[Roelio]

Hi everyone! I hope everyone here is well! This is my first post and I hope someone can help me out here!

Yesterday, my mother-in-law who has a 2010 model (EU) tried to open the roof of her New Beetle. She lives on the Turkish riviera, so naturally driving with the top down is the only way. All seemed normal, until one of the passengers said she was cold. We tried to raise the roof, but it wasn't doing anything. No sound of the motors, just the indicator above the mirror was flashing. It was getting cloudy and it started to drip so we decided to stop at a gas station and raise the roof manually, after releasing the hydraulic pressure with the valve located in the trunk (and twisted it back after the roof was raised again). We found a squished box of facemasks (Yay COVID) behind the backseats on the little shelf when we raised the roof. Concerned about the roof we tried opening it again, when the sun came out. The windows still drop down after unlatching the roof and the indicator is flashing, but other than that nothing happens. No sound from the motors nothing. I've tried the famous window-switch reset, but that didn't do anything sadly.

From the others posting with a similar problem, I suspect the box of facemasks witheld the sensors to register that the roof was fully opened. And since we manually closed it, it's in a state where the car doesn't know if the roof is either up or down.

Summary of what's happening:
-Turn on ignition: roof indicator flashes and a beep is heard. (The beep could be the aftermarket parking sensors, but I thought I mention it anyways)
-After a few seconds the roof indicator is replaced with the thermometer again.
-Roof unlatched: all windows roll down slightly like normal.
-Operating the roof switch: nothing happens, no clicking and no motor sound. Roof indicator doesn't appear.

I'm not a technician (although out of pure interest I know more than the average person, I like to believe) and I only have basic tools at my disposal (I'm just visiting after all) so if there is any fix I could try, I'd like to hear it.

The local mechanic didn't have a clue about what to do, and the nearest VAG service center is quite a drive away.

Ps: It's a German car, imported to Poland and driven to Turkey. The manual is in German too, so sadly not very useful for us.

Anyways, thank you in advance!

 

[Roelio]

Some pictures I made today of the patient. I bet you good folk want to know her!

 

[billymade]

You might try the position sensor bypass technique; shown in the this video @ 5:00:

 

[konabob]

You might try the position sensor bypass technique; shown in the this video @ 5:00:

I followed the video and I think this is exactly what is happening on my 09 convertible. However once I’ve identified that this is the problem it doesn’t give a fix for the faulty sensor. Any help?

 

[billymade]

Proper diagnosis, would be helped; by scanning for trouble codes with a vw specific scan tool and then, the vw factory code will normally indicate what the fault is and what specific sensor is causing the problem. Some of the problematic sensors, have responded to cleaning with contact cleaner, adding some pressure to the contacts or worst case scenario replacement.

crc qd electronic cleaner 05103 (cheapest price @Walmart under $5; otherwise sold at auto parts stores, hardware, home improvement stores, etc.):

crc qd cleaner 05103 - Google Search

Video going over possible mod; to increase pressure at the sensor contact: (videos show different sensor locations):

To understand the convertible top design and sensor locations, download the self study program from vw.

 

[billymade]

Self study program 281 new beetle cabriolet

ssp 281 new beetle cabriolet - Google Search

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Roelio]

Thanks for the help everyone! I hope I can make it work with the limited tools that I have