Roof motor dead, then brought back to life.... *updated*

This is a weird one, if the roof was working ok out of the car and all the connections are correct then it 'should' work?

When you press the open/close buttons do you get any flashing on the switches or are they just completely dead?
If you set the by-pass and manually lift the hood, does it move freely and latch to the closed position ok, or does it just sit there?
Recheck the electrical connections as the one to the pillar that tells the system that the hard-top is not attached is crucial, you can follow it from the metal ring at the top of the door pillar.
when you said that you finally found out what was causing the roof not to work when on the jig, is there a chance that it has reverted?

Apart from that, I really can't think of anything else except maybe check the roof fuses as there really isn't anything left.
 
Well, gonna have another go at the roof jobby, (thanks georgio! i was happy opening it by hand but since reading your brilliant write up i am now determined to get this thing working :D )

I followed what you did to the tee, drenching in WD40 then baking in the oven, this was last bank holiday by the way. But no good! Dead as a do-do! When putting back together i did notice that the spade connectors where all corroded within the plastic sleeves though. And like a tw*t i just sprayed with WD40 and carried on.

So, up early in the morning to have another go. :thumbsup:
 
I think the problem that I was having before reverted. I think its a problem with bleeding/air lock.

Lights flash as they should. When manual bypass is set roof moves freely by hand. Fuses all OK.

I've given in an purchased a new motor. Hopefully arriving in the next few days.
 
Don't understand it mate, if it was working out the car why wont it work in the car? it must have done your head in. :idunno:

What are you doin with your old motor mate? how much do you want for it? if i cant get mine goin tomorrow would you be interested in selling it to me?
 
Well, went out early and got started on it, went out at 7 and by 7.40 had everything disconnected ready to lift out. Amazing how easy the job is once you have done it a few times.

My bro inlaw nipped round and we got it out safely. Quickly got the motor out of the sleeve and detached from the hydraulics, connected it directly to the battery and.......NOTHING! not even a squeak. :(

So got to giving it a close inspection and the interior looked a complete mess, rusty and loads of gunk in there. After a coffee and a bit of thought i got to completely drench it in WD40 paying special attention to the electrical end behind the terminals. Left it for 5 mins and connected up again. This time i got a flash off the battery when i touched the earth and the motor sprang into life :)

So disconnected it and went to fetch some diesel. Got back, connected and NOTHING! After faffing about making sure i got a good connection on the terminals (i just twisted the wire through the holes on the motor terminals) i eventually got it going again by tapping it with a hammer (remembering the starter motor trick back in the day) 8)

Now i dropped the motor into the diesel bath and left it spinning in the there for about 20 mins. Got it out and, WHAT A TRANSFORMATION! the insides were all clean and shiny. I did notice when i placed it in the diesel loads of black crap quickly filled the bath and turned the diesel jet black!

After giving it a good wipe over, connected it back to the hydraulics. Connected it back up to the battery, the motor was spinning away like a goodun but NO MOVEMENT FROM THE ROOF! :(

Checked the boden cable, there was free movement on the lever inside the "boden collar" all looked how it should be! But i thought, before i do anything else i will just check the boden valve. So quickly detached the collar. The valve was totally seized up! it wouldn't move at all!

So, more WD40 and a lot of trying, i eventually got a very satisfying "crack" and the plunger started to move in and out. A bit more cleaning and pushing got it working smoothly and freely.

Connected everything back up and stood there with the earth lead in my hand (by this time a few neighbors had come over to see what i was up to)

Touched the battery with the lead and..........SUCCESS! the roof worked perfectly! (the neighbors were quite impressed, not having seen an electric roof work away from a car before) and i was WELL CHUFFED! to say the least.

So we got the roof back in the zed bolted it down and everything back in place. Got in and pushed the button.............IT WORKED PERFECTLY!!! After purging it a good few times my bro inlaw timed it, opening, it took 7 secs, closing 9 secs.

So now i have a perfectly operational roof and its all down to georgio's fantastic post, THANKS Geo :thumbsup:

This forum is an invaluable source of knowledge.

Cheers all and thanks for reading.
 
Oh, just an add on to my last post, for anyone who is going to do their roof, before i put the motor back into its housing i completely drenched the foam padding which surrounds the motor with WD40 and also sprayed quite a lot into the housing itself so the whole thing is sitting in a bath of WD40, my thinking is that, not only will it protect the motor from possible future water ingress it will also prevent the terminals from possible corrosion preventing good contact.
 
tug said:
Well, went out early and got started on it, went out at 7 and by 7.40 had everything disconnected ready to lift out. Amazing how easy the job is once you have done it a few times.

