How to replace soft top motor without removing roof.. DONE!

[Beynon5]

Hola All,


So my 2004 (Jan) Zed decided its roof motor didnt want to work from a few weeks ago onwards. So I read all the Shipkiller pdf etc about having to take the roof off, and though well there has to be an easier way. And would you believe it.. there is.. I completed it today and more than happy to share it all with you as the help I've had so far from other posts on here about other problems more than makes up for it.


So here goes.. I didnt take any photos because really I was just going along with what I thought would work (If I was a BMW engineer where would I...etc etc). But I will be posting generic photos of where I'm describing - some from this forum and some from elsewhere.


1) So First step is to remove the shelf in the rear.. this is quite simple, as you lean into the boot (Trunk for all of you not in the UK!) you'll see clips running down the edge of the hinge from the shelf to the hinge, they look like this...





You squeeze the little triangle bits and they pop off (and upwards out of the way - you can retrieve them when you get the shelf out!)


Once you've done this you need to pop the half tube clips from the shelf off that go over the hinge bar.. see below.. In the top left of this photo you can see one of the clips I'm talking about.. just get a flat head screwdriver in there and gently pop them off.





Then just angle the shelf out of the boot!


2) Now we get to the slightly more difficult task of getting the bits ready to get to the motor, so first thing first.. get into the boot so that your head is now sat where shelf was looking towards the back of the car and you will see the hydraulic lines going around the edge of the boot towards where the motor is situated (which by the way, if you are sat as I've described.. its to the right of you.) So, you will see clips holding the lines in which look like image 12 in the following diagram..





You need to lever the lines out of these clips to give you enough space to manoeuvre the motor out, take them all out of the clips from the left side to the right you should now have a bit of slack in the lines. Its important to stress here that these are hydraulic lines and you need to be pretty careful with them as if they get damaged then your roof is kaput eitherway.


3) Onto the most difficult part now, (or maybe just for me because I have fat hands!). So now that you have a bit of slack in the lines, you need to reach into the gap that is behind where the shelf was on the left hand side (if youre stood at the back of Zed looking towards the front). Get your hand in there and go all the way to the outer edge and run your hand forward.. and you'll feel a bump, a round ish bit of plastic that is sticking up from the floor of the plastic.. aaaand holy mother of cow that your roof motor in that casing!


4) Now that you can feel the motor, and probably see it if you look in from the rear window or from the front over the seat. You need to get the top off the roof motor casing, so the first part involves putting your hand all the way over the casing towards the front of the car and reaching down behind it to take the lines (and bowden cable) out of the clip holding it to the casing see below.. its the grey clip holding 4 lines.





It also shows the next problem.. the tape around the box that is holding it shut. I managed to get some of this tape off around it, I used some solvent cleaning products to soften its grip and then it started to peel off.


5) So once you've done these few bits, its a bit of brute force here.. you need to pull the top of the casing off. The way I found easiest was to put my fingers down the side of the motor casing to feel where the join was and then get my nails/fingers in there and pull it up and off. Once the top is off you can see the motor, it now possible to pull the motor out of its watery cess pit and lay it on that plastic area.


6) This next bit is a massive PITA and I cant even find any photos to describe how to do it. But basically the bottom half of the casing is cable tied as the bottom to the roof section and is holding the hydraulic lines down so I managed to get my finger down behind it and slowly get the cable tie off the end of the casing (you could cut it I guess but I'm not sure if you'll get snips down there or a blade - I was too scared of damaging the lines to cut it). But basically slide it off over the end of the casing and you will then have released the lines and the motor can be pulled into the boot (Gently!! and make sure none of the lines are pinched or twisted in the process!).


Now you have the motor in the boot, I gave mines a good couple of minutes blast of WD40 and a quick shot of diesel to clean it up and it worked first press of the button (obviously put the shelf in first to activate the micro switch or wedge it like I had to test it). So now the motor is in the boot, cleaned, working and now just needs to be housed - so for me I simply got a few cable ties and cut some holes in the plastic trim on the left side and fixed it securely there. And just like that, I now have a working roof, and all without removing the roof.


Btw, I'm based in Swansea, South Wales UK. If anyone is near and wants some advice/a hand/the work done let me know.


Again sorry for the lack of pictures but I was simply going with what I thought would get me out of the brown stuff and it did. Also this is just a guide for you and I take no responsibility for anyone else's cack handedness for any damage caused to their own vehicle.


Good luck!

[BimmerBreaker]

Yours seems to have been tampered with at some point in the past - mine did not have any black tape like that. Rather it had a foil sticker saying something along the lines of "if you remove this your warranty is void blah blah" something or other. Had almost no adhesive properties, cover popped right off. I took my whole top off though, wish I knew about this method. Thanks for posting!

[Dougie871]

I have renewed my motor but it just whines away and does work the roof any idea

[4jacks]

Forgive my newbie response if I am touting already known facts and/or speaking out of my bum.

Whilel shopping for Z4's I noted that the convertible motors seems to be a common problem, in my searches, I came across this youtube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k5LwrafOLt4

The premise of the video is that the reason the motors keep failing is because the drainage pipe from the convertible top keeps failing. This causes water to accumulate around the motor.

it now possible to pull the motor out of its watery cess pit

That bit seems to confirm that theory. The motor should not be sitting in water.

My hope is to keep the plug clean and not have that problem. But definitely Thank you for the tutorial!