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E46 soft top issues

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    E46 soft top issues

    Hey

    20th of feb started good by meeting many of you guys , the sand storm was horrible but Hatta road was the make up for us
    after we reached destination I wanted to enjoy a clean mountain breath so as usual I tried to drop the top of my 2001 330ci cabrio by pressing the opening button
    the top started to feel it wana open but it didn't and flashing light of the button started to blink , there is no response at all and that made me pissed off specially that I have just done major service for many things in the car and I paid decent money on it ... so after I am back home I started to think about what could be the reason behind this , from previous experience I had with my 2003 E46 cabrio
    I didn't want Just sending it to carag to let them steal me ,beside I use it as my daily drive so I cant waste my time too ... in my previous car similar issue happened where the top came half way folding and stops where I paid around 2500 to fix it, one week after fixing ... the issue happened again :curse: and I was lucky meeting one guy who fixed the issue in 5 minutes and for FREE!! since then I decided not to rush to the workshop ,, the solution was underneath the rear seats where the mechanism that operates the top is located.. a black cover should be removed easily by hand without any tool
    you will see 3 overlapping rounded gears , using a screwdriver remove the gear in the middle by pushing it up , that moment you will feel the jammed cable is released , put back the gear in place and restart the car by removing battery ... It worked like a charm that time and saved lot of money supposed to be paid for that part you will see in the pictures attached to the thread

    this time the symptoms of the problem seems to be same so I tried to do same trick myself but when I removed the gear it went out easy and there were no Jam!! the top didn't respond at all :'( EXCEPT when I manually opened it and restarted it felt little alive as I heard the hydraulic

    I searched several threads and went through symptoms , one of the problems faced by many was electrical failure for several reasons
    checked all fuses but non of them not working , beside that in Hatta Mr Shak our sponsor thankfully checked by computer and there were no failure or errors
    another reason commonly faced was Cables failure! , so while analyzing I remembered that after I folded the canvas manually I tried to close it using the button and that moment it felt little alive

    I decided to give it a shot and follow my feeling and the experience shared among other threads in this regard .. in the front area of the canvas there is a bending point where the cable is inside through
    due to using folding and time the cable is almost separated or cut in the bending point ... I opened at that area and Oh boy the cable was just as bad as I expected :thumbsup2:

    to easy the job I took it to carage to use his tools connecting the cable in a reliable way to avoid future failure ... Job done and total money I had to pay was 50 Dhs!!! fixed in 20 min
    the Top is working as good as new :w00t:

    hope this would help others identify any issues could happen to there E46
    Attached Files
    sigpic
    E46FANATIC

    #2
    Well done boss

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      #3
      cheers m8 :)
      sigpic
      E46FANATIC

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        #4
        I am adding an Update to this thread

        lately while I was trying to close the soft top, when it comes to the last point where the lashes attempt to catch the front wind shield
        the Soft top jams and does not respond, I got frustrated and used the manual lever to close the top but it was hard
        being frustrated made me push it further and seems that broke the front right side lash

        while fixing it took us to change the front both sides lashes motors and it closed properly three times
        so while going through again to know whats going on, It appears that the cable used to fix the problem was somehow thick

        which puts more power on the other thin cables and keeps this one relaxed
        therefor we went through and extended the other cables and increased thickness and again the TOP perfectly works now

        a suggested thing to do when done is to release the cables from the path they take on the left side tightened where they gets stressed
        and keep them inside between the soft top layers similar to the 6 series soft top cabling and all later models of BMW soft top

        make sure If you try to do the same that you chose proper cabling in terms of thickness and length

        Good luck
        sigpic
        E46FANATIC

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