General Glass roof - anyone actually open it?

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General Glass roof - anyone actually open it?

Flipping heck. Perhaps I can start to appreciate why they charged so much for the glass roof now. Looks like a total nightmare in there.

Thanks very much for the photos though - might be useful if mine packs in.

How easy was taking the lining out? I think the dealer took the windscreen out when they allegedly "fixed" my glass roof. Could be wrong though.
 
easiest roof lining i've ever taken out, I should have done a guide really :eek:
Roof lights out, sun-visors out, A B and C pillar trim off, after i removed both sides i realised you can probably get away with only doing one side of A&B.

There are 2 plastic things either side and 1 in middle off roof in the boot that unscrew.
trim around the holes in centre of roof needs coming off ( to put back on i used rolling pin to tap back)
I pulled the tops of all the door seals down a bit.

Roof handles all need to come off, the screw covers flip down and are hinged, when open they keep handle down.
 
Mine creaked and rattled, so I took off the roof rails and trim and gave all the tracks a really good clean with WD40, kitchen roll and cotton buds, followed by a good squirt of white grease. I also hoovered out then polished all the surrounding areas (before greasing). It's been pretty quiet ever since, and also slides much nicer. Although it still needs a gentle manual assisting pull when it's closing.

I wouldn't seal it shut unless it leaks. The worst case would be to glue it shut and then find it still rattles. Then you're stuck.

I agree - driving with it open is horrible. I only tilt it (the first click) when the car's been parked and is really hot, just until the air con shoves all the hot air out of it. The tilt works great, it's only the sliding that sounds a bit strained.

Looking at the mechanism, it's obvious why it struggles. There are no rollers or bearings etc, just lumps of plastic getting shoved along a metal track. It was never going to work well.

About the above Doof, any instructions?
 
If you've got roof rails then lever off the covers with something gentle and undo all the bolts. Lift the rails off.

The trim just levers off. Start at one end and work along it. Keep hold of the metal clips and note where they come from. There are black ones and shiny ones, for big or small tabs/holes. I can't remember which is which.

Basically the trim has flat tabs sticking out (downwards), along its length. The roof has rectangular holes that the tabs go into. There's a barbed metal clip that goes between the two. These will often be left behind in the holes - take them out and clip them onto the tabs on the trim before refitting.

Alternatively, if you are Perrys of Portsmouth (the main Fiat dealer who "repaired" my roof under warranty), just leave the clips in the holes then whack the trim on really hard so that the clips get mangled and crushed into the holes as the tabs stuff down the side of them. I'd like to know whether yours has sticky-backed velcro under the trim, as mine did and I suspect it was added by Perrys after they realised the clips weren't gripping after they'd ruined them. I just re-formed all the clips back into their intended shape and removed the velcro and it slotted back together fine.

After you've got the trim off, it should be obvious what's what. Get lots of clean cloths and cotton buds. My approach was to remove everything (muck and old grease) using WD40 as a solvent/lube, then a good squirt of white grease everywhere. Mine was much better but not perfect after this. Others here have said that silicone grease was better - I'd agree, the white grease isn't that good over time so silicone is probably the way to go. Get it from a plumbers supplier. You need the thick stuff, not the runny oily stuff or you'll get a ruined roof liner.

I found it easiest to work with the roof open, standing/kneeling inside the car sticking my body out of the roof, pope-style.
 
Well the sun came out for the first time yesterday in what seems like 6 months so I thought I'd open the roof. Just to the first notch, mind you, I'm not that brave :) It worked fine and that was that.

Sun still shining this morning so I did the same again. When I tried to close it the anti trap mechanism kicked in and it opened fully. I've tried to close it and it won't budge. I've taken the manual winder out of the rear light and tried to turn it using that but it still won't budge. I've had two people pushing it while I try and turn the winder but still nothing.

Is there anything that needs to be disconnected or bypassed before I use the winder?
 
Lots of WD40, cotton buds, pushing, pulling and then a little bit of winding to finish it off and we got it back into place.

Think I'll disconnect the switch so I'm not tempted to use it again.
 
I just happened to have a mess with mine yesterday - it must be sunroof season.

I previously got mine immaculately clean, then greased. But it's still rubbish - it will work but it really sounds like it's struggling. I usually give it a helping hand when the motor noise drops a few notes.

Mine had got noisy though - twittering, chattering noises from general driving. Plus it seemed like you could hear through it - like it wasn't properly shut. So I opened it up fully, cleaned the rubber seals with surgical spirit then rubbed a few finger-fulls of silicone grease into all the rubber seals. Then closed it and it gave a wonderful creaky bump noise as it closed. It looks like it may be a mm or two lower than it was before, I can't hear traffic noise through it any more and no little constant annoying noises. So I'm very happy with it now and will never open it again.
 
Mine gets WD40'd to the hilt every couple of weeks.

Works lovely.

(So, I'm fully expecting a catastrophic failure tonight now)

It's worth it

Hopefully you won't have a catastophic failure but I'm not sure that it is worth it. It's so noisy that driving at any sort of speed is just annoying, at the very least.
 
The only time I've opened it is after it's been parked in the sun - get the air con on and the roof open and it pushes all the hot air straight out of the top.

It is extremely noisy driving on any roads though - staggeringly so. I'd bet that nobody has ever bought a second convertible car after find out just how pleasant the whole "wind in your hair" thing actually is.
 
I find if I open one of the other windows slightly, it reduces the noise drastically.

As an aside...

The clip that holds the rear sunroof retractable cover snapped off while on holiday, meaning it's always open.

Anyone had this before? Know where to get a replacement?
 
Aye, I like mine.

I have to give it a little help whilst closing tho`, just reach back with 2 hands, grab the handly little lip and give it a tug whilst closing.

you have to open a window alongside it tho`, depends on your velocity opposing wind velocity. An open window stops air compressing inside the cab and popping your ears :)

Only real issue is my balding head getting burnt ~:O)
 
just adding my 2 cents worth...

We open the roof regularly, thanks to the nice weather and an 11 year old with pretensions of becoming Pope someday.... :cool:(y)

Mine is slow and creaky to close, and often goes into 'trap' mode: but my kid found the solution: gentle upward pressure on the trailing edge ( or anywhere really) of the moving panel. We find this works well enough to give us confidence to use it regularly.

I intend to clean the mechanism someday, its filthy and caked in dried white grease.

Hope that helps someone.
 
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