When I hit the raise top button (or with the key) the top starts to come up about 4-5" and then falls back down. It went down this morning but now will not come up (close).

Any suggestions? I know there is a manual way to raise it but want to try everything before I go that route.

 

Sounds like a cable has snapped. I know there is a crank somewhere that you can manually put the top back up. It does tell you the procedure in the manual. However, when the cable broke on my Cabrio, it was half way up & just stopped. We were able to grab the top with our hands & get it up the rest of the way.

Lois

 

Is there anything in the trunk/boot obstructing the shelf? That shelf has a switch on the left hand side [in the boot] that acts as a safety cutout to stop operation if something is amiss with the shelf such as the shelf not being fully in place. Is the shelf moving when the top closes to where the shelf cutout switch activates? Maybe not since you say it drops back down. If it was the cutout switch I think the top simply stops. But might as well play proctologist and see that all is clear back there.

Can you get two other people, one holding each side, then press the power up button and GENTLY see if you can coax it to get past the point where it is hanging up.

Is there anything on the top's frame that is out of alignment that's preventing the top from getting past that point where it drops back down?

What do you mean it "drops" back down? If it is doing that, sounds like there is loose gear, cable, or something else that causes the top to get to a point and then slip.

It's not a hassle to manually close it, why don't you try that and see if it even goes up in manual mode. If it does move, pay attention to what it is doing when it gets to that 4" "drop back down" position.

 

Is it still under warranty? If so, put it up manually or park it in the garage [if you have one] then call the dealer tomorrow.

Also, you can go to Real OEM and see the schematics of what all is involved with the top. At least you can see what might be going wrong.

http://www.realoem.com/bmw/partgrp.d...18&hg=54&fg=10

If you are lucky, it could be something that is loose and needs to be tightened up. If your motor is working, that's good news. Screwing things back together is far less expensive than replacement of the motor, I would think.

If you do that "three people" routine I mentioned, DON'T force things. Just see if a little help might get the top past that 4" point. Forcing things may cause damage to the top's frame, etc. So be careful.

And of course, even if the top does go up, take it to the doctor.

 

Top still won't go up so into Mini of Stirling it went today. They said that Thursday will be the earliest they can look at it. It's is still under warranty so whatever the problem it should be covered.

Looks like I'm back into my gas guzzlin' F150 p/u as my daily commuter.

 

Got Mini back from Mini dealer after top would not go back up. The service dept confirmed that the top would not go up but could not find any problems. They finally resorted to reprogamming (recoded) the ECU and now it works. They could not explain why the problem happened in the first place. Fortunately the work was done under warranty.

 

That's a new one So nothing mechanical was wrong?

Well, at least it's working again

Lois

 

Lois,

Eventhough the Mini Service could not get the top up they said they could not find any thing wrong. They could not find anything mechanical, any blown fuses or error codes. So they reprogrammed the ECU and now it works.

I picked it up at noon today and have run it up and down a coupla times and it works so far . We'll see it that cured the problem.

Btw, do you have a British Racing Green Cabrio (I'm looking at you sig line)? I too have a BRG 05 MCSC w/ white stripes but not the driving lights (yet)

 

A computer programming problem?!

I did not think the top was connected to the MINI's "PC" brain.

On thinking about it, I guess it would have to be since the top won't go up or down if the car is moving, etc. Need a CPU [excuse me, ECU] to tell the car not to do that.

Would never have guessed it since the symptom was the top going up part way then slipping back down. That sounded mechanical to me.

Thanks for posting the fix, members can now add that to the list of possible problems. And us now in the know can look super smart.

Sidenote: An F 150 gas guzzler? Sell that for scrap now, before it's not worth a dime. What do you get, 15 mpg with that?

 

When I took my MINI in for Check Engine code the ECU came up with a thrown code for the top.
Never have had any problems with the top except for one time when the two locking levers in the boot were not all the way in and it did keep the top from traveling up.

 

BRG all the way It's an 05 built in Sept 04. One of the 1st to come to the USI have gold stripes boot & bonnet. Enjoy those topless days

Lois

 

BRG is a great color in the MINI.

But I dunno if female members should be allowed to say the word "topless" when talking about anything. Such a tease. And that kind of talk is distracting when I am in the salt mines [aka working.]

 

Maybe the car was just upset because you tend to leave the top up too much? Maybe they reprogrammed it to think the top had been down enough lately?

 

Mine's going in Friday! Top won't go down. I guess that's a good place to be with all of the rain we've been getting. But I'm pissed. I drive with the top down all the time (except rain) and they couldn't fit me in for two weeks. The retracting motor right above your head makes a grinding noise when the button to retract is pushed. Then the other day I pushed the rear window down button to retract all of the windows and the passenger side window won't go down. Now I'm really pissed. I have to drive with the windows up and A/C on. I'm not a hard top kinda guy.

 

i hope they fixed it and glad ot know i am not the only CB conv around..

 

Cool Blue was our first love. Even my wife, the reluctant co-owner, liked it. Alas, we waited until it was no longer available so we're a less striking Sparkling Silver.

 

One more BRG Cabrio here

 

BRG

 

Nice pic! ^^^

 

tomg47, glad your top is fixed. If you don't mind me asking you said something interesting in your first post, would you mind explaining please... You said you could not get the top up with the button or the key. I had my key programed to put the top down and i asked them if it does the same so i can put the top up with the key and they said no....I'm confused, if you can i will call them on this!

 

You can put the top up by inserting the key in the door, but not with the remote button.

 

then what? inserting the key in the door.....????

 

In most cabrios if you insert the key in the door and click it to the right twice and hold it will bring the top up.

 

thanks i will go out and try that!! I'm only a month old, need all the tips i can find...thanks for sharing, any other special things that cabrios do?