So the top worked all winter (I live in Texas) and quit working on our first 80F day. I know the top has to be pulled off and a bunch of other lovely things to replace the motor (I'm capable but lazy) is there not a way to get to the hydraulic lines at one end or the other and disconnect them so I can raise and lower it manually without removing the top?
Another Motor Failure for the Top... But...
- Thread starter mrarmyant
- Start date
In the boot (trunk!), there is a little red handle at the top near the lid - pull this out slightly then turn 90 degrees. This disconnects the hydraulics so that you want manually open and close the roof. Ideally you'll need two people to close it - one at each side.
Thanks! I tried that. It seems I'm still getting a ton of resistance, how long should it take to go down? Then again the last time I used the red ring to get it back up I pulled on it incredibly hard and might of stretched it as I thought it was a mechanical release, not an electrical :/ The top motor unlatches and windows roll down, but its hard to tell with the red ring if its disengaged or not. Could it be as simple as a fuse? (sorry, thinking out loud.) I'm still bewildered as to why a hydraulic pump, that could be mounted anywhere, is there.
mrarmyant said:
The bypass is mechanical or more accurately ... hydro/mechanical, my bypass mechanism was seized, I had to get the cover of the motor in situ to get it to bypass, took several hours and lots of chafed skin, then I could remove the roof to replace the motor.
The position of the roof motor is crap, but that's life, fix it or leave it your choice !
kitchfilms
Member
Hi - I've just done the hydro pump last weekend and was manually overriding the roof for the last couple of weeks. I had the same issue with the red ring, I even pulled the ring off the cable when trying too hard. I resorted to mole grips around the end of the cable and this seemed to work. After stripping the parts down I understood how the cable worked. It's attached to a small brass coloured button on the side of the motor which disengages itself from the hydraulic lines, thus allowing the user to move the hood. Looking at the amount of water the motor box was sitting in, I'm not surprised this system had failed and was feeling stiff. You're expecting a positive noise or clunk to confirm that the disengage has happened but you don't get this. It's just a case of pulling the cable (I left the mole grips dangling on the end of the cable which worked for me and I did have to do the same thing when I wanted to roof back up again)
It does take a reasonable amount of force to move it - much easier with a person on each side of the car. If you're on your own pull it up or down from the middle
Hope this helps and good luck replacing the pump!
It does take a reasonable amount of force to move it - much easier with a person on each side of the car. If you're on your own pull it up or down from the middle
Hope this helps and good luck replacing the pump!