Help with roof not folding away

[zedthreeplease]

Morning all,

I'm after a bit of help on my soft top please.

If I turn the T handle to disconnect the hydraulics to use the roof manually, the roof folds most of the way back but won't go any lower than 4 or 5 inches above being flush with the car.
If I try lowering the roof electrically then the roof won't go any lower than the point at which it is 90 degrees to the car (pointing straight up)
I've checked the fluid and it is about half full, which I believe is correct.

Does anyone have any ideas? Much appreciated.

 

[GazHyde]

Morning

How long has this been happening? When using the electric function does the pump stop when it gets to 90 degrees, or does it keep running but doesn't go further?

You can see the level in my article below, but it should be sitting near the circle in the plastic reservoir. This is assuming you don't have the earlier pump!
https://zroadster.org/articles/bmw-z3-electric-hood-emergency-release-key.23/

 

[zedthreeplease]

Thanks for your reply, it does look like I have the earlier pump, as the fluid is kept in a small reservoir atttached to the bottom of the main unit.

I will test out your first question and come back with an answer in a minute

 

[zedthreeplease]

The motor does continue to try to drive the roof back even when it's stopped. Am also noticing that even on the first part of the journey back, the roof is moving very slowly.

Don't know if it's of any significance but I have replace the roof switch that tells if it's being held up enough with a normal on/off switch

 

[Jack Ratt]

I've disconnected the hydraulic ram on mine when I fitted my hard top and to be honest I've never re connected it when I took the hard top off. It's not a fully powered hood anyway, so I'm not bothered about re connecting mine.
If you don't mind having a manual hood, just disconnect the hydraulic ram.

 

[zedthreeplease]

Yes fair enough, I don't mind having a manual hood. In which case, is it normal for the roof to only fold away so much and not go flush or nearly flush with the car? I ask because normally people can get a cover over the roof when it's folded away so surely it must go quite flush with the car?

 

[GazHyde]

I'm curious if something has bent in the hood frame which is stopping it from going down fully. On my 2001 the hood sits flush with the bootlid, which is what makes me think something may be wrong with the frame. Has it always done this since you bought the car?

 

[Brian4]

As gaz says eithe the frame is bent somewhere or the joints are damaged but could also be the ram is bent. Might be worth disconnecting the ram and seeing if the roof goes down full then.

 

[Jack Ratt]

It should be pretty easy to see if the hood frame is bent. Also, check all the hinges to make sure they are fully free, and check that the hinge pins aren't broken

 

[zedthreeplease]

Thanks guys, no it hasn't always been like this, used to work fine. I've wondered myself if the whole roof frame is slightly skewed? I've noticed sometimes that one side is harder to latch than the other. I'll check out the hinges and hinge pins

 

[amancuso]

If you do end up removing the ram, there is a gas jet you can install for to make raising and lowering the top easier.

 

[zedthreeplease]

OK thanks - what sort of place do these come from?

 

[amancuso]

Here's a used one for sale, but they say the part number in the auction.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/1996-2002-B...18407233-/111352488237?fits=Make:BMW|Model:Z3