Another Roof Bites The Dust! Or has it???

E

Exactmax

Active member
I've had a search on the forum and can't quite find my problem or an answer to it.

Drove a short journey yesterday with the roof down - parked up and put the roof up (all fine). Came back to the car and went to lower the roof and the windows dropped, the roof unlocked from the windscreen and then nothing happened! I could hear the motor but it wasn't doing anything.

I managed to get the roof closed again and locked down and before people ask, the parcel shelf was lowered to allow the roof to retract and it had been working fine (although it did make quite a noise and sound like it was struggling most of the time)

Now, why would the roof unlock and the motor make a noise and not do anything? Would that suggest that the motor isn't to blame here? I've had a quote for a new motor and they gave me a price of £722 which I didnt think was too bad for BMW!

What do people think?
 
1. Talk to Sopers for the roof motor - they are cheaper. I paid just over £300 for mine.
2. It all depends on what noise the motor made. Don't forget that it's all hydraulic so the motor could be doing it's stuff, but there might be a fluid leak.
3. The motor might not be building up enough pressure to move the roof.
 
My guess is either a hydraulic leak (unlikely) or the motor is spinning too slow to move the roof. The pump isn't built to the finest tolerances, fluid can pass around the ends of the vanes, so if the motor doesn't spin fast enough, there isn't enough pressure to move the roof. If you compared your motor sound to a healthy motor, you would clearly hear the difference.

You may have noticed some people have had good results just cleaning the motor and reinstalling it, you'll have to decide if it's worth the risk, considering the amount of labour needed to access the motor.
 
Thanks for your reply and help - BMW have priced a new motor at £298 which I thought was about right! Would they need to take the roof off to look at the hydraulics even if the motor is okay? When the roof motor fails does it usually just not make any noise?
 
I think if I'm going to fork out to get the roof motor looked at then it will be better just to buy a brand new one as apparently the new motors are now sealed better compared to the old pre-face lift models? Does £700 sounds a good price for BMW?
 
Myself and a number of others have found that the fly-out latches located on the front header rail on the roof can stick and fail to disengage. This stops the roof falling back sufficiently to activate the next phase of the roof drop sequence. A small amount of light oil in and around the latches and location slots cured mine - certainly worth eliminating before spending £700! :)
 
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