My 06 JCW cab's top has worked flawlessly until now. Yesterday morning I put it down for the drive to work. When I arrived, it went back up as usual. The car sat all day in one spot in the parking lot. At the end of the day, I got in and since it was a nice evening, I went to put the top down and and nothing. Here's what happened:

I pushed the sunroof/top button and the sunroof went back and stopped as usual. I released the button and pushed again and nothing. Nada. No winking light. No noise like it was trying and failed. Nothing. I checked the switch for the package shelf to make sure it was fully down. It was fine and I could hear it click when I lifted the shelf and put the shelf back down. I also undid the two latches on either side of the rear hatch and peered into the mechanism on both sides an didn't see anything wrong. I then re-latched the latches and carefully listened to make sure that the switch for the left one also triggered. All OK. I also cycled through the rear and then front side windows down and turned ignition on and off and cycled the sunroof and then the side windows in different orders and nothing. Even had a look at the fuse but since the sunroof works, that's fine as well.

So, any ideas? It worked fine in the morning, sat all day, and then doesn't work.

Note: It's my understanding that if one of those switches in the rear isn't closed properly, the red light for the sunroof button will flash. That's not the case here. The light never comes on.

Thanks much for any suggestions. I may have to take it to Mini for a look see. Fortunately, I'm still under warranty.

 

Oh, and where is the mythical sensor that napkins seem to obscure from time to time? Is it an optical sensor? More than one? Where?

Thanks again!

 

fuse?

 

'Checked the fuse visually. Seemed OK. I'll recheck with a meter or swap it out, but I'm sure that's not it as the sunroof part of the system still works.

'Anyone know where this mythical sensor is? The one that a napkin can block.

 

Well, it's working now. 'Not sure what happened. I think after my last effort at checking switches and such, I may have forgotten to close the right side top latch. This Sunday I checked the mechanism on each side and noticed that the right side latch was completely open. Hmmmm......

All's well that ends well, I suppose.

Thanks much!

 

a happy ending

 

Thanks. I'm back to making people shake their heads in disbelief when they see me all bundled up in the cold morning driving to work with the top down. Good fun. And now that I've got new tires and front brakes, it's even more fun for me.

 

haha I know that feeling.
Especially funny if you pass a snowplow or if it is foggy.

 

Well, no snowplows out here in the Silicon Valley. And fog is really rare. But I tell you on a really dark and cold morning (cold for here at any rate), when it's looking like it's going to rain at any moment, people do think you're nutz.