Hey Peeps,

My baby girl in my siggy was written off so my fella bless him got me a new BM, problem is the roof will not work, we have tried re-setting the motor system, as per a vid on youtube, where you release the motor and re-align it as it is a fully auto roof, but to no avail, problem now is becuase i cant get it working, it has started leaking, i think someone has messed somewhere, what are the main culprits, am i looking at a new motor, or is there a chance something has just come off somewhere?

 

Is it a 3-motor hood or a 2-motor?

 

Ok now your going to make me look stupid

I couldn't tell you hun, explain to me how i would know and i will tell you

 

Do you have to clip the hood into place on top of the screen or does it automatically do it itself?

 

there must be a manual over ride for this specific reason

 

Mike It clips itself....

Ran - the actual manual that came with the car is really helpful - it says "take to your nearest BMW dealer" When i read up on it, it told me to tighten the roof manually which i did with a funky tool, then to reset the motor in the boot, and try again, but nothing worked, the light in the car still flashes and the roof wont work at all

 

Without looking and trying a few things it's hard to say because there loads of things it could be.

There are several miscroswitches throughout the system and if anything has broken or worn it knocks things out of alignment and any of those switches could not be getting activated and that'll stop it completely.

One of the motors could be gone. The motor linkage could be stuck/seized or have a loose connecting screw, the mechanism on the catch could be jammed or the spring could have broken/come loose, if one of the banjo-type connections on the opening mechanism has worked loose which they do over years of operation, the hood won't fold properly and the nearest microswitch will pick that up and it won't work. The wire coil in the opening mechanism could be broke, one of the microswitches could have simply failed.....

There's lots of things it could be.

The video you watched showing the re-set is it American with a red E36? If so that's the best video. Have you followed it to the letter? That one only has a semi-auto 2-motor roof, but the rest is the same.

 

thats the one i watched with the guy giving you step by step instructions he made it look so simple

It did say a lot about the microswitches but they dont look very easy to get too....i just really cant afford to send it to a dealer for what they charge on the hour, i'd rather try and sort it myself, how hard are the microswitches to replace?

 

it's pretty straightforward, just needs to be followed spot on otherwise it won't work. The trickiest bit is feeling for the storage lid motor which you can't see, but as long as that's one's re-engaged there's no problem.

The microswitches are a bit of a pain. They're not difficult, but it's a really fiddly and time-consuming job tracing the wiring etc.

Would be worth getting an electrical tester on everything to try and trace a fault if it's electrical and a diagnostics check if you know someone who can do that or somewhere that will just do that for a small fee.

 

Thanks hun much appreciated, will start with the diagnostic, i know someone who has one and wont charge me