Just joined the 4200 spyder club and have a roof problem

[Paul-spyder]

Hi All, I have just bought a 04 spyder. Just come across the first main issue with it.

The roof did not fully fold down (having read - some of the posts... could be the elastic loops getting old (he hopes!!)

Unfortunately with my tinkering i managed to get it stuck half way up.

I have followed the manual procedure to put it back down again which is straight forward. However the manual Allen Bolt to manually lock the roof above the front windscreen has been 100% rounded by the previous owner!!! dont want to make it worse.

A couple of questions

1) can you replace just that bolt? any experience of doing this?
2) is there a way i can engage the electric hood at this point to close it (still not responding when i press the button)


Other less critical jobs now i have the car is to:
- underseal the body of the car
- address the cracked leather seats
- address the sticky buttons (already been in touch with Lorenzo (thanks for quick response!!)


Thanks

Paul

 

[tidus72]

Hi Paul,

Welcome to the forum, as a new member myself and the owner of a Coupe I`m afraid the roof is way past my league, but I`m sure somebody in the know will be along soon could it be a relay problem ?

What colour interior is the car, I have also had to sort out sticky syndrome but on my dash center air vent, very easy to remove and fix up.

Is she a 4200 ?

 

[Paul-spyder]

Hi Tidus. Thanks for the welcome

Yep she is a 4200. Cream interior. Leather needs a little bit of care. However it is solid with no tears etc. Just needs a good treatment

Mechanically looks sound and backed up by plenty of receipts and history

Fingers crossed I can sort the roof and start enjoying it. Cheers

 

[Nibby]

Welcome Paul
Might be worth checking the block of four fuses that are in the battery compartment also I found a gentle tap with a screwdriver through the hole behind the passenger seat can get the thing going again.
Mark

 

[tidus72]

" also I found a gentle tap with a screwdriver through the hole behind the passenger seat can get the thing going again "

Is this a Maserati certified repair method lol

I used to have a Jaguar XJR with "dried" leather seats with cracks in, I found a good leather treatment from Halfords helped a lot, it did not remove the cracking completely but just softened things up enough so the leather did not rip.

 

[Paul-spyder]

Cheers Nibby done all the usual with the exception of looking at fuses. Still no worky.

Will take a look at fuses this week. Currently disconnected the battery for a reset. But not convinced will make a difference

Anyone any thoughts about replacing the manual locking pin below the top of front windscreen as this has been rounded off previously

Cheers

 

[Andy Marshall]

Inside the cubby box at shoulder level between the seats, you will find two switches on the drivers side inner wall. These are the over ride buttons for the roof. Try them, they will let you reset the roof position electrically. Usually, sticky roofs are down to one of the micro switches or contacts not quite making circuit. keep cycling the roof and you should find it will eventually work reliably. I've never had to use the manual winder, so i wouldn't worry about the rounded bolt. Just get the roof working again and forget about it.

 

[Paul-spyder]

Cheers Andy

Think it’s getting to the stage where it needs to go to a spacialist.

Basically tinkered with the 2 glove box buttons for the last hour or so

I can get the back of the roof to lock down using one override button in the glovebox

But after that if I press on the normal button to open roof in the central console. I can only get the back of the roof to unlock

And nothing happens when I try close it via normal use buttons. not even a sound of a motor can be heard.

Frustrating start to ownership!!

 

[Nibby]

Hi Paul
Try not to get too despondent, from my own brief experience they whole roof mechanism can be temperamental but each fix has been at no cost but a bit of fiddling about with it. Along with the fuses there are various sensors and relays, do some searches on here and the American site called 'Maserati Life' where it seems everyone has had hood problems of some description.
Check your fuses and have a meddle about and keep trying the hood, I tend to have the engine running when trying it to give it a bit of extra oomph and don't forget handbrake must be on and no light on the dash lit saying a door or boot is open.
Best of luck
Mark

 

[Andy Marshall]

Cheers Andy

Think it’s getting to the stage where it needs to go to a spacialist.

Basically tinkered with the 2 glove box buttons for the last hour or so

I can get the back of the roof to lock down using one override button in the glovebox

But after that if I press on the normal button to open roof in the central console. I can only get the back of the roof to unlock

And nothing happens when I try close it via normal use buttons. not even a sound of a motor can be heard.

Frustrating start to ownership!!

I had this once before when I had been ferkling around in the roof well for a while and the roof forgot where it was supposed to be (I had propped it open half way through the cycle).
Try fully closing the roof as you have done, then turn everything off and disconnect the battery in the boot for 30 minutes. Then reconnect the battery, start the car, (making sure you leave enough time for the warning lights to go out before moving to crank it over) and then try to use the normal roof button. Remember you have to keep it pressed through the whole cycle.
Good luck!