Electric hood annoyance

[dek]

Team,

my electric hood has not been folding away correctly since I had it "repaired" a wee while ago now. The main annoyance is that the hood doesn't seem to travel far enough and doesn't go to the vertical, allowing the horseshoe to contact it on the way up and down. Therefore I have to move it manually that last ltittle bit to clear it, and this is becoming frustrating. Does anyone know of a fix for this?

I was aware a while back of an E30 soft top specialist in Wolverhampton but can't get the details anywhere, does this place still exist or of another specialist closer to home?

I would be willing to go on tour to get this remedied correctly if needed!!

Any help appreciated.

[PeteE30Tourer]

From my recent experience in trying to sort my electric roof out, I would suggest that the microswitches for the roof motor need adjusting. I'm no expert here, so please dont blame me if I'm wrong, but I had a similar issue with the horseshoe not closing properly, even with the hood folded away compactly. If you can push the hood down flat manually, it seems to me that the problem is that the roof motor is being cut off prior to it finishing putting the hood away, which in turn suggests the micro-switches by the roof motor may need adjusting - or at least the one that tells the motor to stop.

Get in the boot, take out all the carpets so you have good access to the roof motor (the one on the drivers side of the boot). Behind it, you'll find two pairs of cables going to the two microswitches that tell the control unit whether the roof is fully up or fully down. If you have a multimeter handy, unplug these cables at the junction points that are held in plastic clips next to the motor and see if you can measure the resistance across both pairs individually. Using a bit of logic and experimenting with the roof in various positions, you should be able to tell when the microswitch for stopping the motor when the hood is down is being activated. Sorry, I'm probably not explaining this very well. It's difficult to explain things without pictures at least. Unfortunately, all the photos I took recently where of the horseshoe motor (the one in the middle of the boot), but I went through the same process of elimination to determine which microswitch on that mechanism wasn't set right and hence stopped the horseshoe motor before it was fully clamped down.

As I suggested on another hood post tonight, there should be a single thread or even section just for hood problems as we all have similar issues and it would be great to see them all in one place.

[daimlerman]

We need to remember that these cars are twenty+ years old,now,and old age and wear will need to be considered.

A fully functioning power hood is a joy to watch,every time I have met up with Grant from Falkirk I have asked him to demonstrate his fully working power hood!

It was the known problems in getting these things working properly that prompted me to buy a manual hooded cabbie....

We used to send people to the E30 Centre in Darleston(Birmingham,close to J10 M6) but I fear that this place has now closed down,perhaps the guy has retired?

We need to remember that E30 was BMW's first attempt at a four seat convertable,there is no doubt that E36 was a very much better auto-folding roof.

So all you guys who are struggling with power hoods,keep working and experimenting with fixes and perhaps our wiki guro will be able to combine your efforts into a usable guide for those who follow.

[Gert_8]

Hi Dek,

I don't think your problem is due to the micro switch settings, as suggested by Pete - but I may be wrong!! I think your problem is probably due to the incorrect setting on the lifting rod.

If you have a look in the storage compartment, I think it's the one with the swivel ball joint connected at the end? There is a nut that allows you to adjust the travel distance of this bar. Release this and unwind the rod out so that it lengthens it. I'd try adjusting the setting on that so that it pushes the hood further before trying the micro switches.

Let us know if it works.

[dek]

Will do much appreciated, keep it coming the mire info the better!!

[Martinaston]

By adjusting the length of the pushrod that lifts the cover, all you'll do is move it further out of sync with the rest of the system.
The only way to then get it back in sync is to adjust the microswitch, What you should have done in the first place.

If you adjust the length of the push rod so that its too short, the lid will close and the microswitch will not reach its stop and continue to pull down on the lid and over stress the ball and socket on the rod.

If you adjust the length of the rod so its too long, it will open the lid too far and the rod will make contact with the rubber seal or even the bodywork.

So don't mess with the rod.

The problem your having with the lid hitting the roof has a very technical solution.
Open the roof so only the window is folded and the lid is still closed, then sit on the lid facing forward and grab the bottom of the window (bow) and push forward with your left and pull back with your right.

Because the roof motor is on the drivers side and only pushes from that side the bow eventualy twists out of shape being 20 odd years old, give it a twist so both sides are equal again and it should miss the lid as it comes up.

If its hitting it on both sides then you'll have to mess about with the stop switch down in the roof hinge.

[Gert_8]

Thanks Martin. I stand corrected.

Edited. Actually Martin, I was referring to the push rod that controls the roof, not the lid. From the post, I understand the problem to be that the roof isn't moving out of the way far enough, so clashes with the lid coming down...

[Martinaston]

You can adjust that one, but if the bow is twisted and the drivers side is not catching the lid
When you operate the roof that side is over-compensating and when the window comes down
the fabric eats into the paintwork.
It just depends how much grief your willing to put up with, after all it's 20 years old and the only way its going to be faultless is to fit a new roof (like that's going to happen).

[PeteE30Tourer]

This is all fantastic information. We need to collate all this wealth of knowledge in one place for future reference.