2003 Z4 - Hydraulic Roof issue

  • Thread starter Thread starter Anonymous
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Anonymous

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After reading many of the posts related to the Convertible roof on the Z4's I finally came to the conclusion I have a bad motor. Just purchased the car and had been told by previous owner there was a problem. Bought car on Ebay so when I received it I tried the roof and it worked perfectly, not sluggish, open and retracted great. Then 2 days later I try again and it wont move, after several attempts I hear the hydraulic motor running very slow and eventually cutout (Always releases from windshield). So I find the procedure from ShipKiller on how to remove roof and replace the motor, so I decide to start the job and cannot get the roof to release via the red pull ring in the trunk. I have it pulled out and turned but the hydraulic pressure does not seem to be releasing and the roof is very hard to move. I did not want to force it back in fear of breaking something. has anyone experienced this problem and is there another way to move it, can it safely be pushed against the hydraulic pressure, or is there a hydraulic line union I can access to bleed off/release pressure.

Thanks
 
It is possible to move the roof against the hydraulic pressure, it will take a while. You must ensure the pressure exerted is quite even as you do not want to distort the frame. Don't actually force it, apply very firm, even pressure, just enough to make progress. You are essentially forcing the fluid to leak through the pump assembly, there simply is not much clearance for the fluid to pass.

Before doing that though, try to locate where the release cable connects to the pump block and direct some WD-40 to this area as best you can, through some tubing perhaps. There's a little button like device there that opens the bypass. It tends to get corroded in place. Then when someone tries to operate it via the red loop, the cable breaks. At least one member here has been able to directly manipulate this button after applying WD-40. I personally can't imagine how he accomplished this, it appears to require arthroscopic surgical skills to pull off.
 
yeah that was me, here's the link :- not easy at all, but I'm like a dog with a bone !

http://www.z4-forum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=37267

Good Luck :)
 
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