Happens in mine too- but only manifested itself when I left it out in the sun on a hot day. Feb 08 build, MY, White, S.

 

The motor has a built in heat protection where if its above a certain ambient temp it'll crack both roofs then close them again.

 

Is there any adjustment that can be done (ie. changing temp settings, etc)

Thanks,

Mark

 

I'm sure you could put a resistor inline with the amb temp sensor to trick the computer into thinking it's colder than it really is.

 

That's kind of where my mind was going... some way to make it think it's cooler than it is.

I know it's for protection but obviously something's wrong because when mine doesn't work, it'll work in less than 5 minutes, even without turning on the ac or driving the car. (point is, the motor shouldn't be any cooler)

I wonder if you could completely bypass the temp sensor??? Damn engineers, always over engineering something....lol.

Mark

 

Oh this whole damn car is over enginneered haha. Theres like 3 checks and balances to every part on the car and if something isn't quite perfect it just messes everything up.

 

My sunroof went from not opening when it sat in the sun for awhile to not opening at all and making a really scary noise.

I took it in last week for repair and my dealer informed me that MINI Corporate told them that there is a bulletin for this and NOT to do anything with my sunroof.

So, the dealer was extremely apologetic and assured me that as soon as there is a fix they will contact me. I realize that this has nothing to do with the dealer but MINI needs to get a fix for this asap as this is an optioned and payed for part of my car that is now inoperable. I do feel a certain level of frustration about this too.

The exact wording of the bulletin escapes me at the moment. Something about extreme friction in the cassette. I'll scan my work order and post it if anyone is interested.

 

I think I may have posted about mine having this issue now that it's July in Texas, it's constant. One of the reasons I want a sunroof is to be able to open it upon getting in, thus venting all that heat very fast. I'd rather mine worked like my wife's but it looks like 2nd gen's don't open the roof from the key fob (not all the way).

Anyway, we took Bimini on a trip from Dallas to DC & back so with all that highway mileage, the first service interval has been backed way up. I'm sure the problem won't be occurring then because it will be winter or maybe spring. So I'm going to report this now and get her into Mini of Dallas in early August so that it can be documented.

As an interim fix, I've been parking her with the roof in vent position. Seems to work just fine almost every time right after startup. It's kinda embarrassing to have to post that I've got a problem with a sunroof after I've defended buying sunroofs on other threads. This is our 5th car with a sunroof and first problem.

 

Brian, the TSB for this issue would probably never be listed by NHTSB. They only have to list safety related issues. There are literally hundreds of TSBs for every manufacturer/model car out there and maybe one or two get listed by the safety folks. And the manufacturers don't want to air their dirty laundry. People would start to use that data to determine the reliability of a given car.

Still, thanks for the TSB # from your service sheet. I'll take that with me when I drop Bimini off to get this documented.

 

I am very grateful for this thread. I picked up my new 2008 MC (PW/B) last week and found that my sunroof does not work AT ALL if it is parked outside in the sun.

I am not happy about it, but will make a visit to our service dealer so that when a fix is found, I can be called to have my $30K Mini work as it should.

Many thanks to all of you who have shared your stories and experiences with your sunroofs. Good luck to us all!

 

Sorry I'm a little late in this string. My 2008 MCS (white roof) seems to have issues when trying to close the roof. I usually leave the roof vented on a hot sunny day at work and it takes two or three or more attempts to close it. It tries to close and then reverses open.
I'll have to try the opposite . . . trying to open on a hot day.

 

I have the same issue. I find that I need to "step down" the roof by quickly toggling the control two or three times, rather than simply pushing and holding the control in the forward position. It's annoying, but a lot less annoying than the very common issue with the roof not opening at all, which has never happened to me. This issue also appears to be heat-related. I guess we're all waiting for the brilliant engineers at MINI / BMW to figure out what's going on, and how to fix it.

 

Ahhh, that kinda makes sense. Although I don't know why they would use a temperature sensor rather that an over-current protection...unless it's over-engineered as you say and the temp sensor is in addition to over-current protection???

Well AnnapolisMini Tech, you are the guys I take my car to so it looks like I already know the answer when I next bring my car in. Thanks!

 

Folks, I'm happy to report that I went to Princeton MINI here in NJ and they "adjusted" my rear sunroof and it is like 90% better now. Even on hot days it opens up. We haven't had any super hot days, but it's possible it might stick on those.

 

Just had the same issue with my sunroof- I tried to open it with the keyfob and it didn't open, got in and it opened a little then shut, it sounded like crunching so I closed it and left it alone. But it's hot today and I had the roof sunshades in- so that might have baked the glass even more. I'll let the roof cool down and try again... glad to see some suggestions here on what to try.

 

So far so good with my new sunroof, while running errands today in the 95 degree heat the sunroof opened with no problem.

**knocks on wood**

My brain is friend with all the new information and new motoring experiences but how do you open the sunroof with the key fob, I have convenient access.

 

Hold down the unlock button and the windows will roll down and the sunroofs will vent open.

 

Thanks! I couldn't remember which button it was!

 

Ugh, now this has happened to me. I have an appointment to go in to the dealer on August 4th; I hope they'll know what to do. Guess I'll call and talk to the SA before I head up that way......

 

Just out of curiosity, how many of us are February '08 builds? Viola is a Feb '08 build also...

 

Mine is a Feb. build.

 

02/08 here. Hmmmm. A pattern developing perhaps??

 

No trend, just a bad design.... I'm done complaining because as long as Mini is trying to do something about it, I'm happy.

Mark

 

no issues so far, black roof, sitting in the sun all day, and it still works.



fingers crossed that it stays that way.

 

Dec 07 here and my sun roof sticks