More Spyder Roof Trouble - Help Please

[scottonline]

Dear All,

The sun came out and my roof stopped working, that's life it would appear.

I have a 55 plate Spyder originally supplied by Lancaster Sevenoaks and this year has been quite an expensive one with replacement discs (550 from forum!) pads, calliper, bearing and clutch!

Now another roof failure....

I had originally some trouble unbelievably on the way home from collecting the car from Lancaster Sevenoaks originally back in 2010 as below as listed from service invoice from Lancaster fixed under warranty fortunately:

#1) 07/05/10 Investigated roof opening fault, traced fault to rear part of roof lid not opening checked with SD3 test ECU not getting signal from micro switch in RAM, tested micro switch top position not switching. Replaced RAM with micro switch. Solution Replaced R.H Hydraulic @ 526.24 and 360 Labour Total 1041.33
#2) 03/08/2010 Investigated roof stuck shut, traced fault to the rear bow lock motor, and replaced motor. Motor replaced cost total 477.92

Now it seems the same fault as #2 for sure whereby operate switch and first stage whereby canvas roof lifts to vertical is fine, then nothing and the metal roof compartment stays shut.

I have tried the manual motors in the glove box and this closes but does not open as I now understand.

I have done a battery and master reset and nothing.

I have some questions as below for the forum on this basis:

#1 I notice mentioned on the other recent roof posting by petronic that it is possible to reset the hydraulics with a switch or process, can somebody help me with this process please to try?
#2 Given the previous history of above replacement s which were under warranty back in 2010 is it likely to be the same problem and do I have any come back given the time lapsed?
#3 is it worth trying an auto electrician first or can such roof problems really be picked up by SD3 diagnostics?
#4 as petronics posting is there a way or process documented to manually release the hood; I could live with even a manual process temporarily

Any and all comments most welcome as it is truly criminal to have a Spyder with the roof down, I have to hide whilst driving :-(

Thank you all

 

[SpyderNick]

Hi Scot,

I have answered your roof opening question on Peters earlier thread.

 

[Tubber273]

Courtesy of SpyderNick:
The emergency buttons do only pull down and lock the roof back and the roof cover.
If I remember correctly the procedure to open the roof cover using a screwdriver to push / tap through the hole behind the passenger seat (rhd) also releases the locks holding the rear of the hood. Then it is easy to undo the front with the the Allen key and fold the roof down then use the emergency buttons front button for pulling down and locking the hood cover.
The rear button is only used when locking the rear of the hood down when putting the roof up and you have locked the front with the Allen key.
There is another poster who has asked this so I hope he sees it as well.

 

[BennyD]

Any and all comments most welcome as it is truly criminal to have a Spyder with the roof down, I have to hide whilst driving :-(

??? Why buy a spyder then? You should have bought a coupe so you don't have to hide whilst driving. IMO, it's criminal to have a spyder and not drive it with the roof down. If you like driving it with the roof up, don't fix the hood!

 

[scottonline]

Sorry my obvious mistake, naturally I love the roof down and absolutuely why I drive the spyder and why I am so upset!

Should have read I have to hide whilst driving it in the sun with the roof up of course!

 

[BennyD]

I appreciated what you meant but it was too obvious a chance to miss for a bit of banter!

 

[rossyl]

Hope you get it sorted out, sounds a right pain...no doubt made worse by the great weather.

If I were you I'd give Lancaster's a call as they've fixed it previously. See if there's any goodwill there for them to at least diagnose it for free.

Fingers crossed it does not cost much.

 

[CB_Mas]

I have a similar issue with the rear pins not releasing. The roof closing sequence didn't complete and I used the rear glove box button to finish it. Unfortunately the sequencer that operates this (I need to find out where that lives yet...) appears to have left it in an intermediate state. The rear pins no longer release, using the pressure release valve and cable release method.
Someone mentioned that the cable release override (by pushing on the lever which operates those) releases both the decklid latches as well as the rear pins. Not sure how that works, as the deck latches are a conventional cable/latch arrangement, while the rear deck pins are operated by two nut/worm driven motors. They only appear to rotate clockwise.
I've considered unbolting the rear pins from the roof, although that may result in new issues (read trap).

Anyone know if there's a way to override or release the two rear deck pins?

Thanks.
CB_Mas
- good thing it's getting cooler here (<35F) -

 

[conaero]

Yes Benny taught me this trick, it's the worm release pins that stick.

Re close the roof the get out the car and give the deck where the pins are a thump and on the roof too.

Try again and 9/10 it opens without fault.

Whilst its open, clean and grease the pins and worm gears.

Whilst we are on roof issues the other common one I have heard is the roof failing to open because the material strips between the hood frames being broken and hence the roof frame does not collapse in the correct order and jams.

 

[CB_Mas]

roof stuck

finally had some time to work on this again! I removed the rear pins from the rear portion of the roof (4x10mm bolts), and that allowed the roof to be manually moved up, the decklid could lift etc.

Did the full dismantle and uncovered crumbled drive gears in the deck lid cable drive motor (the one that is pushed on to release the cables). Underlying question is why did they crumble.. The (white) gear appears to be delrin, the black portion forms one half of the clutch, the other half is the slotted metal disc. The spring for this is in the cover - see pic.

The explanation for the hangup could be that the deck would not completely seat, but was then pulled down from the back by the pins getting pulled down. They're still ok surprisingly given the tension that must have been involved. Either way, there's a lot more stress in the deck release system than makes sense, and I'll investigate that.

So, now I need a replacement drive assembly, as I doubt the individual parts are available. Wouldn't be surprised if this assembly is a standard door window driver...

 

[BennyD]

There is always a lot of tension on the rear of the hood as it is this tension that keeps the hood taught when up. You should be able to hear a loud click at the end of the raising sequence as the hood frames lock into position.

 

[petronic]

Sorry chaps need more advice again. Brought yet another battery thought the roof would open as before no. So how do I open in reverse ? So roof locked no response from switches etc no noise etc. Hit plate behind passenger seat -nothing - could unlock the front? but how do you unlock the worm gear that pulls the hood down? No point opening the front if I cannot free the worm drive?

Advice please Thanks in advance - so new battery, no errors so how top open a locked roof - then I can reset it?