My bro inlaw nipped round and we got it out safely. Quickly got the motor out of the sleeve and detached from the hydraulics, connected it directly to the battery and.......NOTHING! not even a squeak. :(

So got to giving it a close inspection and the interior looked a complete mess, rusty and loads of gunk in there. After a coffee and a bit of thought i got to completely drench it in WD40 paying special attention to the electrical end behind the terminals. Left it for 5 mins and connected up again. This time i got a flash off the battery when i touched the earth and the motor sprang into life :)

So disconnected it and went to fetch some diesel. Got back, connected and NOTHING! After faffing about making sure i got a good connection on the terminals (i just twisted the wire through the holes on the motor terminals) i eventually got it going again by tapping it with a hammer (remembering the starter motor trick back in the day) 8)

Now i dropped the motor into the diesel bath and left it spinning in the there for about 20 mins. Got it out and, WHAT A TRANSFORMATION! the insides were all clean and shiny. I did notice when i placed it in the diesel loads of black crap quickly filled the bath and turned the diesel jet black!

After giving it a good wipe over, connected it back to the hydraulics. Connected it back up to the battery, the motor was spinning away like a goodun but NO MOVEMENT FROM THE ROOF! :(

Checked the boden cable, there was free movement on the lever inside the "boden collar" all looked how it should be! But i thought, before i do anything else i will just check the boden valve. So quickly detached the collar. The valve was totally seized up! it wouldn't move at all!

So, more WD40 and a lot of trying, i eventually got a very satisfying "crack" and the plunger started to move in and out. A bit more cleaning and pushing got it working smoothly and freely.

Connected everything back up and stood there with the earth lead in my hand (by this time a few neighbors had come over to see what i was up to)

Touched the battery with the lead and..........SUCCESS! the roof worked perfectly! (the neighbors were quite impressed, not having seen an electric roof work away from a car before) and i was WELL CHUFFED! to say the least.

So we got the roof back in the zed bolted it down and everything back in place. Got in and pushed the button.............IT WORKED PERFECTLY!!! After purging it a good few times my bro inlaw timed it, opening, it took 7 secs, closing 9 secs.

So now i have a perfectly operational roof and its all down to georgio's fantastic post, THANKS Geo :thumbsup:

This forum is an invaluable source of knowledge.

Cheers all and thanks for reading.
Click to expand...

Nice one Tug, glad to see you got it working in the end, we just need a similar result from R.A. and it will be job done for a bit... :D
Before putting the roof back in did you make sure to give the drain hole a good going over... just a thought :thumbsup:
 
r.a said:
I think the problem that I was having before reverted. I think its a problem with bleeding/air lock.

Lights flash as they should. When manual bypass is set roof moves freely by hand. Fuses all OK.

I've given in an purchased a new motor. Hopefully arriving in the next few days.
Click to expand...

I hope the new motor sorts it, but to be honest if it is an airlock I doubt that will help much.
Make sure you get new banjo copper washers for when you do the hydraulic line swaps... :D
 
I have the same problem as you r.a. Looked all over to find an answer
Going by yourI experiences, I think I'm gonna leave it like it is unless it gets any worse!
 
Nice one Tug, glad to see you got it working in the end, we just need a similar result from R.A. and it will be job done for a bit... :D
Before putting the roof back in did you make sure to give the drain hole a good going over... just a thought :thumbsup:[/quote]

Yep, made sure :thumbsup: But with the amount of WD40 + DIESEL the motor is bathing in i reckon it will be a good while before there will be any probs. :D

You know Geo, i still have a feeling r.a.'s problem is a seized boden valve, could be wrong :idunno: Cos mine was doing exact same thing as his.

Thanks for the brilliant write up mate, wouldn't have bothered with mine if i had'nt read your post. :thumbsup:
 
sunnchipie said:
I have the same problem as you r.a. Looked all over to find an answer
Going by yourI experiences, I think I'm gonna leave it like it is unless it gets any worse!
Click to expand...

What is your situation at the minute sunnchipie is your roof out or is it in the zed?
 
tug said:
Well, went out early and got started on it, went out at 7 and by 7.40 had everything disconnected ready to lift out. Amazing how easy the job is once you have done it a few times.

My bro inlaw nipped round and we got it out safely. Quickly got the motor out of the sleeve and detached from the hydraulics, connected it directly to the battery and.......NOTHING! not even a squeak. :(

So got to giving it a close inspection and the interior looked a complete mess, rusty and loads of gunk in there. After a coffee and a bit of thought i got to completely drench it in WD40 paying special attention to the electrical end behind the terminals. Left it for 5 mins and connected up again. This time i got a flash off the battery when i touched the earth and the motor sprang into life :)

So disconnected it and went to fetch some diesel. Got back, connected and NOTHING! After faffing about making sure i got a good connection on the terminals (i just twisted the wire through the holes on the motor terminals) i eventually got it going again by tapping it with a hammer (remembering the starter motor trick back in the day) 8)

Now i dropped the motor into the diesel bath and left it spinning in the there for about 20 mins. Got it out and, WHAT A TRANSFORMATION! the insides were all clean and shiny. I did notice when i placed it in the diesel loads of black crap quickly filled the bath and turned the diesel jet black!

