Searching for a Spyder roof pump for <4000 GBP

Quick postscript:

I was expecting the car back on Friday as I told them to go ahead with everything else and the MOT but leave the roof. I chased Friday afternoon to be told that they couldn't get the roof closed. Apparently 2 Maserati trained technicians had spent all day trying. I mentioned the manual process which took me (totally untrained) about 20 minutes to carry out, but got a bit of a garbled response.

On that basis I'm wondering if anything is wrong with the pump at all.

Anyway I'll get it back and follow up with the kind leads and advice offered.

These people may be worth a call. They say they can refurb alfa and maserati roof pumps and parts :

http://roofmotors.co.uk/Maserati

The alfa spyder pump on their website looks similar at £195 to refurb your own. Link below.

http://roofmotors.co.uk/alfa-romeo-spider-916-customers-own-recon-roof-pump-motor-1995-2

I assume its a similar process to refurb the maserati pump.

You have to understand what you're looking at. The assembly consists of a motor, pump, reservoir and solenoid valve assembly. The 4200 assembly has 7 solenoids so anything that doesn't won't work. Your best bet is to try to get just the motor if that's the problem. Test its resistance first (just about 0 ohms) and apply 12 volts to see if it runs. The solenoids should be tested as well and I've seen them for reasonable prices. If it's the motor an enterprising someone should be able to make an adaptor plate for a reasonably priced generic roof motor.

Surely you could buy the Alfa pump and rag the solenoid and motor from it into you broken unit?

You would then have 5 spare solinoids for if it went again.

Just a quick update. The car was due to be delivered back this afternoon, with MOT but 'by coincidence' the lighting control unit has failed (post MOT and pressure wash, just prior to delivery) and would Sir like to stump up for that to be repaired as well.

We had a long conversation and I'm waiting to see what they propose. I just want my car back off them now.

Gooner said:

Just a quick update. The car was due to be delivered back this afternoon, with MOT but 'by coincidence' the lighting control unit has failed (post MOT and pressure wash, just prior to delivery) and would Sir like to stump up for that to be repaired as well.

We had a long conversation and I'm waiting to see what they propose. I just want my car back off them now.

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Get ahead of the game...ask them what they intend to break when they fix your lights. Seriously, never let repair places wash and detail your car. Too many horror stories like you find yourself in. The power wash has probably shorted or dislodged a wiring connection.

Searching for a Spyder roof pump for &lt;4000 GBP

Well this has turned into a bit of a fiasco with an unexpected happy ending (so far).

They called me back the next day after 'listening to my thoughts' (my rant) and the service manager offered to replace the lighting control unit for free. So fair enough, no admission of liability but they did the decent thing.

I went to pick up the car yesterday. As she handed over the keys, the service assistant told me 'when they fixed the lights the roof started working'. I tried it out and it works perfectly.

So I'm delighted that it's sorted, frustrated that they made such a meal of all of this and nearly charged me £5k for a repair I didn't need, and a bit bewildered as to what was actually wrong. My guess is that when they replaced the lighting unit they had to reset the electronics in a way that isn't possible using the battery reset technique, and that cleared the fault in the roof.

Anyway thanks again for all of the help and I'm off to enjoy a bit of the sun while it's still here.

Painful process, but what a great outcome!

Good outcome, but garage did their selves no favours saying it was this and that, someone might just have stumped up the 5k for something not required, or maybe they hoped you would.

A result in the end!

C

Crack on, now you've got £4K in the war chest to blow on goodies rather than a replacement roof motor!

Dealer ffs !!

This thread is a classic example of the "let's replace the most expensive part first" repair mentality. A simple resistance check and a voltage application to the motor should have shown it was OK. This can be done from the fuse 17 in the trunk. Order and method in trouble shooting theses cars saves a lot of money but you do have to think.

The top operation is a sequential series of intricate steps and sometimes the system can get "confused". Engine running, handbrake on, hood/bonnet and trunk closed and windows down is where you start.

miket said:

Crack on, now you've got £4K in the war chest to blow on goodies rather than a replacement roof motor!

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Thank heavens you were wise enough to say no as I feel they would have only said they had found more roof problems once the new motor was fitted and failed to move things still.