Top Motor question - before I start ripping things apart..

[supergoat]

Before I begin ripping things apart I would like to share what is going on with my car and make sure I'm on the right track.

So the top worked fine, and then I accidentally pulled the red cable in the back while cleaning. After that, it didn't. I made sure it was reseated.

Now the top motor makes a noise that sounds normal but the top will not move, at least not well. Sometimes it will move a few inches forward or back and during this time I can hear fluid moving through the lines. You can hear the fluid bubbling in the lines, not sure if that's good...

Also, the top can be moved manually with the red tab pulled most of the time, but sometimes even with the red cable pulled the top won't seat all the way down. I don't think anything is bent as most of the time it will fall into place quickly and easily, but sometimes it sticks about 5 or so inches from laying flat.

I reached in and grabbed the motor housing and gave it a shake, when I did about half a gallon of water poured out onto my garage floor. That's where I left it for now.

I'm assuming my motor has called it quits on me and there is no saving this thing. Correct?

 

[Smartbear]

Hi, I'm not an expert but it sounds like you have 2 separate issues occurring, your motor sounds fully/partially disengaged as a consequence of you pulling the red handle. It sounds as though it's stuck in this mode as you can't reseat the Bowden cable properly.
You also have a blocked drain that you may have unblocked by shaking the motor, this may be connected to your jammed release cable.
I'd keep working the cable to attempt to reseat it.
Regards

 

[Anonymous]

There's a couple of guys who are famed for bringing dodgy motors back from the dead.

"Durham Dave" is a bit of a legend around these parts. He's obviously based in the north.

Of equal fame of respect is forum member "Bowser" who I believe is based in the south (east?)

These guys work wonders when it comes to roof motors so it's by no means game over if it's been swimming for a while

 

[supergoat]

Thanks guys!

If only Bowser was located in the South of the USA like I am.

 

[fixit man]

Hi,
When the bypass cable is pulled, it pushes a brass button in, which is spring loaded to come back out, unfortunately there is often dissimilar metal corrosion there due to brass and aluminium being close together and once pushed in will not come out without removing the pump !

you can push the cable in all you want but if the button is stuck, the spring force is not enough to overcome the corroded seized button !

Good luck

 

[Ducklakeview]

IF your motor is actually still working, and that you can hear fluid moving suggests that when you pulled the emergency release, it has not reseated properly. The actual valve is a small plunger protruding from the side of the motor. This is pushed in by a plastic lever attached to the end of the release.

The plungers can stick, especially if there has been water ingress. Sounds like it hasn't fully returned to the "out" position.

I'd be breaking the motor housing free from it's bracket and pulling it into the boot to have a look. The plastic lever is held in place with a torx bolt.

You don't need to remove the roof or interior trim to get at the motor, see the post link in my signature.

Mike

 

[supergoat]

IF your motor is actually still working, and that you can hear fluid moving suggests that when you pulled the emergency release, it has not reseated properly. The actual valve is a small plunger protruding from the side of the motor. This is pushed in by a plastic lever attached to the end of the release.

The plungers can stick, especially if there has been water ingress. Sounds like it hasn't fully returned to the "out" position.

I'd be breaking the motor housing free from it's bracket and pulling it into the boot to have a look. The plastic lever is held in place with a torx bolt.

You don't need to remove the roof or interior trim to get at the motor, see the post link in my signature.

Mike

Thanks!

This is the route I plan to go. I'm having a hard time breaking the housing free from it's mount. Any tips? Also, as far as removing it and cleaning it, will I lose a lot of fluid when removing the motor to clean it? And what do you recommend to clean it up?

 

[Ducklakeview]

10-12" prybar will do the job nicely...

Look at the pics in my thread to see where you need to snap the housing loose.

Mike

 

[supergoat]

Thanks, I think my fear of breaking something is kicking in, which is counter productive since I AM trying to break something.

 

[supergoat]

So.....top of the case is off and I can pull the motor out a bit but it's hung up on the bottom of the case which has a death grip on It's mount. Can't break it for the life of me. However the motor looks to be in good shape.

