Roof wont recline

Hi

My wife bought a copen before all the bad weather hit. Before we bought it the roof was slow. The sellers topped up the hydraulic fluid and that fixed the problem, so we bought the car.

Now the cold weather has passed Laura went to put the roof down, but it would only get as far as lifting the boot up and it was slow at doing it again, the roof would not actually recline.

So we looked at the hydraulic fluid again, and it was less than 1/2 full, so we topped it back up (learning how to do that was difficult ).

Now the boot lifts really quickly, but the top still wont decline. Someone I know suggested maybe the system needed bleeding, but I cant find any info on how to do it.

Can some kind soul suggest how to bleed the hydraulics please? Or if there is something else I could check that explains why the process stops at the point the top should drop down.

Thanks
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Stuart

 

OK. I took the back of the car apart like in the thread linked from that thread. After I could see the cylinders I saw no evidence of leaks around the second stage pumps. There is also no sign of a leak around the pump itself.

Is there anywhere else I should look? I was checking the entry points where the tubes from the pump enter the cylinder for the source. I'll stick some pictures up but it all looks clean and dry to me.

I also operated the roof with the cylinders exposed to see whether there is any movement. Does this look normal?

I will continue to look for the leak but in the mean time could you explain how to bleed the system for these cylinders (I'm a total novice at car maintenance)?

Thanks
--
Stuart

 

I added it to a Google album. Hope its close enough for you to see that there's nothing leaking around the cylinders.

https://plus.google.com/u/0/photos/104898468572844437566/albums/5887151072464062225

After feeling around anywhere that looked like it was related to the pump I found that the bottom of the reservoir (around the jubilee clip) has fluid coming out. I cleaned it up with some kitchen towel, ran the roof a few times and then checked again and there was more fluid.

I'm assuming that's my leak? But as the reservoir is still it doesn't explain why the roof wont drop. Any suggestions on what to look at next? (I still want to try bleeding it but still don't know how).

Thanks
--
Stuart

 

So I grabbed the service manual and went through what I could. At the end of it I had still got no further, and it was suggested that we give it to westaways in Northampton as they are a diahastu dealership.

They took the car and did a diagnostic, which showed no problems. They then talked to someone higher up who said we need to replace the entire roof at a cost of £2750.

This is more than we payed for the car! :-(( Does this sound right, and can anyone else think of anyone else near us to try?

Help!

 

Yes, there is a toyota dealership down the road.

After looking at the receipt it says

Strip down and find hydraulic unit needs replacing
Unit code 66810-97201-000.

I can't believe there is an item on the car that costs more than the car itself!

 

Unfortuantely we cant afford another £80 for someone else to look at it . I tried searching on ebay for copen hydraulic pump, but none of them seemed to look like the pump.

What did you search for (or is one of the other hits what I'm actually looking for?)

 

If I bought this is it a complicated task to replace it? Is it something I could do myself? I can do basic stuff with cars, change brakes, oil + filter etc, is this out of my league?

Does anyone know anyone that's more of a copen specialist in northamptonshire that could help with this? Or the nearest specialist to Northampton.

I'm just worried that this was a rubbish diagnosis (aka a waste of money)