370z roof won't move warning light on

jkatt

opens part of the way maybe 12" back then just stops the back cover moves up also, nissan today told me its not under warranty, has 46,000 miles and the warranty was 3yr/36,000. sucks. i got it to close using the manual method and the hex tool and got it locked into place but of course the buzzer stays on the whole time you're driving still.

OldGuyFla

You made some progress, at least you can drive it now. mrthomr had the same problem, check out top is broken below. It is probably electrical & there are just so many possibilities I wouldn't know where to start. There have been a couple of members that have had wiring harness problems due to a breakage from opening & closing all the time. Sorry I can't help you.
Top is broken

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jkatt

just happened this weekend, top hydraulics are shot and have leaked, new kit plus labor is $9,100 from Nissan, how cute!!!!

TehDesolate

Just for the record (since I've been reading this thread for the last week), I'm having similar issues as jkatt with my 2011 370Z Roadster. Regardless of the direction (open/close), the roof stops halfway through the process (Page 20, stops at CL-4 of Factory Service Manual - RF) and I have to manually close/open the roof. Greatly appreciate everyone's input and all of the resources on this thread. I'm gonna try some of the fixes (OBD DTC codes, fuses, chaffed wires) that worked here and see if I can get my roof fixed... It's such a tragedy that a fine car as the 370Z has these issues. I'll update sometime later this week with what I find.

TehDesolate

Turns out it was a pair of chaffed wires that was causing a short in the wiring harness. I was able to splice in some extra wire to repair it, but now the roof pauses about 1' up when I try to open it.

It'll open fully when given an encouraging nudge... Here goes another weekend.

OldGuyFla

Sounds like you are making headway. Good luck!

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k4mik4ze

We found out that it was a wire from the upper left sensor.

KenB

Any chance you could tell us more about how you found this out? Thanks

Spoiler

Glad you got it solved.

gbhrps

KenB,

There are 8 small hydraulic rams in the top mechanism. Each one has a sail switch (read position switch) at its two positions, fully extended and fulled retracted. They tell the top computer when the ram has reached either end of its travel, the computer reads the info, and then starts its next part of the open/close operation.

In K4mik4ze's case, they discovered a broken/frayed wire at one of the sensor connections on the ram and corrected it.

Sadly, if the sensor had been at fault and needed replacing, since Nissan does not sell rams or sail switches as individual parts ... the only solution would have been to replace the entire top mechanism, .... to the tune of upwards of $12 000 dollars.

Its crazy expensive, but it makes more sense from Nissan's point of view to replace an entire top, motor, computer, cloth, frame and hydraulic system as a one piece item, to ensure a one time fix with no call backs. Its sort of like ... they'll replace a sticking brake caliper with a new one, rather than take the old on apart, clean it up, lube it, install new seals and reinstall it.

They make more money on the parts, hopefully spend less time on labour, and should have less call backs and complaints.

Spoiler

Sad but true...

k4mik4ze

We checked the power on each line (at the plug) and on the left there was nothing. Then we replaced the Wire. Is not so hard, but you need support and maybe 2 hours to fix it. Usually the sensors does not fault because is a pretty simple one.

Basically there is 12V on the line, when the system faults, then there is still a 2-3 Volt check signal. Hope it helps. In the most cases it´s a part of the harness.

I would say there is a pretty simple way to check if its a mechanical or electrical fault.
When the system has a failure, the roof is absolutely not operating.
That means, there is no signal when you pushing the button etc.
Thats also the reason why i was so sure to check the electronic first.
Because at the beginning of the problem i started to disconnect single sensors,
and the symptom was exactly the same like after my broke wire.

Maybe it´s a safety feature of the ECU to stop everything until every of the wires gives a 12V signal back.
So if the roof it´s operating just at the beginnen or something else it could be that the wire has connection in this position but loses it during the movement. Good way to check this, put the root manually to the service position and look if you get a feedback when you pushing the button.

I hope it helped a bit, good luck!

Spoiler

Appreciate the details. This may help someone if a problem pops up

Thanks,

Spoiler

gbhrps

k4mik4ze,

Thank you for the follow up! Its going to help someone. maybe even me, down the road.

Not every fix is $12 000.

KenB

k4mik4ze,
Thanks for the details. It's a good bet to test for a wire fault. Even in my case when the roof did not respond at all to the start button it turned out to be a shorted wire near the cover hinge.