Well, after a couple of happy weeks motoring with the top down, the right side cable came out again , so I'm fixing it this weekend, this time using J-B Weld to bond the cable and latch together.

Im putting together a complete video on how to disassemble the convertible top and repair the cable latches this weekend and should have it posted in a new thread sometime this week.

 

Well the passenger side mechanism broke on my 05 Cooper S and I am getting someone to help fix it. Thanks for all the information posted here and I will let you know how the fix goes.

 

Any idea what to do if you can get your mini to get the sunroof open fine but it won't go into the next stage of fully open.

 

There's a couple of things you can try: 1. If you turned the relief valve screw in the left side of the boot, you'll need to turn it back 1 1/2 times. 2. Make sure the parcel shelf is seated properly. remove it and put it back in. 3. The latches to open up the conv top in the boot to access the parcel shelf - open them up and give them a good strong close again. 4. with the key in the ON position in the steering wheel column (but do not turn on the car) cycle all the windows down then up, turn the car off, key out, then turn the car on and try to open. Close the sunroof portion prior to cycling the windows. Give that a shot and let me know how it goes - I had the same issue and doing that allowed the top to open (I believe that my parcel shelf was slightly off). Dan

 

Time to jump in to this thread. A few months back, when trying to open the cabrio roof, I found the driver's side latch to be stuck. One can hear the mechanism trying to move...sounds like the broken cable that others have described.

I contacted my dealer's service adviser to discuss and was presented with the standard "MINI solution": new cassette mechanism (a $2100 part) and 4-5 hours of labor to install. Meaning they want $3000 to get the roof working again. (At this point I realize my decision to not buy an extended warranty was probably in error...)

Anyway, I took the car to a local shop that works on convertible roofs, and they did some research. They seem to have found an option that will run about $700 in parts, buying parts directly from MINI. They also think it will be 4-5 hours (though their hourly rate is a lot lower than MINI). If I understand correctly their explanation, they said that MINI now has a different mechanism available that costs quite a bit less...they are getting this $500 part plus some additional pieces that allow it to be fit to my roof.

We're now waiting on the parts and I'll have them do the repair in the next few days. While it's still not cheap, I'm not that mechanically handy, and would much prefer to pay $1200 to a quality local shop versus driving 2 hours to the MINI dealer to pay them $3000.

Can anyone explain this difference in parts? Why does MINI push a replacement cassette mechanism at over $2000, when they offer a much less expensive part to third party shops. (The local shop spoke quite a while with a MINI tech and confirmed, using my VIN, that the less expensive part is the right one.) This just doesn't feel right to me.

I'll post an update once the job is done and let folks know how it works.

MANY THANKS to those who shared valuable information in this thread. And a pox on those who attempted to hijack it with unrelated issues.

 

I am going thru the same nightmare! my top was working fine, but the two trim section at the back below the read window needed to be replaced. my warranty was to expired in late Dec 2010, so i took my car to the closest MINI Stealer, my service advisor, as alway was very nice, i made her aware of the items i wanted to have taken care of before the warranty expire.

once i received my car back, and spending $675.00 in services, i was told it needed. i noticed when i got home that the front section where the canvas top meets the windshield frame was uneven, the driver side was fine but the passenger side was not, there was a gap of about half a inch. Also the 2 trim part that they had replaced were not aligned (i picked up my car late in the afternoon and it was dark outside) properly. so i called the MINI Stealer and told my advisor about it. her response was that they had not touched that! so i said, it was not like that when i took it in! anyhow, after another drive to the dealer (1.5 hours form my home) they kept it for 2 days and they realigned the trim part but not the front section, i was so disgusted with the fact that their response was "you need a new cassette and you don't want to do that!" so i said, but it was fine until you guys touched it!

so i left the dealer yesterday with my MINI around 5:00 PM, it was dark and cold, i didn't even think on trying the top at the dealer before i left. Today, i wanted to put the top down, no luck! the sunroof opened, but the top would not come down. after a few tries, it finally opened but it would not finished it's cycle, the switch button keeps on blinking red while the top is fully down.

i called the dealer and was told that the service dept. is open but they have no manager over the weekend, and they will have my advisor or the service manager call me on monday.

Has anyone had these many problems? all i wanted was a couple of trim parts replaced! now my MINI has been out of warraty for 1 month and i might be facing pretty expensive repair bills!

What should i do??

Please HELP!

 

since i had no luck, i sold my MINI!

could not get any help, and my stealer (Bob Smith, Calabazas, Calif.) is a total disappointment!

 

I just picked up my "new" '06 Cabrio and love dropping the top.

Many thanks to TXNemo and Not4no1 for their detailed instructions. Hopefully I won't need them, but I've bookmarked the thread anyway.

MarcoEsc - how did your repair with the local shop work out?

Reason for posting is to ask if there is any preventive maintenance, lube, or inspection you do to maintain the mechanisim in good working order?

 

Thanks for this information. Yes indeed these are the parts required for the earliest Cabrios shipped. There is a roller on the mechanism that was replaced by a slide after 04/2005. This requires the new Gate which is the front most part with the guide pin that rests in the window pillar. You will need the fastening set because it includes the rubber cover and bumper for the pins. Also it's nice the have all the new fasteners (even though I didn't replace them all). I also want to recommend the posts by Tullid on how to proceed with the repair or replacement of the cables. If you follow his recommendations on how to line things up when reassembling, it should work perfectly the first time. It did for me anyway. I will say that I had things apart three times. First time was to attempt the JB Weld solution Tullid shows in his videos. Gave up because I was out of time that day to work on it. Ordered the cables with the mechanisms at about $425 not realizing the new Gates were required. (The Mini parts guy suggested that I not attempt doing this myself saying he gets some of the best shops in town returning these parts because they cant get the top to work and suggested I buy the Cassette which is $1800 if I remember.) After installing the cables I found I needed the Gates as well. Researched the part number and found they all agreed. Ordered the new Gates from Mini at about $200 and installed in about 3 hours. Lubed with white grease initially but plan to clean and re-lube with a silicone grease. All works perfectly. Hope not to have to do this one again but compared to what it would cost to have repaired at Mini, $700 and my time (I work cheap!) it was a steal.

