Hi folks, I have an Open Air on my '04 Lupo, but thought I'd post here as there's loads more Polos out there with Open Air roofs than Lupos. Anyway, the most common problem I know about with Open Airs is the motors struggling with increasingly gacked up roof runners and eventually stripping the plastic cogs that connect the motor to the cable drive gear. I've dissembled a couple of roofs and motors recently and at the week-end I noticed that the plastic cogs are assembled as a pair, one on top of the other, connected by a simple shock-absorber. As commented above, the plastic cogs simply give up the ghost when the effort of moving the roof becomes too much. The most obvious solution would be to buy a replacement plastic cog, pop it in the otherwise healthy motor assemble and screw it back on to the roof, however as far as I know, the plastic cog is not available as a spare from VW. So, what next?? Most people (me included) simply wait for a decent second-hand motor to appear on eBay, and hope it's not too worn.

However, at the week-end, I had a closer look at the plastic cog pair and I noticed that they are symmetrical which means you can pop the 2 cogs out together, give them a clean and re-grease them and then pop them back in the other way up, which means the worn section, which is usually formed by the worm gear, is now the other way up and the worm gear is now acting on an unworn set of teeth, so providing you have cleaned up your roof cables and runners so that the roof slides to and fro' as smoothly as poss. you might, just might, get another few years out of your motor assembly...

NOTE: I haven't tried this yet, it's just an idea!!

Edited 25 March, 201511 yr by SimoninEaston

Googling the part number of the motor assembly, just now, I found a link to this interesting site - it looks like the geezer has made a replacement for the plastic cog pair, out of brass. Hmmm, this could be better than the Chocolate Easter Bunny I was hoping for!

(http://www.polo-faltdachmotor-reparatur.de/index.html)

Edited 25 March, 201511 yr by SimoninEaston

Found it on ebay.de http://www.ebay.de/itm/Polo-Seat-Faltdachmotor-Faltdach-Motor-Moteur-Sunroof-/161647319688?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_77&hash=item25a2ee5a88

Forty 'ackers plus delivery - Ouch! Still, a lot better than either 170 for a motor of of Stevens (albeit with a 3 month warrenty) or the price of a new motor assembly off of VW, which I daren't even start to think about!!!

Listed @ 205 €uros in Germany, so £40 is a bargain !!

D'you know, the more I think about this, the more uncertain I am about the advisability of making that middle cog out of brass - sure, it looks like a Good Job, from what I can see in the pictures, but I'm guessing the Good Folk at VW popped in a shock-absorber for some good reason or other. They will have thought it all through, I imagine... They will know for sure that those fabric roofs (made I think by Webasto) do get sticky over the years, what with little bits of twig, and the grease hardening up etc. etc. so the shock absorbing goes some way to protecting the rest of the motor assembly. Not only that, but if the roof is so sticky it stops moving altogether, then the plastic cogs had better strip or else there's the danger of the motor getting very uncomfortable and hot. Sticking a brass cog in there that won't strip readily doesn't necessarily seem like a good idea, if the roof is stiff - OK if the roof's lovely and slidey, of course...