What goes up... My 355 Roof:-(! wont go down

Sounds like the seat potentiometer raises its ugly head. Don't be too discouraged. You can fix this yourself for nothing.

 

You need to bleed the air out of the hydraulic fluid tank. It is easy to do: remove cap you will find a screw which you need to turn while you operate the top from the 2 small switches which work by bypassing the potentiometers. Try that if that doesn't work then you need to check the fluid level if it is low you will need to refill.
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Not sure that it will be the seat pots if it's letting the seats move back and fourth, I too would check the fluid levels first followed by bleeding the system. Then I would check the micro switches that control the next move.

 

The tank is under the leather-covered box shown in the first photo in this thread. Remove the two black screws shown at the right hand side of the photo and the same screws on the other side. Once the cover is off you'll see the reservoir at the bottom, and a fill line on the left side.

 

It would be wise to check the Hydraulic oil. It is very easy to refill and you can use standard hydraulc jack oil from any local auto parts store. Works great. If you need help with the procedure, there a a couple postings that detail the procedure here on Fchat.

 

Yeah, low oil isn't the cause, but a good thing to check every year anyway.

Hmmmm... doesn't seem like seat pots, doesn't seem like low oil. I'm stumped.

 

I am not totally convinced that the potentiometers are NOT the problem. The computer needs to read the values of the potentiometer to determine where the seats are when you push the button, then the cpu will move the seats forward before activating the top to open. If the potentiometer is broken and its value does not change, then the cpu does not think that it has moved at all, and not allow the top to open. Hence, the seat moves, but the top does not open.

I don't know how you can check for this (without an SD-2) other than removing the seat and see if the pots work or not.

Good luck.

 

Sorry Mitchel, you may be right, I just checked on mine which at the moment still has a faulty pot, I've left it wired up but dangling under the seat, not connected to the drive spindle. If the pot is seeing the fully back value then it still automates the roof in either direction, the pot drive shaft may just be spinning in it's cup therefore never reaching the fully forward value!
Can someone pass me the "stoooopid" hat

 

That makes sense, that if the pot is stuck in a rearward-reading position the seat would still move.

So, the next step should be to check the pots:

put the seats all the way forward, (careful when you get to the end of the range, since it's probably going to hit a mechanical stop rather than being stopped by the pot)
turn the key to the off position.
Unplug the seat pots (drivers side and passenger side)
measure the resistance between the pink and the brown wires, should be around 4.4k Ohms
plug the seat pots back in
turn the key to the on position
move the seats all the way back (careful here, since there is also no stop-signal coming from the pots in this direction)
turn the key off
unplug the pots and measure the resistance from the pink wire to the brown wire again.
I don't know off the top of my head, what the value should be at the rearward position, but it should be different from the forward position, and the seat pots should have roughly the same value as each other.

I posted a thread about repairing pots last week, I'll post a link.

 

Here it is.
http://ferrarichat.com/forum/showthread.php?t=288373

 

damn bro, this sucks. I feel for ya. Don't get discouraged from the model, we all know how much fun they are when working properly. I'll probably never buy a 355 spider though, only because of all the weird finicky crap that happens when the top goes up and down kinda scares me. GL with the fix!

 

i think i can help you. is your top closing and opening half way? if so, try to close the top as far as you can. then manually with your hand, push the second horizontal bar on the top from the front part of the top back, and then try closing it the top normally.it sounds complicated, but its very simple. it will work. if it doesn't make sense then send me an email at [email protected] and we will go from there. good luck

 

Is your top still ot working? After you tried all those things. Good luck.

 

I was looking for an old thread where it shows a step by step on how to refill the fluid reservoire. I followed it and have not had a problem since.

It is possible to have the top lower and not come up if the fluid is low. The lines may have been bubble free just enough to put the top down. I will continue to search forthat thread.

 

You can remove the pots from the drive shafts, tie them off to the side after you adjust them to read the values of the most forward positions, and then you never have to worry about them again.

 

I would start by checking your power top fluid, (Mercedes-Benz hydraulic top fluid is recommended), if you cannot find the thread it is easy to do, (unlike most things on this car):

1. Tip both seat back's forward.
2. Remove the cover between the seats and check the level.
3. If low remove the bolt on the side and inject new fluid in with a syringe, (I used a kid's plastic medicine syringe).
4. Reinstall the bolt and cover, check top operation.

The top on my car was working perfectly when I got it but I checked the fluid just for the heck of it and it was half empty so I topped it up, (I believe it seeps out through the hydraulic fitting's and hoses over time as there were no leaks). Take a look at a part's diagram of the top on Ricambi's site as a reference - good luck!

 

I was told by my service manager that this stuff evaporates over time.
Seems hard to believe, but who knows.

 

The roof was the main reason I sold my F355.

It was back and forth to the dealer three times over two years because the roof would get stuck.

If I ever buy another F355 it will be a GTS

 

Makes sense .......... as when I refilled mine it was about 80% empty and no trace of any fluid leaking anywhere ..............

 

0. If driving, pull to the side of the road
1. Right hand, turn key to on position
2. Right hand, engage gear box at Neutral
3. Left hand, reach up and unlatch top
4. Right hand, push top back until beep
5. Left hand, pull parking brake
6. Right hand, push top open button, wait
7. Seats moved, top opens, seats moved back
8. Left hand, open door
9. Left hand, unlatch front trunk
10. Get out of car, remove boot cover
11. Close trunk on left
12. Walk around car, close trunk on the right
13. Open up boot, engage boot snaps on the right
14. Walk around car, engage boot snaps on the left
15. Open door, get back in
16. Reset parking brake
17. Drive off.

17 steps, that is not too complicated ... Geez. Give me a manual top. There is only one automated step above, I got to do the rest of the 16 steps anyway.