Elevating Roof - lowering this manually

[WestCali]

We recently had to lower our elevating roof manually using the hydraulic oil release valve as described in the owners manual. After successfully lowering the roof the console thought that the roof was still up and so gave a warning message "Roof open", (or similar) and a warning bleep. Also the open roof icon on the panel was flashing. So we drove home safely (the roof was firmly down) but had to keep pressing the rotary button on the RHS of the control panel to cancel the warning bleep which started up at every jolt. We could not now raise the roof as the system did not respond when we followed the usual procedure.

Today I found on the internet that there is a reset button on the console and by using this we reset the sensor and the warning bleep etc stopped and we can now raise and lower the roof OK as before.

To do this "reset" you press the small square button just below the RH rotary button. (It's the one with some computer files drawn on it). You press it for a full 5+ seconds and everything resets. I have now written this instruction into our glove box manual on the relevant page. Surely VW could have done this! They ask you instead to take the California to an approved distributor to be looked at. Ours is fully booked until mid November!

The root cause of our problem is probably that our leisure batteries are at least 10 years old and need replacing. So I will look up the appropriate thread here on the forum to see how to do this. The roof motor runs off of the leisure batteries but these batteries can be boosted by the alternator if the engine is running at a reasonable lick (as a temporary work around)

 

[Steve Phennah]

Hi, Beware the roof open signal when it is closed. My 2011 T5 had this problem for a while until one day it failed to open and the open icon was flashing and the consol said 'roof open'. Warning bong played everytime we stopped at a junction. Reset button didn't work. I diagnosed a sensor failure.

I have just completed a four sensor replacement today, but the process which is well documented on other excellent threads is a real pain in the butt, necessitating removal of the centre consol and sun visors in order to drop the headlining enough to remove the hydraulic motor, unclip the feed wires and power up the motor to raise the roof and start the sensor replacement.

My leisure batteries are original and quite capable of powering the roof even at 40% after 5 days of no hook-up electricity.

My warning is that if you suspect sensor problems, perhaps consider replacing them while you can still raise the roof?? They are available at BMW for £12 each.
BTW I completed it without disconnecting the 3 batteries.....I was just careful to cut and replace each wire one at a time and not ground them.

If anyone would like my personal explanation of the process, let me know, but I don't want to re-post what has already been well documented.
Cheers Steve

 

[rualexander62]

My warning is that if you suspect sensor problems, perhaps consider replacing them while you can still raise the roof?? They are available at BMW for £12 each.
BTW I completed it without disconnecting the 3 batteries.....I was just careful to cut and replace each wire one at a time and not ground them.

That's interesting that you did it without disconnecting the batteries.
I've read the 'how to' thread and the battery disconnection seemed the most awkward part of this procedure.
I wondered is there not a fuse somewhere that could be removed to save digging into the battery compartments and disconnecting them?

 

[Steve Phennah]

You’re right I think I read that fuses 17 and 21 under the seat do the control panel and the roof controller. ( Best to check back through the forums as I am writing by memory)