Questions for the power top guru

[John1180]

Hey I know you're out there. Can't get my power top to work. No bent or broken parts. What to do??

[De //m3]

Just for confirmation, post that you've already checked all fuses and wiring/connections to get rid of idiot possibilities...

Also, what were the conditions when it first stopped working, or did you just acquire the car without a working top? (IE, Were you putting it up in a downpour, or were you in your driveway on a sunny day...)

Lots of times the cause can be established by simple review of the facts...hopefully someone can help you out, b/c I'm certainly not the guru, and vert's can be tricky...

[John1180]

Worked shortly before I bought it. Checked fuses and wiring, have dissengaged the motors and opened up the relay box, when I trip the relays manually the motors turn just a little but I cant get them to go more than that??? Any ideas?

[De //m3]

Well, very common with the window motors is for them to simply seize after years of us (or dis-use as the case may be). Something that is always good to check is if you can disengage the motor form the gear or gearbox and see if it will move on its own. WIth a window you can try hand cranking, but with the sunroof you can try to "assist" the top in opening. This will sometimes reveal that the motor is working but simly not getting enough power.

The main point of all of this is to see: 1)Is it the top stuck or the motor, and 2) If there are multiple motors, which one is non-functional.

One more issue, again, Im no guru, but when the motors move a little, is there a click stop, or a "short point" like with a sunroof where the top knows when to stop. It is common for E30 sunroof to stop at the wrong places after many years, and they have to removed, the tracks cleaned up, and reinstalled, and then they work fine again.

Try a few of these and let me know if anything helps. Let's try to narrow it down to either the top, the electricals/motor, or the gearbox(These also seize in E30s).

[92 mtechnic cabrio]

microswitches.

once you've disengaged your motors, and tried to move them manually, everything has gone out of sync.

sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but, you're fucked.

no, I'm not trying to make fun of you, it's very unfortunate.

[De //m3]

That may be true, I was trying remote diagnosis here...most of the work I've done with convertibles has been with Mercedes hydraulic tops, and E36s. I figured that the E30 would be alot more Low-Tech...

With the sunroof microswitches, if I remember correctly, you disengage the motor and push the button until it "stops" for the microswitch, then you position the sunrrof and reinstall the motor. So i believe you can "reset" the microswitches by running the motors until they "stop" in the "Top-Up" position, then put the top up manually, then reinstall the motors, and the microswitches are "reset".

This is not grounded in fact, as I don't ahve a shop manual in front of me, but I believe this is the way it works as far as restting microswitches, I know it works that way for E30 Sunroofs...

[///M42 sport]

also e30ic.com is a good place to check