Hi. So we took on a Fiat 500C from a family member which had a broken roof. From peering between the headliner, I originally thought it was just the tension strap clasp on one side which was broken, so I replaced that with a new part and when I operated the roof, there was a load of crunching. On closer inspection when stripping the roof apart (thanks YT), I found that lots of the plastic parts attaching the roof to the runners were broken. So I bought a 3D printed replacement kit off eBay.
After a couple of days of work, I managed to get all the new plastic bits fitted, and have got the car back together again. Thankfully there was no damage to the runners, and moving the roof back and forth seems pretty smooth to me.
However, I can't give myself a pat on the back just yet, because I am unable to open the boot, and I have tried the reset procedure many times for the roof, and I just can't get it to work. The roof goes back and forth just fine, and is not impeded. From closed, ignition on, I am holding the open button down until it reaches fully open, and then wait 3-5 seconds, before letting go. I then hold my finger on the close button until it is fully closed, but it isn't triggering the Fiat cycling procedure to re-calibrate. Instead, it seems like the roof is repeatedly trying to move forward with nowhere to go, making a sort of stretching taught sound coming from the rear.
I have loosened off the tension straps to no avail (and if anyone can advise me on how tight they're supposed to be when the roof is closed, that would be great because I can't find any instruction or advice anywhere on the web).
I've charged the battery, have locked the car and reopened it, tried it with just the ignition on and with the engine running, made sure all the doors are closed, etc.
I managed to get the procedure to run on one occasion - it didn't make the same noises when closed, and cycled through the procedure. However, the roof still didn't operate with the 3 positions afterwards, and the boot wouldn't open.
A very frustrating end, to a couple of longs days, and what was seemingly a good result until the final hurdle!
I'd be very grateful to hear from anyone who has fixed the same problem, or knows how to. Thanks for reading.
After a couple of days of work, I managed to get all the new plastic bits fitted, and have got the car back together again. Thankfully there was no damage to the runners, and moving the roof back and forth seems pretty smooth to me.
However, I can't give myself a pat on the back just yet, because I am unable to open the boot, and I have tried the reset procedure many times for the roof, and I just can't get it to work. The roof goes back and forth just fine, and is not impeded. From closed, ignition on, I am holding the open button down until it reaches fully open, and then wait 3-5 seconds, before letting go. I then hold my finger on the close button until it is fully closed, but it isn't triggering the Fiat cycling procedure to re-calibrate. Instead, it seems like the roof is repeatedly trying to move forward with nowhere to go, making a sort of stretching taught sound coming from the rear.
I have loosened off the tension straps to no avail (and if anyone can advise me on how tight they're supposed to be when the roof is closed, that would be great because I can't find any instruction or advice anywhere on the web).
I've charged the battery, have locked the car and reopened it, tried it with just the ignition on and with the engine running, made sure all the doors are closed, etc.
I managed to get the procedure to run on one occasion - it didn't make the same noises when closed, and cycled through the procedure. However, the roof still didn't operate with the 3 positions afterwards, and the boot wouldn't open.
A very frustrating end, to a couple of longs days, and what was seemingly a good result until the final hurdle!
I'd be very grateful to hear from anyone who has fixed the same problem, or knows how to. Thanks for reading.
- Model
- Fiat 500C
- Year
- 2014
- Mileage
- 36000
