Z3 boot catch

Duncodin

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Wires into the z3 boot lock/catch. What do they do? Are they just for the sensor telling the central locking that the boot is closed? I mean there's not a solenoid inside the latch is there? The solenoid is a seperate module isn't it?

Or what?
 

ExMX5owner

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Wires into the z3 boot lock/catch. What do they do? Are they just for the sensor telling the central locking that the boot is closed? I mean there's not a solenoid inside the latch is there? The solenoid is a seperate module isn't it?

Or what?
There must be a solenoid in there, I cant see how the central locking would work without one, there is a loud audible click from the mechanism when I lock or unlock mine...:confused:
 

Duncodin

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That's what I thought but there's a seperate solonoid module so why would there be another inside the lock?
 

ExMX5owner

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Maybe it has something to do with the boot light, I cant see how that works either...:confused:
 

ExMX5owner

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But it something that I am going to familiarize myself with in the not to distant future, just once every few months the car is dead, nothing at the key. If I open and close the boot, it all springs to life again.. :confused:. Loom of doom me thinks...
 

t-tony

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The switch in the boot latch is the same as the ones in the door catches. It tells the system that the catch is closed. We fitted a drivers door one on @ktnez99 Z3 a few weeks ago. I used to close the boot latch on my E85 with a screwdriver so I could lower the lid over the battery conditioner wire and still lock/alarm the car.

Tony.
 

Pond

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Whats this guy selling? Is an actuator just another word for the solonoid that locks/unlocks?
They are all switches, just some use full load current directly and some don't as they use a lesser current coil to activate the switch.

The definition can get rather blurred, though, as it's open to interpretation. Ultimately it doesn't matter what you call it, it's what it does and the current going through it that does.

I have all my Z3 bootlid electro mechanical parts laid out on the bench at present and have yet to work out how they all operate. The central locking part is the complicated bit IMO.
 

Dxbolton

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Having unplugged mine I can’t see that it does anything. I assumed it was for the boot light but never confirmed it
 

Duncodin

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Having unplugged mine I can’t see that it does anything. I assumed it was for the boot light but never confirmed it
I'm inclined to agree now. I spent a while looking at the wiring diagrams. On the diagram it just shows "Light Switch" but doesn't say where that switch is. But on the diagram the two wires to the switch are the same color and thickness as the two wires going into the latch.
 

t-tony

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That's because they are, the switch does put the boot light out at the same time as confirming the latch is closed. Which stops the alarm going off. And that is why I could leave my E85 for 6 weeks without alarm sounding or battery going flat. Closing the latch with a screwdriver turns the boot light off and fools the alarm into thinking the boot lid is closed, when it is only sitting on the rubber seal (or even fully open if you leave it that way). You can do the same on an E89 roof mechanism.

Tony.
 

Duncodin

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Tony. I'm only looking at the diagram for z3. I don't know if it's the same as e85.

But what you say would make sense for that switch to tell the ZKE that the boot latch is closed but, so far I haven't seen that connection in the diagram. Not saying it isn't there. I just haven't traced it back all the way into the anti theft system yet.
 

t-tony

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I'm only adding 2 and 2, after we did the door latch on Dawn's Z3. We closed the latch with a screwdriver and it put the interior light out. We could set the alarm even with the door open. So my assumption is that 2 and 2 is 4. Not saying I'm right either but it does point to the switch doing two jobs?

Tony.
 

Duncodin

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Tony. You're probably right. I just took another look at the diagram.

Power comes from the fuse at the top of the picture down to the light. The switch (in the latch) is at the earth side of the light. The switch sinks that side to earth to turn the light on.

But in the diagram the ZKE is also on that side so can certainly (probably?) 'sense' when that side is pulled to earth meaning it knows whether the boot catch is closed or open.

Screenshot_20240127-202747_Gallery.jpg
 
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