Make the tonneau cover close

[pilot_anderson]

Hey team,

I've been searching through the forum with no luck and the Bentley is pretty light on convertible top information.

auto top, Doesnt work, never has since I got the car. I bought the car for the original owner who said he "ripped up the motor trying to put the top up in a storm". I have no idea what in particular he broke. I am not particularly interested in getting the full automation back.

However I would LOVE for the top button to unlock and lock the Tonneau cover. I don't mind putting up the top manually but having the cover open all the time looks awful. From what I can tell all cables that latch and unlatch the cover are still present. Seems to me I just need to be able to operate that particular motor that pulls on the cables. -Yes I know I can swap to a manual style latch, but Id really like to have the button lock and unlock.

From what I can tell the button(s) do absolutely nothing. I have checked the Electrical basics and all are there. I notice there are a lot of switches in the Tonneau compartment. It may be that one of those has to be tripped in some way.

Has any one done this? Can someone point me to a thread where this has been done before? Alternatively does anyone have a troubleshooting list for me to work down?

thanks for any and all help.

[DBShiznit]

From a fellow vert owner I can tell you there is one problem in doing this.

I own a power top that I operate manually. With that being said when I open the top I use the tonneau cover to prop the top while it’s half folded to push out the folds on the soft top so that when it goes into the tonneau space everything is folded down nice.

If you were to power the tonneau cover on its own then you’d have to lift it on the button then once the top is up you’d have to push the button to bring the tonneau cover down enough to prop the top so you can then then try to push out the folds on the top while keeping the top in place. It’d be very frustrating if you ask me. However maybe someone has a workaround for this? I’ve been piecing the parts to make my power top working since it’s rare these days to just not convert it to manual


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[pilot_anderson]

Totally see the issue you are explaining.

However I'm not looking for it to raise the lid, just lock it.

Currently the top is in the "unlocked" state and the cables are not engaged. Which allows me to rest the top like you mention. My thinking is that "locking" the cover engages these cables. Unlocking essentially disengages those cables.

Again, may not be possible as I don't really understand the full automation sequence of the top.

[DBShiznit]

If you’re just looking to lock it I can tell you how I do it for the time being. Not the greatest way but it works.

Is your tonneau motor still in place?


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[pilot_anderson]

Yeah motors are still there. In whatever condition the previous owner left them

[DBShiznit]

Ok that’s good. This is what I do to lock my tonneau cover.

The motor is spring loaded to come away from the tonneau mechanism. In order to back it off you need to unlatch it. Once you the mechanism will be free and so will the cover. At this point I put the top down and close the cover. I then go back to the trunk and torque down on the mechanism using an Allen key and once I have it down I push the motor in and it locks it in place.

VERY IMPORTANT!!!!

The tonneau cover and trunk interfere. With that being said bmw added a cable to impede this from happening however mine was broken and yours could be too. Make sure you only open one at a time!!

Let me know if you need more help or I can even make a video for you


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[htseng]

Any chance you could reengage both motors and see if either one of them runs. I get that you might have stripped teeth or likely the top motor plate is broken. If the motors run, then you can do the top manually and use the top latch motor to work the lid by removing the top actuator arm


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[Todd Black 88]

I did that for two years.

If the tonneau motor still works and everything is there, all you have to do is disconnect the top motor linkage and remove it so it’s not attached.

Then resync the two motors.

[pilot_anderson]

Brilliant! Just the info I was looking for.

I have read sync procedure just have to figure out the current state of the motors!

Ill dive into this during the long weekend.

DBS - I Like your idea too! but I dont understand unlatching the motor.
Is that one of the things I see in my trunk that seem to reach into the Convertible lid?

I have an idea the previous owner "unlatched" the motor during whatever fiasco he had. So i may just need to reengage.

[htseng]

I believe DBS means release the toneau motor and manually close down the cover then push motor back in place to hold it close. The cover motor is the one in the middle of the trunk and the top motor is to the right


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[DBShiznit]

htseng is on the money. Thats how I work my top right now and If you get it nice and snug you wont get any noise

[pilot_anderson]

Okay Im following but how do I "push motor back in place"?

Under the "lock Mechanism" There is a cutout in the trunk liner with a metal piece that moves. I have torqued on the moving metal piece in various directions but no movement other that side to side (with a bit of leverage). Is this the piece I need to engage? or do i need to pull out the whole liner so I can get to the motor and push it in?

Thanks for the help

[bradnic]

The lid motor is the one in the center. It’s sitting behind the center trunk lining so it’s hard to see. There’s a lever sticking out under the motor that looks like a small hollow cylinder. That’s the one you use to disengage the lid motor. Once it’s disengaged you have to push the motor back in to re-engage it. If it goes out of sync it may not engage without first turning it manually slightly one way or the other. To move it manually you have to use the linkage in the boot, or if you’re really lucky you have a hollow motor shaft that lets you stick an Allen key in to turn it from the trunk side.

This is hard to understand without pics


Last few pages of my vert build thread have detailed pics of the motors and top mechanism. It’s the last link on my sig
Post up pics of your top motor if you don’t mind. Frequently the top cover of the motor housing is broken, which is why folks partially convert their electric tops to manual. You can convert completely to manual but you’d have to replace the tonneau lid, get cables and latches from a manual top car. Not easy.

[DBShiznit]

I'll make a video of it today. I'm buying a back seat for my vert and ill be going home to see if the leather matches. I'll make a video of me locking the mechanism and I'll post it for you.

[pilot_anderson]

Bradnic, your thread was a big help. First thing noticed is I have to pull that trunk liner out so I can access the motors. Almost positive the top motor has slipped similar to yours did.

The top shock plastic sleeve broken and the arms suggested by HTSENG earlier have already been removed by the PO. So I am not worried about operation of the top motor. just operation of the cover motor. Granted I will need to have both of them engaged in order to click the proper micro switches and operate the lid