Where get replacement parts for stuck convertible?

[pollek]

Hi,

Thanks to many who have posted my same problem of "convertible cable broken". This is where the sunroof part is not opening on both sides, just the left side moves (driver in US, passenger in UK).

Based on other posts it might be cheaper I ship my car to/from UK to get mine repaired! ;-) The Mountain View CA Mini dealer (where I bought and have had ALL service & repairs done, including two costly windshields) the service writer casually informed me that it would be something like $4600 (pre-taxes) to repair... HUH? At that price, I guess I'll just drive a soft-top coupe for now! ;-)

Besides, I am first awaiting to hear from Mini USA as how I understand our consumer laws and how they knew of this problem yet did not disclose to customers NOR do any checks themselves when in for regular service - I do think I have a relative good prospect of getting some help from them. As a backup plan, I am a bit fortunate that walking distance from my house is an after market BMW repair shop with good reputation that has a lot of Mini experience.

But please help me out (maybe I missed other posts that already exist on this?) I have my repair manuals on order, now what I need is how to locate sources for parts. Whether just the cable, the entire "sunroof" section but also for for future likely repair needs to come - WHERE are there sources to get replacement parts? Is Mini the only source for such an item? In fact, for this cable, maybe there is a custom cable place to get a repair or equivalet to replace the broken one?

From what I understand even the sunroof section is not really costly, it is mostly labor. Well, having just been laid off, I have the time to do this myself, I just need to find the parts I need.

Thanks,
Dale

[MINIAC]

What part needs replacing?

RealOEM - R52 Folding Top Linkage

RealOEM - R52 Folding Top Mounting Parts

[Londo]

First thing first, What year is you're car? The top has an extra two years after the factory warranty, the dealer has to pay. And yes it's a know problem with the cables, but you need to get the parts from the dealer no aftermarket parts for the top. If you want to do the work yourself, get a Bentley MINI Cooper maintenances book it will help allot. Never go to the dealer again for your windshield, I've replace mine twice go on line and try a company called Safe-lite you can get a quote on line too. It only cost me 219.00
installed plus tax.

[Berthil]

Please PM me for my e-mail address, I don't want to aid the new owners of Mini2 but still would like to help Mini owners with the sun roof cable problem.
I have the right solution as I have had the same problem, and the good news is you can do it yourself with original Mini parts without replacing the whole (sun)roof because the dealer is too lazy to do some investigation.

[MINIAC]

Quote: Originally Posted by Berthil (original)

I have the right solution as I have had the same problem, and the good news is you can do it yourself with original Mini parts without replacing the whole (sun)roof because the dealer is too lazy to do some investigation.

Your MINI profile indicates you have a hardtop and the thread originator has a convertible

[Berthil]

I have 2 Mini's.

One for getting a sun burn and one to get around the Ring as fast as possible.

[pollek]

Thanks for the many replies so quickly, makes me regret not having joined this more than four years ago when I got my Cooper AND when I bought it, they somehow claimed it a "demo" (I think had 26 miles on it - I really think is just to get extra rebate or discount profit from Mini). Hence, the official warranty was 3.5 years, so I've been off for about 6 months - BUT I WILL now re-inquire on roof extended warranty.

Extend warranty? Clearly this is a good argument to extend warranty WHILE YOU CAN! Although Mini may have called me to extend warranty AND I WANTED to, that darn car warranty scam was frequently calling me at that time, so I ignored calls. ALso I do not recall ever getting any mail about extending warrany at that time - MAYBE they intentionally avoided extending convertibles??? ;-)

Again thanks for the notes and reference URL's (a few looked really valuable and I could not find anything close with Google or Yahoo) that I need to investigate once my manual arrives. But right now, my daughter has a softball tourney game I need go help with - yeah team (my daughter's and all of you, thanks!)

BTW - I have not fully updated my profile, due to the stresses of hearing $4600, I rushed to join AND WOW, well worth it. My car is a 2005 convertible (R52).

[dgrss329]

Could you please Help me..... I would like to know how to fix it on my own. I currently put it up for sale, because I could not afford the $2300 to fix it. I know a fair amount about cars. If I can fix it on my own and for cheaper I would love to keep my baby!!

BERTHIL (said) I have the right solution as I have had the same problem, and the good news is you can do it yourself with original Mini parts without replacing the whole (sun)roof because the dealer is too lazy to do some investigation.

[Berthil]

Please PM me with your e-mail address so I can help you.

[ema]

Quote: Originally Posted by dgrss329 (original)

Could you please Help me..... I would like to know how to fix it on my own. I currently put it up for sale, because I could not afford the $2300 to fix it. I know a fair amount about cars. If I can fix it on my own and for cheaper I would love to keep my baby!!

BERTHIL (said) I have the right solution as I have had the same problem, and the good news is you can do it yourself with original mini cooper parts without replacing the whole (sun)roof because the dealer is too lazy to do some investigation.

Have you fixed it already?
I think Berthil could help you a lot on that. But if ever, I believe there a on-line sites that provides detailed procedures.Hmm, I'll help you research. I'll just PM you when I already have some research.

[MRS. P]

We have recently replaced the cable to my convertible top and everything works great as far as the sun roof goes. The issue I am still having is that the top will not open any further than that. When I push the button the light flashes rapidly and the top goes back about 1 more inch and then nothing - no sound - nothing. The pins will not unlatch at all.

Here is what we have done - checked to make sure that both latches in the boot are latched - checked to make sure that the boot shelf is in position correctly - checked fuses. When I push the close button the motor that is in the back on the drivers (US) side starts to make noise then stops and the sun roof closes like normal as it's smaller motor which is in the roof seems fine.

