Bentley manual says that for your '97, fuses 7, 24, 27, 42, 43, and 49 - in the black box on the left side of the engine compartment have some involvement with the top.  Check them all.  Mostly they are small amperage 5-10A; however 49 is a 20A.
Assuming the fuses are correct, probably your next step is to see if the motors operate under power.  Probably this will require removal of the motors from the car.  On my 96 - which was the semi-auto top, I found removal of the tonneau and top motors to be not too bad, just a little futzy. Your 97 should have a fully auto top which means a motor in the first bow. Since you first had trouble putting the top down, that might be the first suspect since none of the other motors will be called for until that motor has done its job.  I now have a '98 which is the fully auto top, but it (knock on wood) has worked perfectly for the entire time I've owned it - so I've not had reason to take it apart.  I did for some reason look it up online and it really didn't seem to bad of a job.  Once out, you'll need a multi-tester and a power source to check for operation.
I've not heard (m)any instances of microswitches failing, short of physical damage, so if you get so far as finding the fuses are OK and the motors work it may be the processor and you might be best served going to the dealer for a diagnosis on that.
Good luck!
 

Please do.  Thanks.

Given that this thread started with a question about your rear suspension, I'm going to go out on a limb and say that your RTABs are shot.

Given that this thread started with a question about your rear suspension, I'm going to go out on a limb and say that your RTABs are shot.