 

[supergoat]

After trying for hours, I'm just going to remove the top. This method seems like a good one but it's obviously not for me. The bottom of the case just will not let go. I cut the white cable tie but something is still holding the cables to the bottom of the case.

Looks like I got a project on my hands for the next few weeks as i find time to work on it.

 

[chapeau]

not sure if this will help or not but this the pdf file on this page was what I followed to move my roof motor to the boot. http://www.zpost.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1215892
This guidehttp://www.z4-forum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=85266 was also useful in that it had a great picture of the actual housing and the cable ties that hold it all together. These will be what is likely holding the motor down and they either need to be cut or slid off if possible. You will also need to pull the cables out of the grey clip that holds them to the housing. After this the motor should easily slide out of the housing.

 

[supergoat]

Hmmmm, maybe there is another cable tie I can't see then. The grey clip is out and I definitely cut a cable tie that was around the case. I wonder if I lucked up and had two. I will feel around tomorrow. For now it's time for beer and a hockey game.

 

[chapeau]

There are a couple of ties holding the cables yes. In total there are 4 to snip if you want to remove the motor and housing.
The cables also route around the base of the housing so need to be slid to the side to allow enough slack in them to pull the motor out. Otherwise the housing just gets in the way. You can remove this at the same time though by snipping the small tie that holds the housing to the roof frame.
Here's the image of the housing and various ties and cable routes.

 

[Ducklakeview]

There are a couple of ties holding the cables yes. In total there are 4 to snip if you want to remove the motor and housing.
The cables also route around the base of the housing so need to be slid to the side to allow enough slack in them to pull the motor out. Otherwise the housing just gets in the way. You can remove this at the same time though by snipping the small tie that holds the housing to the roof frame.
Here's the image of the housing and various ties and cable routes.

Those cable ties are not factory fitted, someone has clearly added those in the pic. Factory has a single tie and the hoses in the pictured clips/grooves.

Mike

 

[supergoat]

Ugh! After three more hours of prying and pulling...finally!!! .......I made an appointment with a local shop to finish the job.....

The bastard bottom of the case will not budge...

 

[supergoat]

So we rejoin our hero(me) today as he leaves the shop dejected and sad.

When I got there they told me that what I wanted is not something they offer. I just wanted them to finish the relocation job and while they agreed it's a good idea, the best they could do is install a new motor. Obviously there was an opportunity with communication as on the phone I said I wanted a relocation and the guy said no problem.

So on the way home I decided to stop by a home improvement store and bought some clothes line as I saw people use that successfully. After thinking that no human could ever thread it through the thing I ALMOST got it. I tried for about an hour. And then I thought to myself "what if I make a hook".

So I found a Ford Radio Removal Tool in my toolbox and as I don't have a Ford I bent it up into a hook, was able to hook the bottom of the case and I ripped that little SOB out of there!



Great success!!!!

Now the motor is resting in the trunk, but I still need to finish the job. I'm just happy to finally have it to this point. What a roller coaster of emotions that little thing was. I've swapped engines, transmissions, turbocharged cars and replaced the top on my Miata, nothing fought me like that little plastic case. Well played little guy, well played...

 

[supergoat]

....And the motor is low on oil so I placed an order and hopefully that solves that.

 

[Anonymous]

The hydraulic system is a sealed system the resoviour should only be about half full when in the upright position . There should be a + mark on the side of the plastic resoviour white cap, about half way up the side, this is the fill level. When you operate the motor the pump pushes fluid down two of the four hydraulic lines into two ( one of each side) hydraulic rams that raise or lower the roof, when you press the opositie button the motor runs the opposite direction pushing the fluid back down the other two lines. So just make sure after it's all up and running that you cycle the motor a few times back and forth and it will self prime and then when fully up or down ,top up the fluid resoviour to the + mark , that's all it needs . Too much and excess fluid has no where to go and may cause you issues .

 

[supergoat]

Thanks. The resivoir is bone dry. This motor has been replaced before by a previous owner so I hope it was not filled all the way at that time and not a leak I will have to track down. I will know tomorrow when I start filling it back up.