Astra Bertone Convertible roof problem

[Westcliff67]

Hello All

Hope you are all keeping safe and well.

Last year I was opening the rook on my 2001 Bertone Convertible, the roof got half way back - the front had come up, the rear window had risen upright, then the roof stopped and beeping started.

I managed to put the roof down manually by cranking the roof latches back in place with an allen key.

Went out for a trip and obviously the tonneu cover was not locked down. I manually locked the roof.

Fast forward to 2020 and furlough lockdown and I'm having a go at fixing the roof. I downloaded some instructions and schematics. So far I have found that the wiring loom in the boot was damaged previously and repaired with insulation tape. I soldered these wires and heat shunk them, the boot light now works and the micro switch is ok.

in the roof storage area on the passenger side the micro switch was tested ok, on the driver side there is a wiring loom that runs into the roof I opened it up and found several wires broken and repaired them correctly.

The Micro switch under the hand brake works correctly (red light on dash when applied), I changed the roof latch motor.

The hydraulic pump in the boot is filled to the correct level both up and down, there are no leaks on the any of the hydraulic rams or pipework.

I tried to reset the Roof ECU by having the roof front open, the rear window in the op right position and the tonneu cover is down but not locked, the engine and ignition are off.

Turn the key to the on position and hold the roof close button. still nothing, the only thing left is to change the roof ECU.

My unit is CCC1-101023 and a number 81050797 - I can get a emplacement but the number is 81050801 or 81050811. Does any one know if these will work on my car? 

[Vauxhall Owners Club]

Not sure the ECU would work without programming into the system but certainly worth a try if its cheap enough.

Certainly sounds like its had many issues in the past.

Keep us updated on how it all goes

[Westcliff67]

Hi everyone

Quick update, I just won on ebay an ECU for £12.60 for a car enthusiast who was scrapping him cabby with the right OEM number. If I get it by the weekend I will fit it.

I found how to take the old one out. I will lock the roof in the down position. I found that by reaching down the side flap on the roof you can access the Tonneu cover hydraulic ram and lock the roof down. Hopefully, once locked down and a new ECU the roof will work. If not I will have to look at the wiring again. Or I might have to bite the bullet and try replacing the hydraulic roof pump (I have a spare when I bought the passenger door with other bits I bought recently)

Keep you all updated as I think I've been over just about every part of the car that normally does not get seen

Cliff

[Vauxhall Owners Club]

Let us know how it goes

[Westcliff67]

Update for the roof

So I removed all the trim from inside the boot to get access to the Roof ECU, I replaced it with the one I got from Ebay from a known working car. 

I reset the roof positions and turn on, now I get 12 beeps instead of the 6 beeps from before the replacement. The only thing left to do replace the roof hydraulic pump.

tune in soon for the next installment of Cabby Roof problems

Cliff

[Vauxhall Owners Club]

Looking forward to the update Cliff

[AndyR]

Hi Cliff, Did you manage to sort out the cabby roof problems? I see from previous posts that it was being a bit of a mare. 

Hope all has gone well. 

Regards Andy

[Westcliff67]

HI Andy

I've still not been able to sort the problem. Every thing seems to be Ok with the wiring. I've replaced the Pump, ECU and the Electric locking motor. 

I think the only thing left is for me to strip out the interior to gain access to the main rams and check the microswitches for these. 

This is something I have been putting off as I need to strip out the rear seats, then the side panels and I have no idea how to do that on the Cabby.

I'm planning on spending more time over the summer on this problem. However...

The cabby is in the garage for a sump change - I hit an exposed water hydrant puling into my drive way. I came to a very sudden and abrupt stop and grounded myself on the hydrant.

Once removed and taken to my friendly car doctor, he found a replacement sump for about £86 but the oil filter adaptor had a crack in it and oil leaked from that.

Que Vauxhall main dealer part....oh dear thinks me, but was surprised to find a replacement part only cost an additional £53ish. 

I hope to get the car back this week.

I will keep you updated to this tale of woe

[AndyR]

Well that's one way of doing a quick oil change. Good luck with the cabby roof. Hopefully the sun will shine over the summer. 

[Westcliff67]

Thanks AndyR

[Westcliff67]

So new update about the sump problem. Once I got the car back I drove it for about 2 miles and noticed a rumbling from the front of the car and the ABS and traction control lights came on. Strangely the lights went out when restarted. 

Took it back to the garage who did the work and gave it a really good inspection. my man found that the rear engine mount was cracked and everything was slightly out of line. Unfortunately that is another main dealer part about £90 odd. I'm just waiting for it to come in then the garage can fit it.

