1998 Cabrio Roof

[edgy]

Hi, my electric roof has half stopped working. It goes back as far as releasing the storage compartment but that's as far as she will go. Any ideas?

[edgy]

OMG this is really frustrating. The hood strted to work again and I thought everthing was ok but I went for a drive with the hood down today and when I returned to put it back up again it wouldn't work again. The hood light flashes on the console and that's it. Managed to manually get the hood up to lock it down, please don't ask me how but I did!! Please Please help on this, it must be something stupid as it does work sometimes so there can't be anything major. I have been trying to find a company that repairs electric hoods around birmingham but so far no joy, does anyone know of anywhere?

[MOBE28]

OMG this is really frustrating. The hood strted to work again and I thought everthing was ok but I went for a drive with the hood down today and when I returned to put it back up again it wouldn't work again. The hood light flashes on the console and that's it. Managed to manually get the hood up to lock it down, please don't ask me how but I did!! Please Please help on this, it must be something stupid as it does work sometimes so there can't be anything major. I have been trying to find a company that repairs electric hoods around birmingham but so far no joy, does anyone know of anywhere?

Hi, i recently had a similar problem, my roof would fold up at the front and back and the roof compartment door would unlock but not come up and it would make a noise like a motor was trying but not doing anything, im not promising that it will be the same problem for you but its probably worth a try.

Open the boot, on the right hand side inside the boot lid there is a black wire attached to the hinge by plastic covers (if you take off the plastic covers to free the cable you can work with it a little easier), the problem is that inside the black sleeving there are several smaller wires and over the years the inner wires get wet and if its out in the cold its made worse by the wires freezing and they eventually corrode and snap, what you can do is get a stanley knife and cut away the outer sleeving to expose the wires underneath, rejoin the snapped wires and cover it all with electricians tape and it should be ok.

It may be worth phoning audi to get a price on replacing that wire if it is possible, i keep meaning to do it but havent got round to it yet and it is working fine now anyway

[edgy]

Hi..thanks for that, I will have a look but the guy that sold me the car 6 months ago said that all the wiring for the hood had been replaved 12 months earlier. I will have a look though because I do keep her outside, so many thanks and will post results. Edgy

[MOBE28]

When i got mine the guy had just got it fixed, but all they had done is solder the wires back together and they came away again. Dont think i mentioned it in my earlier post but my wires had gone roughly in the middle where it bends between the 2 pieces of the hinge

If it isnt that it may be worth checking the hydraulic fluid level, its behind the carpet on the right hand side of the boot, you may be able to check the level by taking the spare wheel out and if you raise the carpet at the back right hand side inside the spare wheel well there is a small hole in the bodywork that you should be able to shine a small torch through and see the level, if some fluid is needed i reccomend buying it from audi as its apparently special stuff and i only paid £6.69 for it, its the same as used in the power steering so it will come in handy to have.

Another problem that i have read is that there is a small nylon tensioner wire that passes under the edge of the roof, you should be able to find it if you lift the edge of the roof from the inside and have a look around.

If you have any problems finding these or any questions let me know and i can post pictures or a better explanation for you. Mobe

[V6-97]

Hi, my electric roof has half stopped working. It goes back as far as releasing the storage compartment but that's as far as she will go. Any ideas?

Hi Edgy. When you say the roof has operated as far as the stowage compartment opening, has this happened consistently or just once? Does it seem to stop working at any point? i.e. does it seem to be a random failure? The reason for asking is that I've had similar problems with my convertible roof over the years. This is due to a faulty/intermittent park brake switch.
For the roof to operate (in either direction) the park brake has to be applied. (You probably already know that from the Owner's Manual!) If the switch is faulty, the park brake light on the cluster may not illuminate when the park brake is applied. This will prevent the roof from operating & result in a flashing roof operation lamp. Also, if the park brake lamp is illuminated at the start of roof operation but goes out at any point, this will stop the roof movement (& result in a flashing roof operation lamp). Roof movement can continue once the park lamp is on again. You may be able to get the lamp on by reapplying the park brake itself. If you can't get it to work at all, there is a connector on the switch (just visible through the centre console with the park brake applied which you can nudge with a suitable foreign object). This might get the park lamp on to allow roof movement again.

[edgy]

Hi..thanks for that I shall certainly have a look at that. It is definately an intermittant problem as a couple of weeks ago it started to work fine and then all of a sudden it stopped working again! I was going to get an auto electrician to have a look at it but time at the minute hasn't been best for me. I will definately have a look at what's going on with the parking brake though as that's is something someone like me who knows absolutely nothing about motors can do! Thanks again.

[edgy]

Hi MOBE... thanks for your suggestions, sadly I know nothing about motors and the gubbins etc so I would be very wary about having a look myself, which i'm sure you can understand. I do have a friend that is pretty good with motors so I will be asking him to have a look at what you've suggested. If you have pics that would really be a big help to him and I guess would save a lot of time. If you get a minute you could send them to andyedge39@tiscali.co.uk that would really be great, thanks.

[edgy]

Hi MOBE Thank you ever so much for your advice. You were absolutely spot on, in fact better than that it appears to have sold my temp guage problem!! Might be a coincidence but since the two wires that I found broken have been soldered back together the guage has worked, so fingers crossed. Thanks again I shall now enjoy the decent weather we are having at the minute!!.