Soft Top playing up

S

Silverfox

Senior member
 Ipswich, Suffolk
The other day I got the dreaded yellow light when trying to drop the top and the roof would not budge, I checked in the boot and discovered that the Red handle was hanging out by about an inch. I returned it to its correct position and low and behold, the roof opend ok. Today I went to open the roof and it was really strugling to open but it did in time. When closing it was even worse bet we got there in the end. I have checked my drain holes and they are clean and dry so I am not sure wether the motor is on the way out or not. What do you recon? :(
 
Thanks guys, I was dreading that response, but I had a feeling that would be the case. Is it an easy job to fix yourself? I may give it a go if it is :)
 
Silverfox said:
Thanks guys, I was dreading that response, but I had a feeling that would be the case. Is it an easy job to fix yourself? I may give it a go if it is :)
Click to expand...

Do a search on the net for 'Shipkillers' guide to removing the roof motor. The original has long gone but some people has hosted elsewhere.
All you need is a few tools and a lot of patience, give yourself a full day.
It's not difficult but you need to be methodical and careful; the worst you can do is scrape the paint on the rear deck, but if you tape/protect this area it's not an issue.

Don't buy a new motor until you've got the old one out, guaranteed it will be sitting in a few inches of water, but it's not junk even if it's rusted up.
Just spray in some WD40, wrap in tin foil and bake in the oven in a gentle heat for 10 minutes. Spray in more WD40 and then test on a 12V source, odds on it will come back to life saving you about £300... :D

Clean up the foam by washing in detergent and dry, refit into the motor housing and seal the housing properly with silicone sealant to keep the water out.
Notice that BMW don't bother with this which is why the housing fills up.
 
Well I was unable to manually open the roof as it was jammed solid. So reluctantly I had to take it to Coopers in Ipswich and get them to fix it. £1297.61p later and I have my roof working again. Copers were really good and gave me a little discount on the parts and labour, to be fair the car is 10 years old so I have done well for it to last this long. :)
 
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