Yet another roof problem

S

SimpleDave

Member
Hi all,

Earlier this year my roof started to come back up very slowly.. The dreaded water ingress!

With all the help of the many previous posts, I decided to embark on a motor relocation to the boot. After many hours in contorted positions, I finally had it in the boot and disconnected it from the hydraulic cables.

Now before I disconnected it, I noticed that I could move the roof up and down manually with the Bowden cable engaged or disengaged. I assume this was due to the valve being stuck pressed in after many years of not being used. The valve has been cleaned and spun around a bit so that it now pops in and out.

So after cleaning the motor, I tried to connect everything up again and see if it would work. First problem, like a complete moron, I hadn't noted down which hydraulic cable went where, but found a diagram of this. Reconnected the cables, made sure bowden cable was pushed in fully so the little nipple thing was popped out and topped up the hydraulic well with halfrauds hydraulic jack oil.

Before I even get to running the motor, I thought that at this point the hydraulic pressure would make it impossible for me to move the roof up and down manually.. However, I still can move it up and down manually. So it doesn't seem that I have any pressure? And then as expected, connecting the motor it whirs but nothing happens.

Any thoughts? Determined to do this, first mod and I seem so close yet so brutally far..
 
It sounds like the bypass valve isn't fully returning then. Even if you got a load of air in the system when you disconnected the hydraulic pipes I'd still expect to see some movement and hear the motor load up, rather than free spinning. There's a blanking plug opposite the bypass plunger. Take that out and I think you can access the rear of the bypass valve for extra shoving power. If it can be removed from the pump housing it might be worth checking it for any crud or burrs. I haven't done this myself, but probably will the next time I have it out.
 
Thanks for the reply.

I've established the following tonight:
Closing the roof manually with the hydraulic cable connections loosened results in oil running out of the connections but no change in the level of oil in the well. So I think that means that I don't have a load of air in the system and also that your suggestion that the bypass valve is stuck in place is correct.

Unfortunately putting an Allan key in the blanker behind the valve resulted in the blanker thread disintegrating.. So I now have no way of getting it out!

I have also tried tapping the valve with a hammer, to no avail. Will Wd40 it again overnight.. Photo is attached. Seems I am purchasing a new motor?
 

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Thanks Mike. I am too new to PM you, could you PM me your email?

I am finding this so irritating, no matter what I do to this valve I can't seem to loosen it up!!
 
An update... Roof motor off to Mike, back to me and connected up again.. And nothing is different. I have the hydraulic cables connected to the roof motor along with the power and have left the Bowden cable bit disconnected.

I can move the roof up and down manually and it doesn't affect the level of fluid in the well at the top of the motor, it stays constant roof up or down. When I press the button to lower the roof I can hear the motor whirring as I could before Mike took a look, but nothing happens.

Thoughts? Have I not connected it up correctly, or is it new motor time?

I have to sell the car anyway as a two seater will shortly no longer be appropriate, v close to just throwing in the towel with trying to get this fixed!!
 
So I got there.. Roof motor off to Mike who refurbed it, but couldn't get it to work when I put it back in.

Three things I learnt:
1) Mike correctly suggested the little brass nipple wasn't fully popping out. I couldn't really get at it with pliers, but also couldn't remove the bolt on the opposite side to get at it from behind. Ended up hammering a star drill bit into the bolt so I could unscrew it and gave the brass nipple a tap with a hammer from behind.. Which worked. Just hope nobody wants to get that bolt out again..
2) Label the hydraulic cables when you disconnect them. Schoolboy and embarrassing to admit but it took me a while to figure out 11+13 on the left, 12+14 on the right.. As I didn't note it down on the way out.
3) If, like me, you've lost a lot of oil, you'll need to top up the well a few times cycling the roof up and down.

And now the roof goes up and down more quickly than it has in the time I've owned the car!

Big thanks to Mike for the solid refurb and holding my hand during the re-installation.
 
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