After giving it a good wipe over, connected it back to the hydraulics. Connected it back up to the battery, the motor was spinning away like a goodun but NO MOVEMENT FROM THE ROOF! :(

Checked the boden cable, there was free movement on the lever inside the "boden collar" all looked how it should be! But i thought, before i do anything else i will just check the boden valve. So quickly detached the collar. The valve was totally seized up! it wouldn't move at all!

So, more WD40 and a lot of trying, i eventually got a very satisfying "crack" and the plunger started to move in and out. A bit more cleaning and pushing got it working smoothly and freely.

Connected everything back up and stood there with the earth lead in my hand (by this time a few neighbors had come over to see what i was up to)

Touched the battery with the lead and..........SUCCESS! the roof worked perfectly! (the neighbors were quite impressed, not having seen an electric roof work away from a car before) and i was WELL CHUFFED! to say the least.

So we got the roof back in the zed bolted it down and everything back in place. Got in and pushed the button.............IT WORKED PERFECTLY!!! After purging it a good few times my bro inlaw timed it, opening, it took 7 secs, closing 9 secs.

So now i have a perfectly operational roof and its all down to georgio's fantastic post, THANKS Geo :thumbsup:

This forum is an invaluable source of knowledge.

Cheers all and thanks for reading.
Click to expand...

That's awesome, good job :thumbsup:
 
tug said:
Nice one Tug, glad to see you got it working in the end, we just need a similar result from R.A. and it will be job done for a bit... :D
Before putting the roof back in did you make sure to give the drain hole a good going over... just a thought :thumbsup:
Click to expand...

Yep, made sure :thumbsup: But with the amount of WD40 + DIESEL the motor is bathing in i reckon it will be a good while before there will be any probs. :D

You know Geo, i still have a feeling r.a.'s problem is a seized boden valve, could be wrong :idunno: Cos mine was doing exact same thing as his.

Thanks for the brilliant write up mate, wouldn't have bothered with mine if i had'nt read your post. :thumbsup:[/quote]

No problem mate, I'd suffered my roof getting slower and slower until it finally gave up the ghost, then just put it up and down manually for a few weeks which just got me more and more pissed off until finally I decided to get the damn thing out and sort out the problem.
After finding it was actually easier than I thought then it was obvious to try and inspire others to 'give it a go' learn a bit more about their car and save a shed load of cash in the process... :thumbsup:
 
I dunno mate, i reckon there is a market out there for folk like us who are willing to roll sleeves up and try and beat the anomaly that is the 'ZED ROOF MOTOR!'

I aint on about the "Bowser" replacement motor job, which has sorted loads of zed roofs out, good as gold and top work. :thumbsup: I mean getting the electric motor sparked up. We all know that the hydraulics are pretty solid, so, to save folk a wad of cash, get the electric motor working, so as not to have to buy the whole unit. 8)

Its just a thought but, i reckon there might be a market out there. :?
 
Tug, like I say It doesn't sound like a job I want to attempt so the roof is still on.
I think I might leave it another year, wait until I have more of an idea of the cause and then attempt it. It sounds like its possible to get at the motor without taking the roof off.
 
Where abouts are you mate? if in leicestershire i would come over and help you out.
 
sunnchipie said:
Tug, like I say It doesn't sound like a job I want to attempt so the roof is still on.
I think I might leave it another year, wait until I have more of an idea of the cause and then attempt it. It sounds like its possible to get at the motor without taking the roof off.
Click to expand...

It really isn't that bad, the worst thing you can do is mark the rear deck area, but as long as you tape it up and cover with blankets you shouldn't have any problems. When I did mine I booked a long weekend Friday to Monday just incase, but was all done by Saturday afternoon and that was taking it very slowly.
If I needed to re-do now, I think I could get the roof off in under half an hour and that would include a tea break... :D
 
Yep Geo, the hardest part for me was getting the little white clips that hold the big rubber weather proofers on top of the posts to detach! :oops:

But like you say, once you have done it a couple of times it really is a piece of p*ss. :thumbsup:
 
sunnchipie said:
Tug, like I say It doesn't sound like a job I want to attempt so the roof is still on.
I think I might leave it another year, wait until I have more of an idea of the cause and then attempt it. It sounds like its possible to get at the motor without taking the roof off.
Click to expand...

PM"d :thumbsup:
 
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