C70 Roof problems

[Tannaton]

Originally Posted by Jturne

My 1999 C70 has only 32,000 miles but convertible top electric motors, etc. have crashed. Has anyone ever heard of converting the raising and lowering to a manual operation to avoid huge expense to repair? Has anyone got any tips or suggestions if such a conversion is possible?

You need to get the car to a dealer or Independent Volvo specialist who as VIDA or similar - the roof ECU does log faults and should be able to tell you why it no longer works. It's work spending £50 or so to know whether it's a simple microswicth or mortgage needed job....

[Aladdin]

Originally Posted by S1_RS

Is it not possible to do away with all the logic and associated micros switches and manually operate each stage. Surely as long as the motors all work you can wire them to some switch gear and relays. You would need to operate them in the correct order but it would save either an expensive bill or at worst, scrappage!

My tonneau cover stopped working now the roof switch is unresponsive, I managed to open the boot and close the roof manually. I am also of the opinion that if I can add a switch panel and wire each motor bypassing the micro switches, I could operate each motor in turn.

Thoughts?

[krussel]

Originally Posted by Aladdin

My tonneau cover stopped working now the roof switch is unresponsive, I managed to open the boot and close the roof manually. I am also of the opinion that if I can add a switch panel and wire each motor bypassing the micro switches, I could operate each motor in turn.

Thoughts?

That prob is possible but I recon that would be more involved work than having the codes read and tracing down the problem with the roof.

Perhaps a 2nd hand Module / a couple of micro switches and a recab may be all you need.

[Tannaton]

I've been doing a bit more reading and experimenting. The main problem that I face at the moment is that although VIDA can read all of the values of the switches and sensors/potentiometers in the roof system - to program it you need the old Volvo Scan Tool (VST). If you replace the roof ECU, sensors or do any work you may need to recaliberate the roof for it to work properley.

I don't know much about the Volvo Scan Tool - are there any other third party systems that can do the same job? I gather that as it was proprietory Volvo hardware (not PC based) very few people have them outside of the dealer network.

[Colmac]

If I were an engineer, which I Am not, I would be looking at it from a completely manual point of view.
Electronics and computers = big bucks for main dealers and problems for DIY mechanics.
How much effort would it have been for Volvo to design a robust manual system instead of the flimsy two tool operation we got.
Colmac

[happy diver]

http://www.google.com.au/url?sa=t&rc...YlTJgQ-kNWuU0A

[Tannaton]

Originally Posted by Colmac

If I were an engineer, which I Am not, I would be looking at it from a completely manual point of view.
Electronics and computers = big bucks for main dealers and problems for DIY mechanics.
How much effort would it have been for Volvo to design a robust manual system instead of the flimsy two tool operation we got.
Colmac

The problem with electronics and computers is - unlike mechanical systems - you can't just look at them and decipher how they work and why they are broken. If you do understand them - they are easy - but if you don't it's witchcraft. The problem i think with the C70 roof is that it is not well documented and the dealers work with them so infrequently that they don't become "expert" at it.

[krussel]

Even the SC901 stereo knows if the hood is up or down and adjusts the feq accordingly.

What chance do you have.

[Tannaton]

Originally Posted by krussel

Even the SC901 stereo knows if the hood is up or down and adjusts the feq accordingly.

What chance do you have.

A good chance I think (or maybe hope?) - because it's all 90s electronics there is a signal wire from the roof ecu for each command rather than it all being on a data bus or network.

The pinouts and colours of the wires are documented in VIDA. When the Roof is down it changes the eq on the SC901, disables the rear heated window, disables the air con compressor and switches the fan off if it is in auto mode.

Hoping to get a good weekend on it soon so I can bore you all with my findings.

[Marcetta]

Mine is a 2013 hardtop, It goes down fine, but when I tried to put it up the other day the trunk latch sensor was not sensing that the trunk was closed and it wouldn't let me close it. It was definetly closed. After quite a while of opening and shutting the trunk and trying two different key fobs to see if the trunk latch worked (it did not with the fob) it finally sensed it was closed. And I was able to put the top up as usual. Now I'm scared to put the top down. We have no idea how to put a 2013 hardtop up manually despite calling the dealership and searching the web. A sensor problem maybe? Any idea how much it would cost to fix a sensor for a trunk latch, there are no other problems within the car that I've noticed. Is it as simple as a fuse? I wish.