Roof Motor

S

Smurfalot

Member
 Witham, Essex.
Some of you may remember that my roof was stuck down last sept time. I had a brand new hydraulic unit fitted.
Yesterday, the roof wouldn't go back up. I checked the unit and it was scorching hot, so hot I couldn't touch it.
This is gonna be the 2nd motor burnout I have had in a year. Now, it is covered by bmw's 2 year warranty, so should be no issues getting it replaced again.
Can anyone think of any underlying issue, that may cause the motor to burnout in this way?
On a side note, I now have to wait 2wks to have the work done, all the time, the roof will be down. Frustrating.
 
Smurfalot said:
Some of you may remember that my roof was stuck down last sept time. I had a brand new hydraulic unit fitted.
Yesterday, the roof wouldn't go back up. I checked the unit and it was scorching hot, so hot I couldn't touch it.
This is gonna be the 2nd motor burnout I have had in a year. Now, it is covered by bmw's 2 year warranty, so should be no issues getting it replaced again.
Can anyone think of any underlying issue, that may cause the motor to burnout in this way?
On a side note, I now have to wait 2wks to have the work done, all the time, the roof will be down. Frustrating.
Click to expand...

Is the motor still in the damp dirty well or has it been moved to the boot??
 
Could be a pump issue, possibility of either blockage in the pump or one of the hydraulic lines, causing the motor to work overtime to pump the fluid around the system or the motor not cutting out after the cycle operation has finished , or continuing to run afterwards , overheating it .
 
Smurfalot said:
Some of you may remember that my roof was stuck down last sept time. I had a brand new hydraulic unit fitted.
Yesterday, the roof wouldn't go back up. I checked the unit and it was scorching hot, so hot I couldn't touch it.
This is gonna be the 2nd motor burnout I have had in a year. Now, it is covered by bmw's 2 year warranty, so should be no issues getting it replaced again.
Can anyone think of any underlying issue, that may cause the motor to burnout in this way?
On a side note, I now have to wait 2wks to have the work done, all the time, the roof will be down. Frustrating.
Click to expand...

I am betting your roof needs lubricating to reduce load and friction.

I purchased a 2009 E89 and the very first thing I did was lubricate every pivot, joint etc in the entire roof folding mechanism with a PTFE spray, B&Q. Whilst doing this I could see rust marks around a couple of the pivots and they were all pretty much completely free of any lubricant.
The speed of the roof and the noise made by the pump changed immediately as obviously reduced friction = reduced load/resistance.
Two weeks later I repeated the operation with a spray on white lithium grease, B&Q and it is even better. The roof folds in around 17 seconds and is back up in around 19 seconds. Its quieter and the pump is a lot happier.

TOP TIP If you do this cover your interior with a dust sheet (spray grease blows in the wind). OPen the roof till the reas window section is over the 90 degree angle, it will balance there without loading the pump. Spray all visible pivots etc. Press the open roof button again till the window section lies on top of the main roof and lubricate all exposed pivots. Press open roof button again till the boot lid is fully open and lubricate all newly exposed pivots. Now completely fold the roof.
Now close the roof and open the boot lid, lubricate any pivots visible that you could not reach previously.

NOTE; Yes my car has full main stealer BMW history, whatever thats worth!!!!
 
MM. Interesting. Mine took (roughly) about 20-22 secs to go either way..
A lubricate may be an idea.. Assume BMW won't do that as part of the warranty job?j

Can't wait to get the car back, as much amusement the loan mini has given...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom