E32-Fixing the rollup shade at the rear window

["jchasd" <asmaradezn@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

E32-Fixing the rollup shade at the rear window

When my shade no longer retracted, I assumed that the spring was broken. The
mechanism is similar to a roll-up widow shade found in a house. The part to
which the shade fabric is attached is a metal tube about 12mm in diameter,
the guts of which are some kind of torsion device (spring) connected to a
roller shaft with a round end and a flat (like a little blade screw driver
head) end. Each end fits into a like-shaped plastic receptor fastened to
each end of a metal tube shell. The tube is about 30mm in diameter and has a
full-length slot through which the shade fabric can be pulled and retracted.
It turned out that the flat end of the roller shaft had popped out of its
nest. So a fix was possible without having to spend the several hundred
dollars I was told that the replacement shade would cost.

To remove the mechanism (which is glued into the parcel shelf) you must
remove the rear seat, seat back and center arm rest. The interior trim side
panels above the parcel shelf (between the rear door windows and the rear
window) must be removed in order to remove the parcel shelf. The light
fixture wiring is easily disconnected. Once the parcel shelf is out you can
work on the shade mechanism. Carefully remove the plastic slot trim (a spear
snap connection) at the flat roller shaft end. The roller shaft with shade
fabric could be pulled along its length though the tube shell slot, so
removing the plastic end caps (which are double riveted to the tube shell)
was not required. My fabric was partially unglued from the roller shaft, so
I completely removed it and re-glued it with fresh layers of contact cement.
Keeping it aligned during the re-gluing was not difficult, but required
attention. I then rolled the shade fabric evenly around the roller shaft. I
made sure that all the end spacers and felt washers were intact.

Carefully inserting the roller shaft and fabric back into the slot (round
end first), it was obvious that the flat end could be wound in the proper
direction to put the required tension in the spring and then inserted
without difficulty into its receptor. The final step was to glue a flat
shirt button over the receptor hole on the round end to keep the shaft from
slipping in that direction (which would allow the flat end to come out of
its receptor again). Reversing the procedure for removal of the parcel
shelf, trim panels, seat back, center arm rest and seat was not difficult
once you could see how the blind fasteners worked.

Chas
'83 633CSi
'85 528e
'86 325e
'88 735i
'94 525i
BMWCCA 44835

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