Opensky roof problems

Anyone else had problems with the opensky roof? Wife's car roof no longer works. When button is pushed the roof will move maybe an inch and then make a rapid clicking noise (like clutch slipping or gear teeth jumping). Looking at the motor, I can see the shaft turning when this happens but no movement of the roof. I'd appreciate any advice, but it looks like motor and/or gearbox will need replacing. Has anyone had to do this and if so is it straightforward or a definite dealer job? With the manual override crank handle, I was still able to fully close the roof. - Thanks

Your problem is to do with the splines on the gears, as you correctly thought.

The gears themselves are not available separately, you will have to buy the full motor assembly unfortunately.

I have seen these advertised on Ebay, a few weeks ago now. Failing that, either a breaker or dealer will be the only other options (or you can use www.vagparts.com and benefit from a 10% discount when you join the club membership scheme - shameless plug!!!).

From memory, the motors are about the £100 mark, but don't quote me on that.

As I am at work at the moment, I cannot give you the correct part number, but if you've not got it in the meantime, I'll post it this evening.

Thanks for your comprehensive reply - I already checked motor/gearbox price with Southampton Audi, and got £265 incl vat! Food for thought...

I haven't spotted one on Ebay, but will hopefully track one down - any information on replacement would be appreciated. I have had a bit of a look and there seems to be a number of Torx screws holding it in place.

I would definately have a go myself, as price of motor plus a couple of Audi hours will push £500...

I had similar probelms myself when there was a grating noise when I tried to close my opensky and it stuck....

the Steeler did one of those rubbing his chin whilst breathing in kind of things but in the end they managed to do it for the cost of the basic inspection - mind you that does work out as the most expensive car wash ever....

They claimed that it it gets stuck again then the only solution is a replacement opensky system at 2100+VAT + Fitting.... not a cheap one. VAG are a lot less but I wouldn't fancy fitting it myself!

I may try and remove the gearing and try to get someone at work to make up replacements - If i do and have any sucsess I'll pass on the details.

I've been thinking the same regarding remanufacturing metal replacement parts - I guess the gears are nylon or similar, and the strain of breaking the seal everytime the roof opens has eventually caused a failure.

Hi
A club member in Japan had similar problems with his sunroof and I suggested he contact Arvin Meritor, the original manufacturer, regarding the supply of individual service parts (pretty unlikely I know) See attached links to the original thread and Arvin Open Sky roof
http://www.arvinmeritor.com/media/L...ight_truck_products/roof_systems/CPRS018L.jpg
http://www.a2oc.net/forum/showthread.php?t=3301&highlight=sunroof

Cheers Spike

open sky

I suppose I am tempting fate by saying this but....... My open sky used to stick and frightened the living **** out of me listening to the tortured noises it made attempting to open itself, so much so that I was scared to open it in case it wouldn't close. It went back under warranty a couple of times and I was told it needed adjusting etc. etc., it would be returned working well and looking clean. I decided that probably that's all it needed. Since then I have cleaned it very regularly all around the edges, and every bit of black rubber associated with it, also all the surfaces that mate with the black rubber. You'll need a tooth brush and a clean absorbent cloth (towel is good), remember to clean the brush and towel before returning them to the bathroom before 'er indoors finds out. At this point I would spray all the rubber with silicon grease from Mr VW, and everything worked smoothly with only the slightest clunk when it picked up the rear glass. But..... last week whilst going to get some more silicone grease from Mr Halford I discovered 3in1 PTFE professional (that's me, professional!) spray at £5.99, as against £3.99 for the silicone. I did the cleaning routine and used the magic spray. It worked so well that I did all the caravan window seals with it, and they don't stick any more. I know that it is alleged that silicone furniture spray also works, but not as well as this one. I shall now go out and buy a million 3in1 shares and clean up!
Seriously though folks I hold no brief for any product, but very regular meticulous cleaning and a suitable spray has taken a lot of the fear out of using open sky. I'll now go and try mine because the law according to Dr Sodt says......

Please be very carefull with that silicon spray, probably paints number one enemy according to ZYMOL spray onto a cloth away from the car and wipe on the rubbery bits!

open sky

tdiman, thanks for the tip, I do it carefully using the extension tube, and avoid everything except rubber bits, but I was not aware of the possibility of paint damage. Is PTFE a problem? Is it a silicone? I was not so careful on the caravan but can see no problem at the moment.
I'll give it regular clean and spray treatment and report back after a few weeks. I'll either have a perfectly working open sky, no paint, or both.
I suppose if open skys are a constant problem which is expensive to cure, then taking the fuse out and leaving it closed offers many advantages over non open sky. No doubt as the A2s pass into veteran and vintage classics it may be the only answer. Or the A2 club could get so big that it could have parts manufactured as do many other marques.

