Help please ! Soft top sticking.

[mrt]

Hi everyone.

 

Any advice please as i,ve just tried lowering the roof on my 05 Roadster Zed and it won,t fully retract ! Works fine until the last six inches then sticks and bounces back slighltly as though something was in the space reserved for the hood. Had a look when i had half retracted it and there is no obvious obstacle. The car only has 19000 miles on the clock and is as good as new all round.Is this a common problem ?

 

Roger

 

mrt

[SteveM]

It's cold.... End of

 

They say not to use it under 5 degrees but its more like 10 degrees. Park it in the sun and warm the roof and all will be fine. The sun is out but it's still pretty chilly

Edited February 19, 2013 by SteveM

[martinmac]

A bit of silicon spray on the joints may help but they dont like cold weather. Try opening and closing a few times and it will get there.

[Yarlsberg]

have had the same problem this winter on a 57. lets see if it stops doing it once the weather warms up

[Will370z]

Common issue in the cold, same used to happen to mine and a friends.

[dErZ]

Happens to me too, like the others have said warm the hood up in the sun, dont put it down in cold weather and rock it back and forth and it will go down eventually.

 

I dont put it down now if its cold for fear of damaging the motors/hood etc...

[NeilMH]

Same as the others. Normally problem is as described above. The manual says not to operate the roof under 5 degrees centigrade, I believe.

[WhackyWill]

Had the same problem with my Merc roof, was told it is to do with the viscosity of the hydraulic fluid in cold weather.

[kosson]

i have a 2006 350z and same problem last week but now it will not lock in place at the rear so there is a gap under the rear window section as the lock will not pull the hood tightly closed.

 

has anyone a so;ution to this problem for me.

 

I should have known it was too early in the year to open it.

[Ridz]

It's definately temperature related.

 

Below 5 deg C the motor isn't powerful enough to fully retract the hood on cold days. I have the same problem with my roadster.

 

Best solution is to keep the joints well lubricated, (careful application of spray grease is recommended )

 

In cold weather. turn the a/c to max. screen setting and allow the hood to warm up.

 

If the sun is shining so mutch the better. Once the hood "flexes" when you gently press it with your hand, it should be ready to retract.

 

Don't be afraid to try to retract the hood 2 or 3 times, it will usually go down.

 

If all else fails, do what I do, get someone to operate the hood, and once it gets to the sticking point, give it a good push. It usually sticks on the drivers side.

 

But step back smartly, otherwise you'll get trapped!

 

Hope this helps.

 

Roll on the warmer weather!

[lcaller]

Just a note on this. I just took the car back to Glynn Hopkins under warranty for the exact "fault" . I've just been told it's a known issue and not a fault recognised by Nissan and it's to do with the temperature. There is no fix that they can mechanically do.

 

Their suggestion, try it two or three times , give it a push or ....... wait till it warms up!

[KC350Z]

wait till it warms up or at least put the heaters on in the car for abit to help warm it up first DO NOT PUSH OR FORCE IT YOU WILL CAUSE DAMAGE

[rabbitstew]

My hood occasionally did the same when it was very cold. Rocking it back and forwards on the button used to solve it, but in general dont try and put the hood down when its cold.

[Yarlsberg]

yep as soon as the weather warmed up this has stopped happening.

[rabbitstew]

yep as soon as the weather warmed up this has stopped happening.

 

Probably been too hot to put roof down this weekend!