E85 roof latch motor removal

6

66MPH

New member
 Los Angeles
Hi all,

The gears in my wife’s E85 2003 roof latch appear to have failed. The latch motor spins, but the roof will not unlatch. I’ve only just replaced and relocated the other motor and thought it had failed when she told me the roof wasn’t working, thankfully this isn’t the issue,

From what I can tell, the internal plastic gears have stripped. I’m aware there are updated replacement gears available and I’m happy to replace them. If anyone has a reliable source for them please let me know as the prices seem to vary wildly.

The issue is this:

Because the roof won’t unlatch, I can’t remove the full plastic panel that surrounds the latch motor assembly. The manual winding procedure using the Allen key doesn’t work either. The bolt simply backs out on its own but briefly turns the spindle that would unlatch the roof 5% of a rotation, which makes me think the gear around it has completely failed.

So my questions:

  1. Is there a way to remove the latch motor while the roof is still latched?
  2. Can the gears be repaired or replaced with the motor in place?
  3. Is there a manual mechanical release method that bypasses the broken gear?

Any guidance from anyone who has dealt with this would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance!
 
You can remove the latch motor in situ and then the driveshafts. Two 10mm bolts hold it in place and a few plastic clips

Then you can change the driveshafts
 
bigwinn said:
You can remove the latch motor in situ and then the driveshafts. Two 10mm bolts hold it in place and a few plastic clips

Then you can change the driveshafts
Click to expand...
Managed to replace the broken gear with the replacement metal unit. However when the motor was bolted back into place, although the driveshafts turn and the roof begins to unlatch, the mechanism stops without fully unlatching. The red light by the roof buttons has been flashing since the roof stopped working, still continues to flash.

Sensor reset?

Also, very annoyingly, the left side nut and bolt has sheered from the plastic base/housing. Possibly a straightforward replacement but needs the roof being open to remove the panel covering it all 😩
 

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A little further progress, ordered replacement rubber mounts. Latch motor is out but still tethered. I can’t seem to disconnect the blue plug and a little nervous about forcing it.

It would be infinitely easier to repair this and replace the mount if I could remove the large plastic panel, but that requires the roof to be opened to access the screws.

Is there a way to open the latch without the motor in place? Perhaps an attachment to connect to where the driveshafts slide on to that I could turn? Any ideas?

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66MPH said:
Managed to replace the broken gear with the replacement metal unit. However when the motor was bolted back into place, although the driveshafts turn and the roof begins to unlatch, the mechanism stops without fully unlatching. The red light by the roof buttons has been flashing since the roof stopped working, still continues to flash.

Sensor reset?

Also, very annoyingly, the left side nut and bolt has sheered from the plastic base/housing. Possibly a straightforward replacement but needs the roof being open to remove the panel covering it all 😩
Click to expand...
Sorry for the getting here late, but could you link which metal gears you bought? I'm seeing tons of listings but a lot of the reviews say they don't fit, but don't specify which model they didn't fit.
 
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