:bang::bang:HELP, I'm having trouble. I've had car in at local garage, (usually an electrical whiz kid) cannot track down my problem. The roof does not now open remotely using the key and the boot will not unlock at all with either the key or manually trying to open the boot. It is locked and I cannot open it. I've was googling last week and came across scary prices for Fiat to fix the problem £700, wiring loom rings a bell, bad design causing the fault. Any ideas anyone?

Chocoholic said:

:bang::bang:HELP, I'm having trouble. I've had car in at local garage, (usually an electrical whiz kid) cannot track down my problem. The roof does not now open remotely using the key and the boot will not unlock at all with either the key or manually trying to open the boot. It is locked and I cannot open it. I've was googling last week and came across scary prices for Fiat to fix the problem £700, wiring loom rings a bell, bad design causing the fault. Any ideas anyone?

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Hi, and welcome.

Does the roof automatically roll back to the 'spoiler' position at the first push of the button, or do you have to keep the button pressed to open and close it? If the latter, before you do anything else, perform a soft-top re-initialization as below. The computer will not allow the boot to open if the roof hasn't been initialized;

Hi Piccolo. It would open to about 8 inches with one push of button. If I held button down it would open to the back but not fully down. What is the spoiler position, I'm not sure what you mean by that

Try performing the initialisation procedure anyway you can't hurt anything by doing it.

1-Try initialisation procedure as previously advised
2-It will almost certainly be the boot loom shredding-you can get the new loom for £50 and takes 2 hours to refit it-do NOT get a fiat dealer to do it unless under warranty-they will charge you silly money

Chocoholic said:

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU

Piccolo and all on advisers on this problem. The initialisation has solved the problem. I can't thank you enough.

I am a happy bunny once again

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Glad we could all help, by chance has the battery been changed or in a poor state or been disconnected for any reason?

Chocoholic said:

Hi Piccolo. It would open to about 8 inches with one push of button. If I held button down it would open to the back but not fully down. What is the spoiler position, I'm not sure what you mean by that

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Pleased to hear it's cured the issue.

The 'spoiler' position is the first stop when the roof opens i.e. when it reaches the plastic 'spoiler' above the rear window. Fully down obviously is when it's hanging over the boot. The latter is the reason the boot won't open, because the controller doesn't 'know' where the roof is until you initialize it.

Now you're ready for the one day day in a British summer when the sun actually shines!

Piccolo is the main person to thank as thought about and posted the initialisation procedure.

Is there a simple check the owner can do to see if boot loom needs changing ?
If so please post it.
Unless it's already been covered.

jackwhoo said:

Piccolo is the main person to thank as thought about and posted the initialisation procedure.

Is there a simple check the owner can do to see if boot loom needs changing ?
If so please post it.
Unless it's already been covered.

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If you do a search you'll find a number of threads covering that issue, such as;
https://www.fiatforum.com/500/319901-500c-damaged-wires-boot-lid.html

I've noticed the plastic sleeving on my boot cable is splitting, which is not surprising as it's quite taut when the boot's open and clearly stretched over the edge of the lid. This appears to be one of the few areas where FIAT have acknowledged and addressed a problem. My 500C Lounge is a 2012 build while my wife's Pop is a 2013, and hers has a cable fully twice as long; so long, in fact, it has to be clipped to the boot supports to keep from getting caught in the lid.