Having a problem with my roof. Hopefully someone can advise. I have not had the top down for at least 6 months. Today a lovely day so thought I would have the top down but running into a problem. I have researched on here and watched the great vid from Scott about all the issues so I have been through everything now this avo and cant see any major issues. Here is what is happening: Car in N, handbrake on, all doors closed. Open roof, can hear the windscreen pillar micro switch click. Windows drop an inch or so. Roof push back with my hand (elastic is there but weak) I hear the upper microswitch click as the front part of the roof folds and contacts the switch. Beep once. Press and hold the roof into the open position. Click from the area of the pump. (if I press the switch on each press I can hear the click - I assume one of the relays) Nothing else happens. No beeps. No other strange sounds. IF at this point I then try to close the roof again the pump does start and fires forward the small rams on the top of the frame and the front most part of the roof slides back down and if I lock the roof down the seats start to motor backwards. So its the secondary part of the process which is being prevented from running. So, I have had the pump cover off and checked the relays and fuses all looks ok. I have switched the relays over to no avail. I also have a generic spare relay and have tried that too - no avail. I have checked the lower microswitch and its not closed - its in the normally open position. I believe this is the stop switch so its correct that its in the normally open position to allow the roof to open and then when the lower part of the frame hits the switch it closes the switch and the pump will stop. The prongs / forks of the roof lower mechanism are seated on their pins ok. I have checked the fluid. It looks nice, smidge dark but still plenty in the tank - its sitting between min and max. So, I tried the manual button. All fine, the pump spins up, the roof opens and closes as normal. Obviously this takes all the micro switches out the equation so I have to be careful but it proves I have ok hydraulics and ok pump and also power to the pump etc. So something is stopping the cycle. The only odd thing that is happening is the pax seat. This is not fully returning. Could this be an issue? Is seat position connected to the roof mechanism? With the seat as far back as it will go if I run the seat forward say 3" and then stop, then press the seat runner swtich backwards then the seat only moves about 1" and stops. It does not return to the full back position. If I keep pressing back it wont move. Its now 2" forward of where it was. Then if I run the seat all the way forward it will then go all the way back. Weird... but I suspect its connected? I have checked behind the seats etc to check its not clogged. Bit stuck now so any advice is more than welcome!!
The passenger seat potentiometer has broken and is preventing the roof from opening. You need to fix it, replace it, bypass it, turn it into a manual roof, or ... leave it up. Those are the choices.
All seat commands go through the roof controller. The roof will not drop until it sees the seat in the fully forward position. Seat position is determined by a potentiometer under each seat. Seat potentiometers are usually not available or are hideously expensive if they do appear for sale. Fortunately, there are various ways of repairing potentiometers. Usually a certain part of potentiometer fails. You’ll find a 3D printed replacement for this part on eBay for U$30 plus P&H. https://www.ebay.com/itm/143665671697 There were repair instructions on that link last time I checked. This fix usually works, unless the seat potentiometer slider contact is really tight. Lubrication does not always help. If your local independent Ferrari tech is like mine, he may have some old broken potentiometers hanging around his workshop which may be more suitable for repair (not knowing a repair kit is available). 4 bolts hold the seat in position. Make sure you don’t get the seat jammed in the fully aft position or you won’t be able to remove the aft bolts. It may be necessary to have the system recalibrated by someone with a Ferrari SD1 tool after the repair if you don’t put set up the seat potentiometer correctly. This is a relatively simple process for a Ferrari tech. Wiring diagrams are available for the roof/seat circuit if required. Good luck!
Good luck finding a working SD1 tool to recalibrate the seat. There is a good possibility of grabbing on to the motor connector wires (under the seat), and give it 12V, in order to move the seat back and forth. Once you remove the seat, you take the god-damn potentiometer from the motor shaft and spin it so that it maxes out in the direction of Forward movement. Then you hang it out of the way. From that point on, the computer will always think of its passenger as being forward limited. Then it will always open the roof. The only down side is YOU have to manually move the seat back and forth to be out of the way of the roof. That is usually not a hard thing to do.
Ok thanks chaps. I have (I think) acquired the failed part - so hopefully no messing about trying to rebuild the potentiometer. I am now searching through the threads about replacing it! If not then I will have to have it changed out by a pro.
Just a quick update, the new part has arrived and looks correct. I have decided to get it swapped by my local indy so no update now for a month while I wait for it to be done. In the mean time I can drop the roof when I want with the manual switch.
Update... So it took a bit of faffing about but its sorted now. This was because the replacement jaguar potentiometer was acting weird and not giving the readings very well it would jump around a lot which meant it was also giving very similar fault to the failed unit. (possibly because it had been sat on a shelf for 20 years) So in the end they decided to use the jaguar housing and worm gears and reuse the factory potentiometer. Glad I didnt try this fix myself tbh as I would have ended up chasing my tail. As with all things my next job is to acquire the parts to do the other side as I have no doubt it will not be long before that fails.
The Jaguar/Ferrari potentiometers are now being remanufactured, but still the most likely problem is the ball and socket inside the pot. These cost a lot less than a complete potentiometer. Thanks for the update.
The ad below says one left, two sold, but I’m sure there was 4. I assumed they were being remanufactured because 4 of these rare parts don’t suddenly appear on the market, especially new ones. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/144052195866?mkevt=1&mkcid=1&mkrid=710-53481-19255-0&campid=5338722076&toolid=10001 Or were you referring to the 3D ball kit?
Have to issue a correction here. I contacted the eBay seller, and he told me that they are old Jaguar stock. (EDIT) This looks like aftermarket, however... https://www.ferrariparts.co.uk/part/ferrari/64978300-a?id=434914
FWIW: I routed the wires from the bypass switch to the main switch to correct the same problem. Windows still go down automatically.
Clever! If it helps anyone I got mine from Simply Performance Limited, Surrey,RH54QU No affiliation. The guy who makes the 3d printed parts is currently out of stock but is refreshing stock soon, FWIW.