As we are at least 6 hours from our nearest dealer I called them and the service rider says that I need to replace the drive locking mechanism. They also say that this is such a unusual repair that the part isn't even in the US - it has to come from "Germany" So I wonder if that is really it.

Can anyone give me any help?

Also, on another post there was this:

Quote: Originally Posted by Londo (original)

First thing first, What year is you're car? The top has an extra two years after the factory warranty, the dealer has to pay. And yes it's a know problem with the cables, but you need to get the parts from the dealer no aftermarket parts for the top. If you want to do the work yourself, get a Bentley MINI Cooper maintenances book it will help allot. Never go to the dealer again for your windshield, I've replace mine twice go on line and try a company called Safe-lite you can get a quote on line too. It only cost me 219.00
installed plus tax.

I also inquired at the dealer about the extended warranty comment and they seemed to know nothing about it. Is there anything in writing that I might be able to dig up on this.

It seems that this type of problem is a big one on the late 04 early 05 builds - in fact there is one owner in Colorado keeping track of people who have sent him their name. I am sure he would love to hear from others.

Sorry this is so long!

Thanks in advance.

[ema]

Sorry to hear that. However, I am afraid I can't help you with that. Perhaps, you can just consult other dealers. Others have on-line sites that you can visit or try digging up the yellow pages so you can just phone them up. Good luck.

[dmcdearis]

I have the same problem with the cables and would like any info you have on fixing the problem.

[thebigyin]

Quote: Originally Posted by MRS. P (original)

We have recently replaced the cable to my convertible top and everything works great as far as the sun roof goes. The issue I am still having is that the top will not open any further than that. When I push the button the light flashes rapidly and the top goes back about 1 more inch and then nothing - no sound - nothing. The pins will not unlatch at all.

Here is what we have done - checked to make sure that both latches in the boot are latched - checked to make sure that the boot shelf is in position correctly - checked fuses. When I push the close button the motor that is in the back on the drivers (US) side starts to make noise then stops and the sun roof closes like normal as it's smaller motor which is in the roof seems fine.

As we are at least 6 hours from our nearest dealer I called them and the service rider says that I need to replace the drive locking mechanism. They also say that this is such a unusual repair that the part isn't even in the US - it has to come from "Germany" So I wonder if that is really it.

Can anyone give me any help?

Also, on another post there was this:



I also inquired at the dealer about the extended warranty comment and they seemed to know nothing about it. Is there anything in writing that I might be able to dig up on this.

It seems that this type of problem is a big one on the late 04 early 05 builds - in fact there is one owner in Colorado keeping track of people who have sent him their name. I am sure he would love to hear from others.

Sorry this is so long!

Thanks in advance.

I have fixed the problem that you are having - opning to sunroof section then not opening fully.
You must check the end of the "BOW" which is the metal strengthener that runs across the roof just above the driver's head.
The ends of the bow fit into tiny little plastic bushes.
If one of the ends it out of the bush then the roof will not open because the sensors think that the roof is out of alignment.
My dealer's service department told me that the bushing was broken and it was allowing the Bow to slip out and causing the roof to stop. They told me that the bush is not a Spare Part and that the only fix would be the next higher assembly which is the COMPLETE ROOF costing $FIVE THOUSAND DOLLARS!!!!!!!!
Needless to say, I did not get a new roof, I had a look at the bushing and refitted the Bow into it then rotated it until the "broken section was facing towards the rear of the car.
Since I did that the Roof has operated flawlessly hundreds of times.
the easiest way to see the end of teh Bow and the bushing is to open the roof to the Sunroof section then get out of the car and check just above the "split" in the side rail. You will be able to lift the roof material and see the end of teh Bow.

[minicooperfromca]

Quote: Originally Posted by thebigyin (original)

I have fixed the problem that you are having - opning to sunroof section then not opening fully.
You must check the end of the "BOW" which is the metal strengthener that runs across the roof just above the driver's head.
The ends of the bow fit into tiny little plastic bushes.
If one of the ends it out of the bush then the roof will not open because the sensors think that the roof is out of alignment.
My dealer's service department told me that the bushing was broken and it was allowing the Bow to slip out and causing the roof to stop. They told me that the bush is not a Spare Part and that the only fix would be the next higher assembly which is the COMPLETE ROOF costing $FIVE THOUSAND DOLLARS!!!!!!!!
Needless to say, I did not get a new roof, I had a look at the bushing and refitted the Bow into it then rotated it until the "broken section was facing towards the rear of the car.
Since I did that the Roof has operated flawlessly hundreds of times.
the easiest way to see the end of teh Bow and the bushing is to open the roof to the Sunroof section then get out of the car and check just above the "split" in the side rail. You will be able to lift the roof material and see the end of teh Bow.

OMG DUDE, I LOVE YOU!!! Thank you so much!!!

I just bought my 2005 mini convertible used, and like on day three this happened. I had no idea what to do and was very worried, it turned out to be a very easy fix. The wire that you were talking about was out of place on both sides. I can't believe what an easy fix this was. Thank you so much.

FOR PEOPLE WHO HAVE A PROBLEM WITH THEIR CONVERTIBLE TOP SIMILAR TO OURS.

Symptoms: You open the sunroof, which opens fine, then you try to go on to open the convertible top, but the latches unlatch, and the whole thing just gets stuck.

This most likely is the same problem that we both had, read the previous post, its a wire that goes across the top.

to see it, open the sunroof half way, and lift the folded soft top, under it you will see a wire that goes into a little hole, if its out of the little hole the top would not open.

Mine opened fine manually, but would just freeze when I tried to open it with a button, and the red light would flash.

If anyone has questions about this, feel free to write. i would love to help, as I know what a torture it is to have little problems like this.

Thank you all.