Technical Skydome fault

[jollypanda]

At the end of summer, my skydome started making a bad grinding noise when I pushed the button to close it. It closed that time but won't open again (I just get the noise).

I'd like to get the thing fixed properly if economical but am also curious about maybe getting away with a manual workaround.

Haynes mentions a manual roof winder. I don't have one (there's a gap in the spare-wheel toolkit) and can't find one online. I don't even know what it looks like

I wonder actually whether I caused the failure by fitting roof rails and roof bars to the car perhaps adding some unhelpful tension to the roof's innards. If it's a choice between roof bars or sunroof, I'll fix the roof and get a Doblo...

Any advice very much welcomed! I'm no mechanic.

(Happy new year!)

 

[Pugglt Auld Jock]

Our Dynamic Eco has this roof. We've had the car for about 10 months now. Shortly after we got her I started to open the roof one day and Mrs Jock told me to close it immediately! She likes the glass roof and being able to slide the sun shields back and forwards but has never opened the roof as she doesn't like the wind and direct sunlight! Actually I have no particular wish to open it either so, after reading a few entries on the forum about people having problems with these roofs, we've decided we're just going to leave it closed!

 

[varesecrazy]

HI.

I BELIEVE @weesmurf had one IIRC.

I my previous cars the handle was in the trim around the rearview mirror.

Does the handbook not cover this?

Charlie

 

[DaveMcT]

Lack of use could leave the siding tracks dirty. Check the fuse, open it if possible and clean the slides. Check carefully for anything un-towards on the mechanism - switch catches etc.

 

[Wee Smurf]

HI.

I BELIEVE @weesmurf had one IIRC.

I my previous cars the handle was in the trim around the rearview mirror.

Does the handbook not cover this?

Charlie

Indeed I do. I'll check for the tool later if I remember. I'm not home right now and the boot is full of the kids' rubbish!

 

[Wee Smurf]

Please see pics of the skydome tool. It really is just a hex key which measures 2mm flat side to flat side. Mine has always lived in my car jack holder in my spare wheel in the boot.

 

[Wee Smurf]

On the plus side, I lifted much of the kids junk out so my boot is much emptier now!

 

[Pugglt Auld Jock]

Please see pics of the skydome tool. It really is just a hex key which measures 2mm flat side to flat side. Mine has always lived in my car jack holder in my spare wheel in the boot.

Always wondered what it looked like! Becky doesn't have one but looking in the hole in the roof I can see it's a hex so thought an allen key would do the job if necessary. As we don't intend to ever open it hopefully I'll never need to find out.

 

[jollypanda]

Thanks to all who replied and for the photos of the mythical device. I'd been waiting for email notification of a reply, so was surprised to see replies when I googled the fault again and this thread was the first result

It never occurred to me to check the manual for this info, and in any case, my manual was/is not to hand.

My car's a few miles away, so I can't immediately do anything about the new information, but, yeah, thanks for all the comments; very helpful I'll re-investigate sometime this week.

 

[jollypanda]

I have not been able to find the manual roof winding tool. I hoped to find it in the roof under the plastic thing that houses the roof open/close button, but there's nothing in there that looks like it might hold a tool.

Giving up, I took the car to a garage and was told that the repair could cost upwards of £1500, so I decided against that.

I decided to get rid of the car. Then the weather got hot, and pressing the air-blower the "wrong way", I discovered that it sweet, ice-cold air-conditioning. I don't think it's ever been used.

 

[Wee Smurf]

On mine, the winding tool was stored in the spare wheel tool kit. It clicked into a little slot. Can't take any more pics though as I sold my Panda a couple of months ago.

 

[DaveMcT]

Post 8 says the tool is just an allen key (hex key). It's unlikely to be anything unusual so try a few until you find one that fits.

 

[Eddiethemartian]

I had a similar issue - it turned out that the motor had worked loose and the gears weren't meshing properly. I had to pull down the headlining slightly - the motor is above the plastic plug - and get an allan or torx key in there to tighten the bolts that hold the motor to the roof. Simple.

After doing anything like that it's necessary to recalibrate the roof - if I remember rightly it's a case of closing it and keeping the switch held down for a few seconds.

If this is the case then the manual winder won't help at this point - it just turns the motor shaft directly.