Roof fault

flybobbie said:
So having bought and received a Foxwell NT520pro (actually ordered a NT510) got using it to find out what the problem was.
Other than it telling me that nearly every limit had a problem, i cancelled them and started again.
Useful function was to see the limit switch operate real time.
So then removed the right boot lifter bracket to get at the cylinder. A bit tricky with the roof still in boot!
I pulled off each hall switch and passed a spanner over them, they all worked fine.
I tested the mechanical limit switches which lock the boot down, they worked fine.
Interestingly there was a name on the side of the hall switch lead, Gebauer & Griller, they seem to make wires.

So next i tested the relays for the pump. Relay 2 operated as the boot lid lifted and dropped, but relay 1 never came on.
So at the pump i swapped over the relays.
Then nothing would move. I pulled each relay and tested the coils with multimeter, seemed fine, they even clicked when a pp3 battery was put across the coils.
So off i trotted to BMW and bought two relays part No. 12 63 1 742 690 salmon pink colour. Bargain at £16 each fairly common part used on lots of BMW's. (cheaper than i had seen on internet).
Fitted them and now all working fine.
I took the old ones apart and can't see anything wrong with them.

So as preventative maintenance, might be good idea say after several years to just replace them.
I wonder how many random roof faults are caused by these relays and the code reader said about 5 limit switches had errors.
I wonder if these are getting replaced based on code reader errors, when there is nothing wrong with the switches.

Result :thumbsup:
If the relay coils tested ok with a meter & the relays could be heard energising I’d say that indicates an HR or OC contact within the relay? :?
Rob
 
Post by Smartbear » Sat Mar 23, 2019 7:18 pm

flybobbie wrote: ↑Sat Mar 23, 2019 6:25 pm
Well this has caught up with me, hood stuck in boot, but boot lid lifts and closes ok.
Did go intermittent for a few minutes then stopped with roof in boot.
Almost like something finally failed, sensor, broken wire?
Have you tried swapping the power relays over for the roof? There’s two of them i understand & i think they’re interchangeable :?
Have you hooked it up to a code reader? That could shed some light on what’s wrong.
Rob

I now claim my mystery prize :P
Rob
 
Very clever, yes it turned out to be a relay.
But what threw me was the fact the boot would rise and fall so just assumed, looking at the wiring diagram that each relay would switch motor one way or the other, so they were fine.
When the boot was fully open pump would stop.
The positive and negative of the coils are connected to the module, rather than negatives to body earth.
So the top module can drive the relays for the boot, but then decide not to lift the roof.
Had the relays apart and the contacts look ok.
The code reader gave 4-5 switch errors, in red with A codes.
 
Excellent you got it fixed.
Did someone not post on here in the last year about these relays? It might have been a link to a German forum.
 
flybobbie said:
I have seen a very long discussion on a German site regarding the Hall switches.

Did they think the cracking issue seems to effect the functionality of them? :?
Rob
 
GLAD YOU GOT IT SORTED !!!
Slightly going to gloat and repost my comment down below :D


Adil_3 said:
Upon first reading this i noticed you said you mashed around with the buttons and it seemed to have closed once you got home and one part of the operation works and the other doesnt. Ive had a roof motor and had an issue similar to where the roof would get stuck half way but would close just fine. Just a quick check and its a cheap one at that,

Where the roof motor is located in the boot are two orange relays. One relay controls the down operation and the other the close operation. Intitially swap the two relays around and try pressing the roof see what happens in my case swapped the relays around roof went down didnt go back up swapped them back and roof went up. Ordered two new relays off bmw 20 pounds a pop in it goes all sorted.

Previous to this my roof motor blew, and i assume this was the culprit to it, over heating roof motor mixed with hydraulics and a faulty relay. Doesnt really harm to try if the roof motor seems okay and the micro switches are good also !
 
I initially didn't think the relays were a problem because looking at the circuit diagram the relays appear to be arranged to switch the pump forward and reverse, so to speak, as in 'H' arrangement for reversing a electric motor. So the boot would rise and fall.
But a pump doesn't really need to reverse, only the valves that control the cylinders need to switch, a bit like compressed air cylinders.
So only one relay no2 is needed to raise and lower the boot, with appropriate valve switching.
Failure of relay no1, must be stopping the roof cylinders from operating as the pump wasn't running.
In fact can't see why it would need the second relay. It only needs to turn the pump one way, the rest should be done by switching valves.
On the bench i can't find anything wrong with the relays, both have 77ohm coils and a zero resistance on the contacts and all move, whether inside or outside their cases. The only other possibility is inside the sockets they plug in to.
Not finding something actually faulty is bugging me.
 

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flybobbie said:
I initially didn't think the relays were a problem because looking at the circuit diagram the relays appear to be arranged to switch the pump forward and reverse, so to speak, as in 'H' arrangement for reversing a electric motor. So the boot would rise and fall.
But a pump doesn't really need to reverse, only the valves that control the cylinders need to switch, a bit like compressed air cylinders.
So only one relay no2 is needed to raise and lower the boot, with appropriate valve switching.
Failure of relay no1, must be stopping the roof cylinders from operating as the pump wasn't running.
In fact can't see why it would need the second relay. It only needs to turn the pump one way, the rest should be done by switching valves.
On the bench i can't find anything wrong withe the relays, both have 77ohm coils and a zero resistance on the contacts and all move, whether inside or outside their cases. The only other possibility is inside the sockets they plug in to.
Not finding something actually faulty is bugging me.

Hi, did you test across the down contacts as well as the up ones?
Rob
 
Just to add to that as a precaution to members with a similar issue, dont mash on the roof up and down button, should the relays fail.

This relay issue can cause your motor to overheat and explode.
 
Don't think that will happen as there is a thermal cutout, unless that goes faulty.

What puzzles me is the fault codes that came up saying that 5 or 6 sensors on the roof were faulty, when they all worked fine.

My business partner had a 2012 car with only 8k miles and it's roof was constantly failing, even though BMW replace probably all the micro switches on three separate visits. When fixed they said they had cycled the roof many times without problem.
Yet when driven away and used for a few weeks, the roof would fail again.
If on failure all they were doing was reading the codes and then just replacing the (faulty) sensors, then finding the roof was working, was that just coincidence?

The relays i replaced worked fine on the bench.

Or is there something wrong with the controller?
Or is it a symptom of the power cable call backs BMW have instigated.
I have ignored the call back, but perhaps should have it done.
 
RobbiZ4 said:
This is an EKG of the opening sequence of all microswitches and hall sensors:

2019-04-04_Lara_Oeffnen_small.jpg

With this tool I'm able to identify component or wire failures even if the roof doesn't work anymore.


Let's have a diagnostic session here in Munich to check your roofs. :icb:

Are you a rocket scientist in your spare time? :thumbsup:

Serious respect!
 
Those graphs seem to tie in with the readout on the Foxwell reader i have.
Early cars like mine have 3 solenoids yet the later models seem to have 4.
The later wiring diagrams show a 4th solenoid.
 

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https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BxW-0N8LT84fU0FDNFUwak9KM1k/view
No idea original source.

Wiring diagrams seem a bit easier to understand than Tis.

The Foxwell just a reader but also shows real time graphs.
Only just got into it, to fix my roof problem.
I wonder if the new solenoid anything to do with operating the roof on the move.
 
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