Hi folks, just wanted to write up about what happened to the Roof Motor of my 2009 Audi A4 Cabriolet. Basically one day when the car was only 3 years old, the roof got stuck while going up. It went up half way and then no further. I put it down and then tried going up again. This time it worked. I put it down as just "one of those things".
A few weeks later it happened again. This time it wouldn't go up no matter what I tried. With the roof fully down, pressing up on the switch only unlocked the roof compartment - no sound from the motor. However various forum posts suggested that the roof needed resetting by raising it using the manual method (using the red key hidden in the dashboard on the driver's side), dropping it manually, then using the power roof operation. That seemed to work.
But a few weeks later it happened once more, and this time the manual reset method made no difference. In desperation I took it to my local Audi Dealer, Harrogate Audi. The diagnosis was a faulty motor, and I was charged 400 quid to have it fixed as it was just out of the 3 year warranty. OUCH.
Anyway, I asked to keep the broken part. Here it is, the electric roof motor , Part Number 8H0 959 755 A.
I noted these odd indents on the rotor.
But more importantly, when I opened the case, bits of broken magnet were loose inside, seemingly chipped off the magnetic surround. Looking inside, here's where they came from.
Now how on earth did that happen?
Anyway, since I wrote this post I've become aware that a company in Harrogate regularly fixes these motors and may be able to save you some dosh instead of giving it all to Audi for a replacement. Check them out: www.autoelectron.co.uk
