Roof pump current draw?

B

Beardy_john

New member
Hi everyone,

Long time lurker here - bought my 2.5i last Nov and all has been well until last week.
Hood pump problems, not moving up or down after starting to go slowly, but motor still spins. No sigms of leaking cylinders in the hood and it seems to hold fluid OK.
So took it out of the bucket to relocate to the boot and found it brown and rusty - nothing unusual here.

With it rusty, the motor was only pulling 1A in one direction or 0.8A in the other.
Cleaned the motor in Evaporust and dried it out. Now draws 1.2A and 1A.

Question is, does this sound right? Does anyone know what the current draw should be, say on a new motor pump? I don't want to replace the motor to find its the actual pump on top.
 
Hi John

I’ve never tested the amperage draw of the motor so cant comment

If the motor is goosed it just won’t run. I’m tempted to say your pump head is the culprit- however that usually manifests in one direction of travel being slow or non existent to start with?

Now you have moved the unit what is the level of fluid like in the chamber? That may help if topped up.

I also find that with motors that have been submerged and are full of crap, a good lubricate will help, they also run better with the engine on
 
Recently did one like that. After trying everything it only left the hydraulic hinges. Not leaking but an internal seal failure. Start to lift but then the pressure escapes around the seal. Because both run off a common union as soon as one fails then all the pressure takes the easiest route. Therefore it’s not possible to determine which one has failed. You have to change both to be sure.
This requires the roof off but is a fairly easy job.
You must remove the hinges by the correct method though. Two screws on the top arm and knock out the pin from the lower connection.
Do NOT mess with the main splined bolt that goes through the top as it is nigh on impossible to reassemble both sides to the exact same angle.
It’s a half day job.
If all else fails and it turns out to be that then I’ve done a couple now and could assist, but I’m over in Norfolk.
(Currently away on holiday though)
 
There are three fuses in the folding roof circuit, 5A, 20A and a 40A.

The 5A fuse is shared with other things so its probably the switch illumination. The other two only run the roof. So I'd say under load that 1 amp is way off the mark.
 
Thanks chaps. :thumbsup:

Motor spins in both directions and before taking it out topped oil up first, but with no luck.
Over 2 or 3 days the roof got slower and slower. So perhaps it is the seals in the struts?
Next job, when I have time will be to take the pump out and run it on the bench. If it fires fluid out the ports, I can at least rule that out
 
Beardy_john said:
Thanks chaps. :thumbsup:

Motor spins in both directions and before taking it out topped oil up first, but with no luck.
Over 2 or 3 days the roof got slower and slower. So perhaps it is the seals in the struts?
Next job, when I have time will be to take the pump out and run it on the bench. If it fires fluid out the ports, I can at least rule that out
Click to expand...
Not necessarily. You will be only be testing flow. You won’t generate pressure to know if the pump can cope with that.
 
Managed to fix it! :D :D :D

Reinstalled everything in the car the other day, but this morning checked fluid (all OK) and decided to take off the cable end for the manual bypass. Gave the valve a good squirt of lubrication and made sure it travelled in and out properly. I also gave the brush end of the motor a huge squirt of CTI Multi-Solve. I was using this to get some sealant off my hands, and the smell reminded me of something I used to use to clean racing motors in my RC car racing days. On first pushing the button in the car, there were some interesting noises from the motor, then it sounded like it spun more freely, and the hood moved! I had the motor wires around the wrong way, but after correcting that, the roof moves properly again!

So, moral of this story: Evaorust, Multi-Solve and WD40 continue to be my best friends :D :D :D Motor and pump relocated to boot, back in the plastic bucket and sound-damping material.
 
Excellent result. Saved a lot of time and expense as well.
I use plus gas on the motors but then a squirt of contact cleaner too. Also worth tapping around the lower casing as sometimes the brushes stick.
 
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