Keep you posted 

[AndyR]

I guess the sudden stop caused the engine mount to fail. Hopefully once the garage has done the mount you can get back to fiddling with that roof problem.  Sun is due out soon.

[Westcliff67]

It is just around the corner, and we have had some cracking weekends that I've not been able to work on the cabby. Luckily one of my work colleagues has acquired one of those ODBC readers that reads everything the car does so hopefully I can read the sensor codes to find out what has failed. Just hope it does just say "unable to determine the roof position" Now that would be a real kick in the a**e

[Westcliff67]

Hi All.

Now the engine mount has been replaced I have noticed that clanking and banging going over speed bumps has stopped and the car now steers in the direction I want it to go in. 

Not been able to get hold of my friends reader as yet but some good weather coming means I might be able to get to the bow rams and look at the micro switches at the top and bottom of these monsters

keep you all posted 

[AndyR]

Yay mobile again.  Glad to hear it's all good. Look forward to hearing about a successful fix on the roof.

[Paul Bradford]

Hi Westcliff,

 

We're ex of Southend. How did you get on with your roof problem? Was it sorted, or still ongoing? I have the same problem with mine. I had to replace a split hydraulic hose and refill the reservoir after the roof failed. The boot lock had stopped opening on the central locking earlier than the roof packed up. It was temperamental, only opening from time to time. I understand it might be related to the roof problem and linked to the roof ECU. Another thing I read last night was about disconnecting the battery for a 24 hour period to let the roof ECU power down completely. I'm about to try that.

Paul

[geo]

Hi guys,I've done all what you have done and pulled my hair out lol,

If your roofs oil level is ok then spray all your micro switches with electrical spray and move the switch in and out manually a few times then it should work .

Good luck.

[Paul Bradford]

Hi All, especially Westcliff67 with the roof problem.

I'd sent off my ECU to be tested, assuming that was the problem as I'd sourced a new boot lock solenoid of the right model (very hard to come by). Having changed that, it made no difference, so I thought it must be the ECU. That came back, tested, no faults (a reasonable charge for testing). Having used my OPCOM tester again, it still showed the same fault code B1010-0 Invalid State. I wondered where to go from there, but, the ECU tester had sent me a roof reset procedure, which I hadn't seen anywhere else.

Apparently, the ECU might not recognise the current position of your roof because it failed in a different position. I imagine, you could have the same problem changing the ECU as the roof from the car it was taken from, could have been in a different position. 

Manually wind the roof and fold it back into the open position and let the lid cover drop. (I couldn't get my roof lid to lock down completely, even after trying a couple of times, so decided to continue). Use the OPCOM device to erase the code. This I had done before, but all with the roof in the closed position. Now the code erased and didn't return. The roof worked! I was so surprised not to hear the beeping. I tried the roof a few times and it's fine. I need to top up the hydraulic oil a bit.

The instructions go on to say that 'If the fault code does not erase after this procedure has been followed, then all of the position switches and the release lever switches will need to be tested for correct function, as this will indicate one of the switches is in an incorrect open or closed position'.

Now, the car works as it should. It could do with a respray to freshen it up, but I think that will cost too much. I'm thinking of getting it wrapped, but all of the companies that I have contacted, have not replied. I can only think the model is too old to be on their vinyl computer.

[Kimmo]

I'm surprised to read the roof worked after using the manual override; after having the latch drive unit apart, that makes no sense to me. When you poke an allen key in, it engages with a steel shaft with a worm drive on the end, which bears on a brass gear on another steel shaft with splines poking out of the unit, which engages the flexible drive shafts... so far, so good.

But closer to the allen key socket, there's a little splined section which holds a plastic gear which bears on the worm drive from the motor. There's no way you can spin a worm drive by turning the gear engaged with it; it just wants to push the worm along and it can't. I figured this explained why that gear was plastic instead of brass; it's sacrificial. Either the splines will strip, or in my case, the gear just broke in half.

Anyway, in the end I figured out that these TS/Mk4/G Astra convertibles share parts with E46 BMWs. If you search 67618370816, you'll find an aftermarket brass replacement for the plastic gear. Replacing the plastic gear with a brass one will prevent the manual override from working, but then again the gear won't strip like a plastic one would, which I'd guess would account for >90% of the reasons for needing to use the override.

Also a bloke called Mike Ellis made a very detailed guide all about these roofs; I've got a copy up here (I gather it's public domain).

I posted a detailed explanation of my experience fixing one here: https://www.astraownersnetwork.co.uk/threads/ts-mk4-g-astra-convertible-roof-latch-motor-fix.377009/#post-6232746 which includes a how-to on reducing the friction in the latches to stop the motor stalling.

Edited October 4, 2023 by Kimmo
Added a bit

[Kimmo]