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BMW 3-Series and 4-Series Forum (F30 / F32) | F30POST > 2012-2019 BMW 3 and 4-Series Forums > General F34 3-Series GT (Gran Turismo) Forum > Groaning hatch (tailgate)
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      10-11-2022, 05:56 AM   #1
BaconDouble
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Groaning hatch (tailgate)

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On my 2019 GT, I am getting an occasional groaning or creaking noise from the motorized hatch when it is opening or closing.

It seems to be the worse in the warmer months, now that the weather is cooler I haven’t heard it much.

Has anyone else had this and is there a way to lubricate the hinges? It almost seems like the motor is struggling.
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      10-11-2022, 08:17 AM   #2
Vortex8
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Had the same issue ever since I've got the car. Couldn't really find on how to get rid of it. No information in ISTA or TIS on this...
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      10-11-2022, 09:28 AM   #3
BaconDouble
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Thanks, on my car it is a long creaking noise, sort of like a squeaky house door slowly closing. About 3-4 seconds of the creaking noise. Then it stops once fully opened or fully closed.

Last edited by BaconDouble; 10-11-2022 at 10:51 AM..
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      10-11-2022, 10:13 AM   #4
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Almost all the components are covered by plastics TIS might have some diagrams for panel removel but I would suspect hinges / pivot points, possible mounting potins for the motorized pistons etc. You would likey have to pull plastics and actuate to see if that helps pinpoint ....or just lube all the mounding / piviot points and hope for the best
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      10-12-2022, 02:57 PM   #5
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Quote:
Originally Posted by WhiteCollarMetalHead View Post
Almost all the components are covered by plastics TIS might have some diagrams for panel removel but I would suspect hinges / pivot points, possible mounting potins for the motorized pistons etc. You would likey have to pull plastics and actuate to see if that helps pinpoint ....or just lube all the mounding / piviot points and hope for the best
I agree. I get this when I leave my tailgate up for long periods of time like when working on the car and I have to disconnect the battery. It seems to go away by the next few times I open/close, so it's not so much of an issue yet. But it does sounds like something can simply be lubed and it will fix the noise. Hopefully it's not something more serious like bad spindle drives bc it still opens and closes just fine.
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      10-12-2022, 03:43 PM   #6
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Quote:
Originally Posted by WhiteCollarMetalHead View Post
Almost all the components are covered by plastics TIS might have some diagrams for panel removel
They're all clipped in place, easily popped off with trim removal wedges. As I recall there may be a total of four screws. I had no trouble removing them to tint the window. While I had them off I lined them with vinyl mastic, as I did with any other panels that I removed for one reason or another.
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      10-28-2022, 10:47 AM   #7
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On my second GT (2016) and this one has had the creaking tailgate since I picked it up earlier in the year. I had apple car play and a reversing camera installed and the picture below shows what the tailgate looks like with the trim removed. I should have put some grease on the pivots when it was like this.
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      11-02-2023, 11:52 AM   #8
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Well it seems my tailgate no longer wants to power open or power close with the buttons. I can hear it lock/unlock so I suspect it is the spindle drives.

It started intermittently (maybe 1 out of every 10 opens/closes), then became progressively worse, to not working at all.
I could live without this feature, but the tailgate is not only heavy, when you force it open/closed the spindle motors create extra resistance that you really have to force it open or closed, it's tiring actually.

There is a general post on the F30 area of someone with an F36 Gran Coupe who replaced the electric spindles with a simple gas shocks. I like this idea but it seems to require some custom measurements and some calculations on the lifting weight, etc. so the resistance in the gas shocks is just right.
https://f30.bimmerpost.com/forums/sh....php?t=2054103

On the other hand, it looks like the electric spindles are plug and play once I get all of the plastics pried off the hatch.

Has anyone replaced these before and I wonder if there is any coding involved? Hopefully not and I can just try to replace them one by one to see if I can get a fix myself - and not go to the dealer.
The spindles are roughly $300 each so perhaps I'll start with one side and then order the other side if no luck.

There doesn't seem to be much DIY info out there for the F34, or any other modern BMW that uses electric assist rear hatch spindles like the X5, etc.

Last edited by BaconDouble; 11-02-2023 at 12:02 PM..
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      11-02-2023, 02:50 PM   #9
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There should be no coding involved. Most devices don't need coding, only the modules that control them. I wouldn't go buying new spindles before making sure I wasn't able to fix the originals.
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      11-02-2023, 11:57 PM   #10
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I had this thread and one other saved when my 2014 had the same issue. It was worse in the heat and would sometimes not even go all the way up. Never got to fixing anything before I switched to a 2018.

Here's the other thread on it with some additional detail:
https://f30.bimmerpost.com/forums/sh....php?t=1729917
https://www.newtis.info/tisv2/a/en/f...cks/1VnXHHnyP1

Last edited by washufiddyfo; 11-03-2023 at 12:06 AM..
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      02-05-2024, 10:36 AM   #11
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Just to update this thread, I had my local indy mechanic take a look at this issue and ultimately replace both spindle drives.

I did not have the free time or warm space (garage) for me to work on this any further and it was getting annoying to have to lift up/down every time.

My indy stated after testing, one spindle drive was bad and I could probably just replace that one, but the other one could go at any time as it has probably been taking the brunt of the work. So we decided to replace both at once in an effort to fix this hopefully for a very long time.

Parts were:
Lift Cylinder - BMW (51-24-7-298-984) aka spindle drive RIGHT
Lift Cylinder - BMW (51-24-7-298-983) aka spindle drive LEFT
Lift Gate Weather-Strip -(51-76-7-372-189) trunk lid seal

All in it was approximately $1000 to repair ($700 parts and $300 labor). I was not charged for the weatherstripping as it was damaged during the repair and they replaced it at their cost.

I'm happy again the car functions like it is supposed to, but not super happy about the hit to my wallet.
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