As promised, if you need it, here is the appropriate part number for the roof motor:

8Z0 959 591

Best of luck with whatever solution you go for.

I just wish my problem was as simple as sticky rubber....had another look at the motor tonight and it definately looks like the gears are slipping. Also looks a right sob to replace.

I can endorse Hollyrescues recommendation of Silicone spray. My open sky was getting a wee bit stiff and making a few clunks especially when it 'picked up' the rear glass panel. However a thorough spraying with the silicone has (touch wood) solved the problems.

It might not help you now Monkeyfinger but I think regular spraying will help reduce strain on the motor and thus deal with longevity issues.

As an aside a colleague at work had problems with his opensky. The A2 chasis had some how warped. Audi had to fly in a jig from Germany to straighten it!! Lucky for him the car was under warranty.

What we need to do (if we want to get them manufactured (and I have an engineer here who can do it)) is try to obtain this from a wreck so we have an "unblemished" system - or I just bite the bullet and pay for one and sell the spares to make the money back ? What are the gears made of at the moment ?

What I need is some info on how to get the motor gearbox assembly off the car. I had a look last night, and removed 3 torx screws around the assembly, which hold it to the roof, but it is still attached to the cable tubes (?) which I guess push/pull the roof. Is there any workshop manual style info. for this? If I can get it apart then (looks like it splits), I could even produce drawings of the internal parts that may be worn.

Any info. appreciated

Hi
The manual is not too helpful. All it says is -
Remove the interior light
Detatch connector
Unscrew the bolts (item 3) and remove the motor

Installing

The motor may be installed in any desired position of sunroof versus motor
Insert motor into the sunroof and tighten bolts to 4Nm
Connect the motor
Close the roof completely
With the sunroof closed, press the switch to the closed position and hold the switch in this position for approx 10 seconds
This serves to initialise the motor in the basic setting.


Cheers Spike

That's good info - I took the 3 bolts out and the motor seemed fixed, but obviously I need to apply a little more force.

I'm very interested to see what's inside - had a look on ebay, and there are a number of sunroof motors for other vehicles that look very similar, and may contain gears that I could use (other vw's, audis, bmw's etc). The A2 ones seem very rare, although I may get lucky,

Thanks for taking the time to get this information.

Finally got motor off - actually very easy because I had missed a 4th screw which is recessed through the centre of the housing.

I've attached a couple of pictures of the motor assembly which splits into 2 main bits - the motor and gears, and electronic control. There is a sensor (arrowed) which I presume will pickup when the motor is not turning. I'm hoping the cables left in the car are ok, as the manual key override was still working to allow the roof to close. There doesn't appear to be any wear in the gears whatsoever, so as soon as I get a chance I will put 12v on the motor and see what happens.

Meanwhile if anyone knows of a motor for sale...

Hi, good to see you have got the motor off. I had another look at the manual in the hope of finding a test procedure for the motor or troubleshooting info for the roof mechanism but could find nothing extra.

Cheers Spike

Have established that the motor/gearbox is not the problem.

The drive pinion seems to slip intermittently where it engages with the cables that push/pull the glass panels. These seem to be well gunked up with greasy fluff when I look at the engagement point.

Next course of action will be a thorough clean of the rubbers and mechanism - not sure how to approach replacement of the cable assembly at the moment if that becomes necessary...

I think this emphasises the need to keep everything sliding smoothly to reduce the strain on the drive gear.

Will keep you posted

Opensky diagnosis

Had Southampton Audi have a look at my failed roof yesterday - they have condemmed the whole mechanism

Although they lubricated it, the roof is now skewing as it slides forward and back. They are pricing up the bits and I should get a quote tomorrow. I'm pretty sure this will be a four figure sum, so I now have to decide a course of action. Obviously we could treat the roof as just fixed glass and drive as we have been and be fairly happy (climate control helps), but we intend to keep the car for a couple more years yet. The problem would then come when we want to sell the car (best sold privately rather than part exchange I think).

I think we will have to bite the bullet and get the work done in order to enjoy the car and ensure long term value. I will definately get the old mechanism back and have a good poke around with it when the work is completed.

If buying another A2 I would have to think verrrry carefully about the opensky option, as it cannot be worked upon, just thrown away and replaced if it fails. Not a good piece of engineering, but I guess more for design and aesthetics.