Electric Top Does not lift the back far enough to clear the tonneau cover

[Sdubbya]

I amazingly have everything working on the electric top of my 1992 325i vert. The only issue is the back of the top does not lift enough to let the tonneau cover drop down. It looks like I just need to tighten the cables that lift the back of the top but I cannot figure out how to adjust the tension. If I manually push the back up the rest of the way the tonneau cover closes and everything works fine. Does anyone know how to adjust the two cables that pull up the back of the top? I am only off by about 2 inches.

[bradnic]

The top does not get moved with “cables”. There are adjustment screws for the boot lid mechanism. I have some pics of the motors and top mechanism on my build thread.. check about 3 years ago

both motors have two adjustment screws each. I explain what they do. TAKE PICS OF EVERYTHING BEFORE TOUCHING ANYTHING. You are basically going to be guessing on the adjustment. You can make the top adjustment worse to the point it won’t move.

[Sdubbya]

There are two cables that lift up the back flap of the top. As the motor lifts the tonneau cover it also pulls on two cables (I believe they are called top flap release cables) to lift the back flap. My back flip lifts almost enough for the tonneau cover to clear, but not quite. Are you saying there is a different adjustment I need to make to pull the back flap up an additional inch? I will check out your build thread.

[bradnic]

take a closer look at the top mechanism on the passenger side. There are two levers attached to the top motor. Those are the levers that move the main top and the rear section (the frame of which is called a "tensioning hoop"). Also take a look at the boot lid motor in the center of the top boot. The two cables tied to the boot lid motor open the boot lid latches. The lever in the center pulls the boot lid open and closed. Neither the cables nor that lever have anything to do with the top itself.

If your boot lid "stops closing early", most likely the S4 switch needs to be adjusted. BE CAREFUL WITH ANY SWITCH ADJUSTMENTS. Your top mechanism will STOP WORKING BY DESIGN to prevent damage if you get things to far out of alignment.

https://www.r3vlimited.com/board/for...15#post6979330



These are the S3 and S4 boot lid switches. you access them from the trunk side. There's a bracket missing/removed in that pic that clearly labels the switches as S3 and S4


Adjusting this stuff really takes two people. The dealers had a special harness tool to help them understand the switch states. I intend to build that tool but just haven't gotten around to it - based on the last few years, I wouldn't hold your breath.

Make sure you read this post
https://www.r3vlimited.com/board/for...59#post6964659

[Sdubbya]

thanks!! I really appreciate it. I should have looked more carefully. This was a huge help.

[bradnic]

my pleasure. fully functioning E30 electric tops are really cool. They are quite fragile though. Enjoy the car!