How hard is it to repair sun damage to dash - 2001 BMW Z3

A simple test is to feel around the carpet in that footwell. See how far up under the dash the carpet is wet. Does it only happen after rain? Do you have a sun roof fitted?
If the carpet is only wet low down on the floor the most likely reason is either a perished or damaged door seal rubber, a faulty sun roof seal or the drain channels for the sun roof are clogged up. Check the footwell in the back as water always flows and settles at the lowest point in the vehicle.
If it is high up and nearest the middle of the dash you issue could be the heater matrix under the dash but as it seems to be only on one side this might not be the issue.
Door seals are a simple case of pull the old one off and push the new one on and they don't cost silly money to buy. Heater matrix issues, unfortunately, usually involve taking the whole dashboard out to get to it.
Hope this helps.

I covered one of mine with a custom dash mat...about $50. from JC Whitney...on line...much cheaper...leather is not usually used on top side of dash due to Sun rays...

There are vehicle upholsters that have the ways and means of redoing the dash of most vehicles. Or go to the wreckers and get one from there. A good investment when you have had it replaced is a dash mat to stop the sun damage.

84-89

This depends on the type of crack ... if it is from the sun drying out the material and shrinking it a quick-fix will probably suffer the same fate and look worse when it happens. If the crack is from abuse (like when I threw a bunch of 2x4 lumber on mine and caused a crack) then you might be able to find some repair goo for it -- ask at an auto-parts store and they might have it ("repair goo" is not the real name of the material, but I don't know the real name off hand). Make sure you let the person who is helping you know whether your dash is real leather or synthetic material as the type of repair fluid used will vary with color and type of material to be repaired.
If you have a real-leather dash you might even be able to go to a leather-goods store and find a repair fluid there -- it would be basically the same as fixing a tear in a leather jacket. I know that the repair fluid exists, but I do not know the name ... just that I have seen it advertised on late-night television.
If you can't find a repair fluid that will work with the material that your dash is made from, or if your crack is caused by sun-aging of the material, you might have to replace the piece of the dash panel that is cracked to get rid of the damage. Just bare in mind that if your dash is sun-faded it will be very difficult to match the exact color with a replacement .. and you might be more annoyed with the color difference than you were with the crack.

you can get the dash panel recovered, not sure of the cost but

it wont cause the airbag to deploy no but to have it fixed you will need to see an upholsterer, the material has shrunk due to the heat and theres no easy fix, he will be able to just remove that section and reupholster it so it wont be to costly.

I have built, repaired and installed sunroofs for 20 years. Its hard to tell what problem is, so many variations for motors with relays, cams, programed circuit boards. To get the roof closed you can drop motor usually 3 screws then pull glass forward as far as you can, then from inside of truck you will have to take a screw driver and finish sliding cable forward somehow. When sliding by hand watch on the inside to see what parts are moving so you can finish sliding forward. Hope this helps.

Hello,
It sounds like your transmission has broken the planetary sun shell. If it has you would also have no 2nd or 4th gears. Its not a hard repair but it will be more costly if your driving your vehicle as metal will be damaging other components.
I hope this helps.
Roy

You can try using a heat gun on low setting, but I doubt you will have much success, I have the same issue on a car of mine, I bought a Dash Mate (brand name) to cover the dash top, it looks great and was cheap, the sun of course is the reason this is happening, the dash top mat protects the dash from the sun and will stop the damage.