Rooflight not opening or closing properly.

[cheyenne bob]

Hi folks, I'm having trouble with the rooflight on my Autotrail. It's difficult to open/ close. The winding handle spins and takes a long time to open/close. I've had a look through the open light and can't see any way of adjusting any parts. Would appreciate any help, thanks, bob.

 

[Daveg]

If it is anything like the piece of tat (Remis) I have just replaced you may find that the winding mechanism has given up the ghost. It started behaving like yours and then stopped working. I couldn't get any purchase with the handle - something had broken between the winding spindle and the part that raises / lowers the lid. Fortunately it was the 40 by 40 mini one, not the big Heiki.

I got a Heiki airquad instead. It has handles, not a winder.

 

[sean n maggie]

our auto trail has a problem too,,,it was a fault on the 08 models and they got a lot people having to have them replaced under warranty,,,ours wasnt done and now we struggle to close ours,,,quote from danum leisure £110 for the part and £100 fitting,,,our roof down tight now and staying there.....

 

[TheBig1]

cheaply made plastic parts that fail. the splines strip on the winder far too easily
parts can be ordered from
Here

 

[sean n maggie]

If it is anything like the piece of tat (Remis) I have just replaced you may find that the winding mechanism has given up the ghost. It started behaving like yours and then stopped working. I couldn't get any purchase with the handle - something had broken between the winding spindle and the part that raises / lowers the lid. Fortunately it was the 40 by 40 mini one, not the big Heiki.

I got a Heiki airquad instead. It has handles, not a winder.

did you have to change the whole unit ? i mean put in a new sun roof...

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[Daveg]

did you have to change the whole unit ? i mean put in a new sun roof...

I did change the whole thing. I had to break one of the arms to get the roof down when we were in the Netherlands, so a new unit was needed. The new one cost £107, plus mastic sealer.

It isn't a big sunroof - like I said it is a 40 by 40 cm rooflight which gives light and ventilation in the rear (sleeping) section. I would have thought twice about replacing the big one at around £1,000!

Dave

 

[martin1485]

I had similar problems once with one of those and whilst I was awaiting an appointment for a warranty repair, the wind ripped it off and the inside of the van got soaked. May be worth making sure it is secured against a similar occurrence even if it is only tied down?

 

[cheyenne bob]

Thanks for all the help, turns out it's a Remis brand fitted, metal on winder is very soft metal, thanks again for all the help

 

[MikeD]

The winder on our 2012 model started playing up, slipping etc within months of our buying it.

Cheap plastic gears - what do they expect

 

[Findlaters]

I had the same problem with the Remis unit on our last van. It sounded and felt like the gear mechanism was at fault but I eventually found that a pin had fallen out of one of the lifting arms. It was the pin at the bottom of the arm were it connects into the winding mechanism. The pin was laying in the channel below the arm. I just had to make sure that both lifting arms were in the same position before replacing the pin. I also put a spot of super glue on one end of the pin to try and stop it happening again. It was ok after that.

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[FJmike]

I had one of the small Remis units fail on me, it had rusted up and the shaft snapped. Luckily it was with the rooflight shut. I ordered up a new unit and fitted it recently, not too dificult a job , the hardest part was getting the old unit out. Remis have changed the design slightly with just a single arm instead of the double arm on the previos one and a different winding mechanism