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Advice on complete roof hydraulic fluid replacement
The roof has been behaving strangely. Whilst opening the roof is normal, closing the roof took more than 5 minutes holding down the switch before the lock-latch flipped open and the roof started to raise..
I'm inclined to renew the entire roof hydraulic fluid. Any pointers as to how to do that?
I sucked mine out with a syringe then filled it with fresh fluid, ran it a few times then changed it again. It would be nice to drain all the rams and hoses but I would imagine that would be very involved. Change the oil a couple of times and you'll renew most of it.
The attached link should reveal all
Pete
Last edited by PDMiller; Dec 28, 2020 at 12:50 PM.
Surely if you do a search in the forum, someone has done this before. You know that the pump is in the boot, right? It may just require a top-off if you have a slow leak somewhere.
Roof closing problem traced to faulty switch solder joints
Since I have no problem opening the roof, I figure there is nothing wrong with the pump and hydraulic fluid, and that leaves the switch and cabling. I pried out the black plastic piece the switch is mounted on from the wood base to remove the switch from underneath. Next, I disassembled the switch body to reveal bad cold solder joints on the switch circuit board which gives me problems when I want to put the roof back up. The switch has worked well for the past 23 years until time has finally caught up. I'm very happy to resolve this glitch.
I sucked mine out with a syringe then filled it with fresh fluid, ran it a few times then changed it again. It would be nice to drain all the rams and hoses but I would imagine that would be very involved. Change the oil a couple of times and you'll renew most of it.
The attached link should reveal all
Pete
Unfortunately, that only changes the fluid in the back of the car. At the latch in the header, the fluid just moves a short distance one way when opening ,and then the other way when closing.
To change all the fluid in the top lines, you need to remove the header bar holding the latch and remove the lines from the latch. Remove A pillar trim so you can hold the lines outside the car when flushing.
Then you need to run the pump in each direction until the new fluid comes through each line. you also need to flush out the latch by removing it from the rail and operating it by hand..
Note that this doesn't change the fluid in the top rams.
Unfortunately, that only changes the fluid in the back of the car. At the latch in the header, the fluid just moves a short distance one way when opening ,and then the other way when closing.
To change all the fluid in the top lines, you need to remove the header bar holding the latch and remove the lines from the latch. Remove A pillar trim so you can hold the lines outside the car when flushing.
Then you need to run the pump in each direction until the new fluid comes through each line. you also need to flush out the latch by removing it from the rail and operating it by hand..
Note that this doesn't change the fluid in the top rams.
Redsky. Thank you very much for your advice.
Since I'm no longer experiencing any problems with opening or closing the roof after fixing the cold-solder contacts in the roof switch, I shall not mess with the roof hydraulic fluid for now.
Advice on complete roof hydraulic fluid replacement