 

Hi There

I know this is an old post now - but can you help me!

I have exactly the same problem - cable pulled out of the crimp on both sides. I just can't release the latches you are talking about to move the sliding roof mechanism back. I have taken the outer rubber cover thing off and I can see the bit you are talking about but when you say 'work the latch down' - what exactly do you mean? mine seems to be stuck fast.

 

Same issue on our '05 S just now at 38k miles. Roof opened only on one side in sunroof mode; it did then close but now it wont open at all. Clearly this is some sort of common factory issued failure. Top started showing wear marks only over the last few months which makes me think this may be related.

If I DIY this, I'll try to post photos and stuff too.

 

I am having the same issue with my 05 convertable - murphy's law a week before MITM. I almost have it apart aand I'm having a lot of trouble getting the broken side apart.

Does anyone know if anyone besides ECS sells the new cable assemblies?

 

Help, anyone know were I can get the slider for the drivers (LH) side. My cable pulled out and the slider got torqued out of it's track. This chewed the wheel and the plastic guide is toast. I don't want to do the JB Weld thing to my chewed up slider only to have to re-do it when it starts jamming on the track. I'd love to go pull one myself, but Coopers don't seem to make it to the junkyards very often. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

 

I had to buy a complete new set ( they are sold in pairs) - I used the passenger side parts but if any one is interested in buying the drivers side from mem shoot me a note.

 

Thanks for the offer Mark, but after taking a closer look at my slide piece, I think all I would really need is the plastic guide that sets over the wheel. The wheel just has a small nick in it where it came out of the track. Once I pulled what was left of the guide out, the wheel doesn't look that bad. The local dealership pitches old ones, so no luck getting it from them. Now if you still have your old passenger side slide, the guide might be interchangeable. I'd have to tear the roof down completely to know for sure.

 

Hopefully this thread is still current enough that it's getting views. A friend of mine is having trouble with her convertible top, and I wanted to ask a few questions before I dove into trying to fix it.

Her roof opens to the "sunroof" position just fine - does that mean that both cables are probably still in place and working correctly?

The problem she's having is that when she tries to actually open the top further than the sunroof position, the clamp on the driver's side doesn't release from the top of the windshield. The passenger side releases fine. Looking at the mechanism on the driver's side, there's a long metal piece that runs up to the underside of the windshield latch. That part is fine. But there's a plastic arm that's linked to that long metal piece, and it's this plastic arm that's broken.

Looking through the parts diagram, there's a "locking hook, convertible top" assembly (P/N 54347174763) that looks like it contains the broken piece. This assembly is also much cheaper than the cassette mechanism (P/N 54347174761) that everyone in this thread seems to be replacing. Is there a chance that I might have gotten lucky here?

Also, her car is a January 2005 build. I know that would require the two extra parts mentioned up-thread if I were actually going to replace the cassette mechanism, but would those also be required if I'm just replacing the locking hook mechanism?

Thanks,
Scott

 

Hi Scott

I have had the cables break on mine and this isn't your issue if the sunroof comes right back on both sides. I however have also had the broken locking hook problem and there is a thread on it here https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...tible-top.html
The good news is that it is easy to get at and repair yourself - I managed to successfully repair mine with 'JB Weld' - but the parts are not that expensive.

 

Jeremy,

Thanks for the link - the part that's broken on her mechanism is definitely the same one that you and Doc were discussing in that thread.

The only thing that I need to investigate further is the "nub on the clamp end" versus "no nub on the clamp end" issue. Hers is a January 2005 build, while mine's a September 2006 build, so if that was one of the parts that was changed in April of 2005, I should be able to tell by comparing our cars.

But if hers needs the "no nub" version, and any new one I order will have the nub, then I guess I need to see if there are other parts I could get in order to make everything fit together correctly, or if I would just need to grind down the nub.

 

One other thing - does the "locking hook, convertible top" assembly (P/N 54347174763) come with both sides? RealOEM only lists one part number, and the "quantity required" is just one, but the left and right sides are definitely different. The only way that makes sense to me is if that single part number gets you both the left and right assemblies.

 

Yes I'm sure you get the pair for the single part number. I asked the BMW dealer and they confirmed.

 

For the locking hooks you refer to also know as the Top font linkage come in pairs for one part number:

http://www.ecstuning.com/Search/SiteSearch/54347174763/


Click HERE for the top Linkage pair. OEM part number: 54347174763

We pretty much have everything else you need to get your top back in order:

Convertible top Cable Set:

http://www.ecstuning.com/Search/SiteSearch/54347174761/


Click HERE OEM part number 54347174761


Convertible Top front gates latching points set:

http://www.ecstuning.com/Search/SiteSearch/54347174762/


Click Here OEM part number 54347174762

Top hardware set for gates:

http://www.ecstuning.com/Search/SiteSearch/54347163652/


Click Here: OEM part number 54347163652

Thanks and hope you get your top fixed.